''Portrait of a Young Gentleman'' is a c. 1635 painting attributed to the Dutch painter

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 ...

. The painting has not yet been catalogued as by Rembrandt, but was sold as "circle of Rembrandt" by

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 London for GBP 137,000 (approximately $185,000).Portrait of a gentleman, half-length, in a black velvet cloak and white lace collar and cuffs
Lot nr. 122, Christie's Old Masters Day Sale nr. 11976, 9 December 2016, on Christie's website The painting was discovered and purchased through an anonymous investor by Dutch art dealer

Jan Six Jan Six (14 January 1618, Amsterdam – 28 May 1700, Amsterdam) was an important cultural figure in the Dutch Golden Age. Biography From a well-to-do cloth merchant family Six, Jan Six was the son of Jean Six (1575–1617) and his wife Anna Wijm ...

. Jan Six lives in Amsterdam and showed the Christie's catalog entry to

Ernst van de Wetering Ernst van de Wetering (9 March 1938 – 11 August 2021) was a Dutch art historian and an expert on Rembrandt and his work. Background Ernst van de Wetering was born in Hengelo. He was first trained as an artist at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts ...

before booking a ticket to London to attend the sale.Rembrandt in the Blood: An Obsessive Aristocrat, Rediscovered Paintings and an Art-World Feud
article by

Russell Shorto Russell Anthony Shorto (born February 8, 1959) is an American author, historian, and journalist who is best known for his book on the Dutch origins of New York City, '' The Island at the Center of the World''. Shorto's research for the book rel ...

in the New York Times Magazine, 27 February 2019 The image struck him as being very Rembrandt-like. His main clue was the tentative date in the sale catalog of "1633-1635" while it was attributed to "circle of Rembrandt". At that young age, Rembrandt didn't have a "circle" yet, so the painting was very possibly an original exemplar of "Rembrandt juvenalia", an area that has only in recent decades begun to be explored. After viewing the painting and noticing the careful lacework, Six rushed over to the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

to look at their ''Portrait of Philips Lucasz'', dating from the same period and showing similar lacework. The pendant portrait of that painting, '' Portrait of Petronella Buys'', also contains lace and shows the same sort of background to both of the other paintings. It was sold by Christie's in the same saleroom for GBP 3,368,750 on 17 October 2017. File:Portrait of a gentleman, attributed to circle of Rembrandt.jpg, Portrait before restoration, as it appeared in the sale File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 101.jpg, ''Portrait of Philips Lucasz'', 1635 painting by Rembrandt in the

File:Petronella Buys, by Rembrandt.jpg, '' Portrait of Petronella Buys'', 1635 wife's pendant of the Lucasz (private collection) At the time he saw the painting in the catalog, Jan Six had another Rembrandt painting, '' Suffer little children to come unto me'', undergoing restoration with Martin Bijl, in preparation for an exhibition in 2019, 'Rembrandt year'. The son of the restorer, Dutch art dealer Sander Bijl, had also noticed the Christie's catalog entry for ''Portrait of a gentleman, half-length, in a black velvet cloak and white lace collar and cuffs'' and had approached Six with a plan to buy the painting together. He ended up bidding against him, and only later found out that it was sold to Six when his father was again contracted for the restoration. A Dutch controversy ensued over the proper rights to the discovery. Currently, the painting is on view in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Provenance

The painting was sold from a private owner descended from

Sir Richard Neave, 1st Baronet Sir Richard Neave, 1st Baronet (22 November 1731 – 28 January 1814) was a British merchant and a Governor of the Bank of England. Life Neave was the son of James Neave and Susanna Trueman. He developed considerable interests in the West Indies ...

, who probably acquired it, and if not by him, then it was acquired by his son, Sir Thomas Neave, 2nd Bt. (1761-1848).

References

{{ACArt Young Gentleman 1635 paintings 17th-century portraits