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89
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Nicolaes Eliasz PICKENOY (1590-1653/56), attributed to
Presu…
See original version (French)
89
-
Nicolaes Eliasz PICKENOY (1590-1653/56), attributed to
Presu…
See original version (French)
Estimate €8,000 - €12,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Nicolaes Eliasz PICKENOY (1590-1653/56), attributed to
Presumed portrait of Wolfgang-Guillaume de Neubourg, c.1630
Oil on panel
H_102 cm L_67,5 cm
Cracks, old restorations.
Provenance :
Bourbon-Busset family, château de Busset, traditionally portrait of the Duc
de Neubourg by van Dyck.
Swiss private collection since the 1980s
Our very fine portrait is fully in the tradition of Flemish portraits from the first half of the 17th century.
the first half of the 17th century. Since the end of the fifteenth century, the
the portrait has undergone a gradual evolution: first integrated into religious scenes
religious scenes in the form of donors or concealed self-portraits of the artist,
but gradually became truly autonomous during the sixteenth century. Painters such as
painters such as Lucas Cranach the Elder, Corneille de Lyon and François
Clouet contributed to the development of the genre, while maintaining generally modest
monumental compositions were reserved for sovereigns or exceptional commissions.
Monumental compositions remained reserved for sovereigns or exceptional commissions.
The 17th century marked a profound transformation in the status of the portrait in European art.
in European art. Artists such as Nicolaes Eliasz Pickenoy and Antoine van
Dyck helped to showcase the elite of the upper bourgeoisie and the aristocracy.
aristocracy. As a result, their portraits became more monumental and more
the social prestige of their patrons.
Painted on a panel more than a metre high, our painting bears witness to
remarkable care in its execution. The treatment of the costume reveals great
delicacy, while the hands, of which Pickenoy was a specialist, adopt a particularly
a particularly complex and virtuoso position. The face receives
equally accomplished: executed in fine glazes, it retains, despite the restorations
restorations, it retains all the psychological depth and presence of the model
intended by the artist.
Nicolaes Eliasz Pickenoy was a painter active in Amsterdam, whose reputation
his reputation mainly on portraits of the great personalities of his time.
of his time. He collaborated on several occasions with Rembrandt, who was his studio neighbour at the time.
and established himself as one of the major portraitists of the Dutch school in the
Dutch school of the first half of the 17th century.
Our painting is to be compared with the various known portraits of Wolfgang
Wilhelm of Palatinate-Neuburg by Antony van Dyck.
Wolfgang Wilhelm of Neuburg (1578-1653) was a German prince of the Holy Roman Empire.
Roman Empire from the powerful House of Wittelsbach. His
reign was marked by his conversion to Catholicism in 1613 and the troubles of the
of the Thirty Years' War, which permanently divided Europe into Catholic and Protestant
Catholic and Protestant powers.
The Duke's court was thus organised between political tensions and aristocratic refinement.
aristocratic refinement. A cultured prince and important patron of the arts, he maintained links with
the great artists of his time. Indeed, one anecdote has it that he was said to have
Peter Paul Rubens, who was caught up in a popular riot during a trip to Spain in
trip to Spain in 1624.
Portrayed on several occasions by Van Dyck, Mierevelt and, more recently
Johann Spilberg, Wolfgang-Guillaume showed just how much he understood
the importance of the princely portrait as an instrument of representation and
political propaganda. Our painting is one of the few early representations of this prince.
early representations of this prince.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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