Object data
black chalk, on vellum; framing line in black chalk
height 274 mm × width 197 mm
anonymous, after Cornelis Visscher (II)
Portrait of a Young Woman
c. 1650 - c. 1700
Inscriptions
-
inscribed on verso: centre, in pencil, D
-
stamped on verso: lower centre, with the mark of the museum (L. 2228)
Provenance
…; ? sale, A.G. de Visser (The Hague), Amsterdam (F. Muller), 16 May 1881 sqq., no. 489 (‘Corneille de Visscher. Portrait d’une dame. Portrait en buste, vu de ¾ à gauche; la personne est coiffée d’un bonnet blanc, d’òu sortent des cheveux qui tombent en boucles sur une large fraise rabattue. Superbe dessin à la pierre noire, sur peau de vélin. - H. 28, L. 20 cent.’), fl. 140, to the dealer R.W.P. de Vries, Amsterdam;1 …; from the dealer F. Muller, Amsterdam, fl. 185, to the museum (L. 2228), 1882
Object number: RP-T-1882-A-165
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
The present drawing is a copy after Visscher’s signed Portrait of a Seated Woman in the British Museum, London (inv. no. 1847,0326.18).2 Although the artist occasionally made autograph versions, the quality of the Rijksmuseum’s sheet is not of the same level as Visscher’s original drawings. The woman’s clothes, for example, are sloppily drawn and the shadows on her left sleeve and in the folds of her dress do not convey a sense of three-dimensional form. Upon closer examination, her face, which is drawn with hesitant and broken lines, is also of inferior execution.
Little is known about Visscher’s workshop. Based on stylistic similarities, it has been suggested that Abraham Blooteling (1634-after 1698) and Cornelis van Dalen II (1638-1664) were his pupils.3 Visscher’s younger brother, Jan Visscher (1633/34-1712), probably also studied under him.4 The museum’s drawing could be a studio work, which was made by a pupil after the original as a training exercise. However, there is not enough evidence to attribute it to one of the artists mentioned above.
Bonny van Sighem, 2000/Marleen Ram, 2019
Literature
Getekende Nederlandsche portretten, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksprentenkabinet) 1905, no. 53 or 54
Citation
B. Sighem, 2000/M. Ram, 2019, 'anonymous, Portrait of a Young Woman, c. 1650 - c. 1700', in J. Turner (ed.), Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.63627
(accessed 4 January 2025 05:39:57).