Rembrandt, 'Portrait of Philips Lucasz.', 1635

Portrait of Philips Lucasz.

Rembrandt

Room 22

About the work

Overview

When this portrait was made, Philips Lucasz. was in his thirties and an important official in the Dutch East India Company. He had been in charge of the company’s fleet, which had sailed home from the East Indies in December 1633 and was to leave Holland again on 2 May 1635, shortly after this picture was finished.

This portrait of Lucasz. was most likely made to hang alongside one of his wife, Petronella Buys (private collection). Although both are signed by Rembrandt himself, there is a clumsiness to the execution of this one which suggests that one or more of his assistants may have had a hand in it. The thick black line representing the shadow between the sitter’s lips is quite rudimentary, for example. But it’s also possible that Rembrandt was forced to finish the painting quickly, and that what we see here are simply signs of overhasty work.

In-depth

This painting was made in 1635, when Rembrandt was 29 years old, just over three years after he had set up his studio in Amsterdam. He had already become one the most famous and successful portrait painters in the city, and the man depicted here, Philip or Philips Lucasz. of Middelburg, was typical of his clients. Lucasz. was wealthy, successful and with some status in Amsterdam society. Then in his thirties, he was an important official in the Dutch East India Company, which was the source of most of Holland’s trading success during the seventeenth century. He had been in charge of the company’s fleet, which had sailed for Holland from the East Indies in December 1633 and was to leave Holland again on 2 May 1635, presumably only shortly after this picture was finished.

In August 1634, Lucasz. had married Petronella Buys of The Hague, who was born about 1605. Her portrait (now in a private collection) was also painted by Rembandt and the two were most likely designed to be hung side by side. The first recorded owner of the two pictures, Jacques Specx, was Petronella’s brother-in-law through his marriage to her sister and an important patron of Rembrandt in the 1630s. He and his wife may have commissioned them for themselves, or they may perhaps have been given them by the sitters.

The black tunic and white lace collar Lucasz. wears were conventional at the time, but the gold chain around his neck was not a common item of men’s dress. However, such chains were often given as a reward for service by the directors of the East India Company to commanders who – like Lucasz. – had brought their merchant fleets home successfully.

Although the portrait is signed by Rembrandt himself (on the lower right-hand side), there is a clumsiness about the painting which, it has been argued, suggests that one or more of his assistants may have had a hand in it. The thick black line representing the shadow between the sitter’s lips has been made in quite a rudimentary way, for example, and the painting of the lace collar is also unusual. Instead of the details of the white lace being painted over the black fabric beneath, which would be the normal and logical way of creating the effect, the artist has taken the reverse approach: the collar has been painted as a solid block of white paint and the detail of the lace shapes has been outlined in black. In some places, this was done even before the white paint had dried properly. The same method was used to depict the gold chain in the places where it shows through the lace collar – the yellow paint has been applied on top of the white, instead of the other way round. But it is possible that Rembrandt was forced to deliver the painting to a tight deadline, and that what we see here are simply signs of overhasty work.

The sitter’s left hand, which X-ray images show was depicted touching the gold chain, has been painted out, perhaps as early as the late seventeenth century. The picture’s elaborate frame was probably made in Holland in the 1690s.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Portrait of Philips Lucasz.
Artist: Rembrandt
Artist dates: 1606 - 1669
Date made: 1635
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 79.5 × 58.9 cm
Inscription summary: Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1871
Inventory number: NG850
Location: Room 22
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Bt
Frame: 17th-century Dutch Frame (original frame)

Provenance

(Pasted round the edges of the back of the panel are fragments of a printed list of French naval appointments, the earliest of which is 1641, the latest 1673.) Rembrandt portraits of P. Lucasz. and his wife, of 1635, apparently belonged to the latter’s brother-in-law, Jacques Specx, and were inherited by his daughter, Maria Specx, in 1655. It was in the collection of Sir Robert Peel, Bart., by 1836; purchased with the Peel collection, 1871.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2021

Rembrandt in Amsterdam: Creativity and Competition

National Gallery of Canada

28 May 2021 - 6 September 2021

Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie

6 October 2021 - 30 January 2022

Bibliography

1830

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
1854

G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
1893

É. Michel, Rembrandt, sa vie, son oeuvre et son temps, Paris 1893
1897

W. von Bode and C. Hofstede de Groot, The Complete Work of Rembrandt, 8 vols, Paris 1897
1907

C. Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
1913

C. Hofstede de Groot, 'Rembrandts portretten van Philips Lucasse en Petronella Buys', Oud Holland, 1913, pp. 236-40
1956

I.H. Eeghen, 'De Portretten van Philips Lucas en Petronella Buys', Amstelodamum, XLIII, 1956
1960

Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
1973

W. Coolhas, De Dubbele Arend, Amsterdam 1973
1977

K. Roberts, 'Improvements and Restorations: National Portrait Gallery, Wallace Collection and National Gallery', The Burlington Magazine, CXIX/895, 1977, pp. 724-5
1988

D. Bomford et al., Rembrandt (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 12 October 1988 - 17 January 1989), London 1988
1991

Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
1991

C. Grimm, Rembrandt selbst: Eine Neubewertung seiner Porträtkunst, Stuttgart 1991
1993

C. Tümpel, Rembrandt: All Paintings in Colour, Antwerp 1993
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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