A Gentleman in a Banyan holding a Letter
Frans van Mieris (1635 - Leyden 1681)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1673 - 1681
Materials
Oil on panel (arched top)
Measurements
235 x 168 mm (9 1/4 x 6 5/8 in)
Place of origin
Leiden
Order this imageCollection
Ascott Estate, Buckinghamshire
NT 1535132
Summary
Oil painting on panel (arched top), A Gentleman in a Banyan holding a Letter by Frans van Mieris (1635 - Leyden 1681), signed on letter: FvM in monogram. A three-quarter-length portrait, standing at the foot of a staircase, resting his right elbow on the baluster and holding in his right hand a document on which is the monogram of the artist; he looks to the left and wears a yellow satin coat with a red sash round his waist. A map hangs on the wall, a plan of fortifications, indistinctly inscribed, and with the final letters of a name (YENE) visible, at the left and behind the sitter is part of a classical doorway through which shleves of books are visible.
Provenance
J. Tak sale, Leiden, 5th September 1781, lot 9 (described as a pair with lot 10 of a woman, signed and dated 1673; HdG 323) bought by van der Vinne; J. van der Linden van Slingeland sale, Dordrecht, 22nd August 1785, lot 286; de Quarles sale, Amsterdam, 19th October 1818, lot 32; bought by Roos; probably the self-portrait (22 x 10 cm) catalogued as lot 89 in Hulswit sale, Amstedam, 28th October 1822; bought by van der Berg; van Rotham sale, Amsterdam,29th March 1826, lot 57 (as self-portrait); bought by Boudgeest; Sir Charles Bagto (1781-1843) by 1834; his sale Christie's, 18th June 1836, lot 23; bought by Henry Farrer (1798-1866); Charles Heusch (c. 1777 - 1848) by 1842; Baron Lionel de Rothschild; given to the National Trust by Anthony de Rothschild (1887- 1961) with the house in 1949
Credit line
Ascott, The Anthony de Rothschild Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Frans van Mieris (1635 - Leyden 1681), artist
References
Ascott, Buckinghamshire, Scala, 2008 by John Martin Robinson and others [pictures entries by Karin Wolfe on basis of Gore entries, 1963 with contributions from Alastair Laing] , no. 108