14 - Follower of Pieter Jansz Pourbus

Follower of Pieter Jansz Pourbus (Flemish, c. 1523-1584) Portrait of an Old Lady, 1538 oil on panel inscribed AN.ATATIS/74/ANNO DNI/1538 (upper left) 12 1/2 x 8 1/2 in. (32 x 22 cm) Property from the Estate of Ambassador J. William Middendorf II, Rhode Island This lot is located in Philadelphia. Framed: 19 1/2 x 15 1/2 x 2 in. Minor deposits of surface dirt. Craquelure present throughout. Under UV: scattered strokes of inpainting, notable in wimple, in face, in hand at lower center, and at extreme edges. Additional images available upon request. Provenance: Dreweatts, Newbury, sale of July 18, 2018, Lot 3. Lot Note: Pieter Jansz. Pourbus was particularly accomplished as a portraitist, producing carefully observed likenesses of wealthy merchants, civic officials, and members of the religious and social elite. His portraits often conveyed the sitter’s dignity, social standing, and piety through composed expressions, meticulous attention to costume, and carefully rendered devotional objects. The present woman is depicted with a solemn expression, dressed in dark garments and a wimple, a head covering commonly worn by married women and associated with modesty and respectability. She clutches a rosary, underscoring her religious devotion. Her dark attire further suggests affluence, as the costly dyes required to produce rich black fabrics made them a marker of wealth and social distinction in sixteenth-century Flanders.