Lot 573 | Jan van der Venne | Tronie of a Man with Fur Cap

VENNE, JAN VAN DER
('Pseudo van der Venne')
ca. 1592 Mechelen - before 1651 Brussels

Title: Tronie of a Man with Fur Cap.
Technique: Oil on wood.
Measurement: 25 x 19.5cm.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

Jan van der Venne, also known as Pseudo van der Venne, was a court painter in the Catholic Netherlands and was known, among other things, for his so-called tronies. Behind the Dutch word tronie - whose meaning can be equated with face or facial expression - is the art historical term for a figurative representation that was very popular in the Dutch and Flemish Baroque. This genre combines elements of portraiture, history painting and genre scenes and depicts fictional characterisations of certain types, such as the old man or the old woman, as is the case in the present painting. The portrayed person is shown in half-profile and wears a fur-covered headdress from which individual thin strands of hair emerge. On closer inspection, one notices the deep wrinkles that mark the face, especially around the eyes and chin. The sunken lips indicate the age-related loss of teeth. The unsparing depiction of the person portrayed is reminiscent of Rembrandt's caricature portraits, who was considered a master of tronies and did not spare himself. A well-known example is his self-portrait in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne, in which the visibly aged painter casts a mischievous glance at the viewers.

We thank David de Witt, Amsterdam, for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a high-resolution digital photograph.