Portrait of a Woman with a Balance | Thomas de Keyser | All | European Paintings | Collection Database | Works of Art

Gallery LabelThe Amsterdam artist De Keyser is well known for small portraits like this pair, which dates from about 1625–26. The man collects shells as a hobby, as indicated by the South African "turban" he displays. The woman's attribute is a balance or scale, which symbolizes the virtue of temperance.

NotesThis picture is the pendant to "Portrait of a Man with a Shell" (MMA 2005.331.5). The two works probably date to about 1625–26.

Two additional versions of the two pendants are known. One pair (each oil on wood, 9 1/4 x 7 in.) is in a private collection in Switzerland. The portrait of the man is dated and inscribed (upper right): Anº. 1626. / ÆT: 59; the woman's portrait is dated and inscribed (upper left): Anº. 1628 / ÆT: 61. The two figures are closer to the picture plane than those in the MMA paintings, and the hands and attributes are omitted.

The Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pennsylvania, owns a version of the man that is octagonal, oil on copper, 9 7/8 x 7 1/2 in. It is signed TDK in monogram. The probable pendant to this work was formerly in the collection of Adolphe Schloss (seized by the Nazis in 1943), and is referred to in the literature as oval, or possibly octagonal, oil on copper, 9 7/8 x 7 5/8 in.

Provenanceprivate collection, The Netherlands; [Kurt Walter Bachstitz, The Hague, 1926–at least 1940]; Von Pannwitz, Heemstede, The Netherlands; [Otto Naumann, New York, until 1988; sold to Markus]; Frits and Rita Markus, New York (1988–his d. 1996); Rita Markus, New York (1996–d. 2005)

Exhibition History

New York. National Academy of Design. "Dutch and Flemish Paintings from New York Private Collections," August 10–September 5, 1988, no. 28.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Prized Possessions: European Paintings from Private Collections of Friends of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston," June 17–August 16, 1992, no. 76.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 18, 2007–January 6, 2008, no catalogue.

Museum of the City of New York. "Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: The Worlds of Henry Hudson," April 4–September 27, 2009, no catalogue.

References

Ann Jensen Adams. Dutch and Flemish Paintings from New York Private Collections. Exh. cat., National Academy of Design. New York, 1988, p. 77, no. 28, ill. p. 61 (color).

Peter C. Sutton in Prized Possessions: European Paintings from Private Collections of Friends of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 1992, p. 169, no. 76, colorpl. 25.

Inaugural Exhibition of Old Master Paintings. Exh. cat., Otto Naumann. New York, 1995, unpaginated, ill. (color).

Old Master Paintings. Sotheby's, London. July 5, 1995, p. 252, under no. 295.

Walter Liedtke in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2005–2006." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 64 (Fall 2006), p. 36.

Walter Liedtke. Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, vol. 1, pp. x, 394–400, no. 99, colorpl. 99, fig. 96.

Esmée Quodbach. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Summer 2007), pp. 65, 67.

Curatorial Department

European Paintings: All