The ''Portrait of Dirck van Os'' is a later painting by
Rembrandt (1606-1669), created circa 1658.
It is currently in the permanent collection of the
Joslyn Art Museum
The Joslyn Art Museum is the principal fine arts museum in the state of Nebraska, United States. Located in Omaha, it was opened in 1931 at the initiative of Sarah H. Joslyn in memory of her husband, businessman George A. Joslyn. It is the only m ...
in
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
.
In 1898, the portrait was acquired by a New York art dealer from a private collector in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In 1899, the portrait was sold to Boston businessman Frederick Sears.
The painting was purchased by the Joslyn Museum in 1942 from a private collection.
Initially believed to have been painted by Rembrandt himself, the painting was later reclassified as a painting from the "School of Rembrandt"; the likely work of one of Rembrandt's students.
In the spring of 2012, under the guidance of
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 ...
, one of the world's foremost authorities on Rembrandt, the museum sent the painting to
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
for further study and treatment.
Martin Bijl, former head of restoration at the
Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, worked with van de Wethering on the painting's conservation. The determination that the painting was a true Rembrandt was made during the conservation process.
The subject depicted in the painting is Dirck van Os III (1590-1668), a prominent
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
citizen.
He was the son of
Dirck van Os
Dirck van Os (Antwerp 13 March 1556 – Amsterdam 20 May 1615) was an Amsterdam merchant, insurer, financier and shipowner. He is among the founders of the Compagnie van Verre, the Amsterdam Exchange Bank and the United East India Company (VOC).
...
(Antwerp 13 March 1556 – Amsterdam 20 May 1615), an Amsterdam merchant, insurer, financier, and shipowner. The elder van Os was one of the founders of the
Compagnie van Verre, the
Amsterdam Exchange Bank, and the
United East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock co ...
(VOC). The painting shows van Os as an elderly man, seated holding a cane in his left hand, donning a black robe with white collar and cuffs, and wearing a cap.
During the restoration process, it was determined that later additions to the painting included lace around the collar and a chain with a cross hanging from the subject's neck.
The embellishments were removed during the restoration process.
The restored painting was unveiled in the Joslyn Art Museum's Hitchcock Foundation Gallery on May 5, 2014
and is part of the museum's permanent collection.
In November 2016 the Joslyn Art Museum unveiled a newly commission frame for the painting.
The painting was originally displayed in an ornate gilded Louis XIV frame, which framed the portrait when it was acquired by the museum in 1942.
The new frame is less ornate. The frame, as described by the Joslyn's associate curator of European art, "It is a restrained style of framing that corresponds with the conservative Protestant sensibility of the age and to the strong mercantile culture of the Netherland, which profited from importing exotic woods through the Dutch East India Company."
The frame was paid for by the Joslyn Art Museum Association.
References
External links
Joslyn Art Museum Website
{{ACArt
van Os
van Os
1658 paintings
van Os
Paintings in Nebraska