1015 - Jan Mostaert, zugeschrieben

Jan Mostaert, zugeschrieben Jan Mostaert, attributed to Portrait of a Young Man in a Black Coat with a Roll of Parchment Oil on panel (parquetted). 26 x 20 cm. Framed under glass. Provenance Brian Koetser Gallery, London. – Paul Brandt, Amsterdam, 16–19.5.1972, Lot 78 (as Jan Mostaert). – Private Collection, Belgium. Literature Exh. cat. London 1971: Exhibition of Paintings by Old Masters, Brian Koetser Gallery, London, October/December 1971, no. 33, p. 60. Against a dark green background, the pale face of the young man stands out with an air of severity and gravity. His clothing — a fine gold-embroidered collar and an elegant velvet beret — speaks to the high social standing of this unidentified sitter, who at the same time identifies himself, by means of a slip of paper held in his right hand, as an educated man, perhaps a merchant. His left hand is slightly raised and rests on the right edge of the picture. According to Karel van Mander's 'Schilder-boeck' (1604), Jan Mostaert served as court painter to Margaret of Austria for eighteen years, until her death in 1530. The Regent of the Netherlands had moved her principal residence to Mechelen, turning it into a centre of the arts and humanism, and gathering many artists and scholars around her in her newly built palace. Jan Mostaert produced numerous finely detailed portraits in a style that was, for his time, rather conservative.