Portrait of a Gentleman with Chicken
Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp (Dordrecht 1594 - 1652)
Lot-No. 19
Oil/wood, 67 x 51 cm, sign. a. dat. up. ri. JG Cuyp 1633, slightly rest. - The painting at hand with the Gentleman holding a chicken is a fascinating new discovery in the oeuvre of Cuyp that allows differing interpretations. On the one hand the portrayed could be a medic, with a cock as attribut of asclepios, an interpretation that is supported by the man"s composure and the elegant dress. On the other hand the animal, looking rather like a chicken than a cock, could refer to the Flemish proverb of the so called "Hennentaster". That can be a henpecked husband or a womaniser, but usually the men in this kind of rustic genre paintings are depicted notably ugly. The ambivalence of the depiction of the dignified old gentleman with the chicken should be intended by the artist who, by combining different pictorial genres, gave reason for enjoyable discussion to the spectators. - Figure a. portrait painter from a family of artists, father of Aelbert C. presumably trained in Utrecht a. possibly pupil of A. Bloemaert, was soon successful as portrait painter of the Dordrecht society a. also worked for the stadtholder Frederik Hendrik, among his pupils were F. Bol a. A. van der Neer. - Mus.: Amsterdam (Rijksmus.), Budapest (Nat. Mus.), Frankfurt (Städel), Berlin, Stockholm, Krakow a. others. - Lit.: Saur, Thieme-Becker, Bénézit, Bernt a. others.
Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp: Portrait of a Gentleman with Chicken
Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp (Dordrecht 1594 - 1652)
Portrait of a Gentleman with Chicken
Lot-No. 19
Oil/wood, 67 x 51 cm, sign. a. dat. up. ri. JG Cuyp 1633, slightly rest. - The painting at hand with the Gentleman holding a chicken is a fascinating new discovery in the oeuvre of Cuyp that allows differing interpretations. On the one hand the portrayed could be a medic, with a cock as attribut of asclepios, an interpretation that is supported by the man"s composure and the elegant dress. On the other hand the animal, looking rather like a chicken than a cock, could refer to the Flemish proverb of the so called "Hennentaster". That can be a henpecked husband or a womaniser, but usually the men in this kind of rustic genre paintings are depicted notably ugly. The ambivalence of the depiction of the dignified old gentleman with the chicken should be intended by the artist who, by combining different pictorial genres, gave reason for enjoyable discussion to the spectators. - Figure a. portrait painter from a family of artists, father of Aelbert C. presumably trained in Utrecht a. possibly pupil of A. Bloemaert, was soon successful as portrait painter of the Dordrecht society a. also worked for the stadtholder Frederik Hendrik, among his pupils were F. Bol a. A. van der Neer. - Mus.: Amsterdam (Rijksmus.), Budapest (Nat. Mus.), Frankfurt (Städel), Berlin, Stockholm, Krakow a. others. - Lit.: Saur, Thieme-Becker, Bénézit, Bernt a. others.