PICKENOY, Nicolaes Eliasz.

The authorship of this unsigned portrait had been debated. However, recently it has been recognized as a work by Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy. The celestial globe in the painting may refer to the man’s profession, or to an amateur interest in astronomy.

The celestial globe in the painting may refer to the man’s profession, or to an amateur interest in astronomy.

This painting portrait was painted on the occasion of the marriage of Johanna Le Maire and Pieter van Son, who was depicted on the companion-piece. In her right hand Johanna holds the wedding gloves in such a way that the embroidery on the cuffs can be easily seen.

This painting represents the portrait of a lady, three-quarter length, seated on a chair and holding a small prayerbook. According to an inscription she is aged 66.

In the years immediately before Rembrandt settled in Amsterdam Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy was the leading portrait specialist in the city with Thomas de Keyser as his most important but less productive rival. The portraits of an unidentified 56-year-old man and his perhaps somewhat younger wife belong to the first flowering of Pickenoy’s career.

In the years immediately before Rembrandt settled in Amsterdam Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy was the leading portrait specialist in the city with Thomas de Keyser as his most important but less productive rival. The portraits of an unidentified 56-year-old man and his perhaps somewhat younger wife belong to the first flowering of Pickenoy’s career.

Pickenoy’s talent as a portraitist was especially appreciated in Amsterdam up to the arrival of Rembrandt in that city. His self-portrait bears witness to that social prosperity. The artist did not portray himself working, but as an elegant, refined bourgeois enjoying a definite social and material ease.