''Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo'', formerly known as ''Portrait of a Foreign Admiral'' or ''Portrait of a Dutch Admiral'', is an

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

portrait by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

signed and dated 1658. It is now in the collection of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at

Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to: *Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK **Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950) **Queen's University of Belfast ...

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

, and measures 107.4 cm by 87.0 cm. The painting was rediscovered in December 2009 after being off public display for around forty years. It was purchased by Steve Wynn at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

in December 2009 for £20 million, the highest price ever paid for a painting by Rembrandt. In 2011 it was purchased by Isabel and

Alfred Bader Alfred Robert Bader, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (April 28, 1924 – December 23, 2018) was a Canadians, Canadian chemist, businessman, philanthropist, and collector of fine art. He was considered by the ''Chemical & Engine ...

. They offered it for sale at the 2011 TEFAF art show in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

for 47 million euros. The Baders donated the painting to the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in December 2015.

Provenance

This painting was documented by

Hofstede de Groot Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (9 November 1863 – 14 April 1930), was a Dutch art collector, art historian and museum curator. Life He was born in Dwingeloo and spent some time in Switzerland in his youth due to weak lungs, where he learned Germa ...

in 1915, who wrote: "827a. A Dutch Admiral. Exhibited at the

British Institution The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it w ...

, London, 1847, No. 45. In the collection of George Folliot." It was sold in May 1930 from the Folliot collection, but was in the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

art collection when

Horst Gerson Horst Gerson (2 March 1907 – 10 June 1978) was a German-Dutch art historian. Biography Gerson was born in Berlin on 2 March 1907, and after studying art history in Vienna, he became a pupil and assistant of Cornelis Hofstede de Groot and worke ...

cataloged it in 1968. It was purchased for a reputed $185,000 by Huntington Hartford, of A & P supermarket chain wealth, who donated it to the university in 1958.Sotheby's auction record 6 January 2014
/ref>

References

{{ACArt 1658 paintings Man with Arms Akimbo Paintings in Canada Man with Arms Akimbo