An Unknown Woman in a Green Velvet Hood
Jan Lievens (Leyden 1607 – Amsterdam 1674)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1622 - 1632
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1330 x 990 x 110 mm
Place of origin
Leiden
Order this imageCollection
Castle Ward, County Down
NT 836187
Caption
Who is this beautiful young lady who sits alone in a plain interior lost in thought? Her expression is perhaps too serene to be regarded as a character ‘tronie’ face, popular with Dutch and Flemish artists in the 17th century. Yet, her identification has been lost and, hooded, she leaves no clues. This painting is now thought to be by the precociously-talented Jan Lievens, Rembrandt’s contemporary, who worked alongside him in Leiden in the 1620s, before coming to the court of Charles I in 1632.
Summary
Oil painting on panel, An Unknown Woman in Green Velvet Hood by Jan Lievens (Leyden 1607 – Amsterdam 1674), c.1622-32. A portrait of a hooded lady, half length, to left with a light-coloured background. It was previously attributed to Willem Drost but is now thought to be an 'excellent early work' (Sumowski) by Lievens.
Provenance
Purchased from Edward Ward, 7th Viscount Bangor (1903 – 1993), in 1967, with a grant from the Ulster Land Fund
Credit line
Castle Ward, The Bangor Collection (accepted in lieu of tax by HM Treasury and transferred to the National Trust in 1953)
Marks and inscriptions
Hooded lady, Cornelius Droost (on frame)
Makers and roles
Jan Lievens (Leyden 1607 – Amsterdam 1674), artist previously catalogued as after Willem Drost (Amsterdam 1633 - 1659), artist
References
Sumowski 1983-1990 Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, Landau/Pfalz, 5 vols 1983-1990, vol. III, no. 1266, p. 1802 & illus. p. 1905 Prized Possessions: Dutch Paintings from National Trust Houses (exh. cat.), Holburne Museum, Bath 25 May - 16 Sep 2018; Mauritshuis, The Hague, 11 Oct 2018 - 6 Jan 2019; Petworth House, West Sussex, 26 Jan - 24 Mar 2019., pp. 125-7, no. 13