Portrait of a Young Man of the Van Steynoert Family

Oscar Hainauer, Berlin (by 1883–d. 1894; his estate, 1894–1906; cat., 1906, no. 82, as by Bartholomäus Bruyn; sold to Duveen); [Duveen, London, from 1906]; [V. G. Fischer Art Galleries, New York, by 1912–at least 1913; as by Ludger Tom Ring the Elder]; [Duveen, New York, until 1916; sold to Kleinberger]; [Kleinberger, New York, 1916; sold for $3,830 to Friedsam]; Michael Friedsam, New York (1916–d. 1931)

New York. Fischer Art Galleries. "Collection of Paintings by Old Masters of All Schools," 1912–13, no. 44 (as by "Tom Ring (Ludger the Elder)").

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Michael Friedsam Collection," November 15, 1932–April 9, 1933, no catalogue.

Wilhelm von Bode. "Das Kabinet Hainauer." Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen 4 (1883), p. 132, mentions it as the work of a German master from the beginning of the 16th century in the collection of Oscar Hainauer; suggests that the mongram "HH" in the background [since removed] were the initials of the sitter.

Ulrich Thieme in Die Sammlung Oscar Hainauer. Ed. Wilhelm Bode. Berlin, 1897, p. 73, no. 18, publishes this painting as a work in the style of Barthel Bruyn.

Max J. Friedländer in The Michael Friedsam Collection. [completed 1928], p. 146, tentatively describes it as a work of Ludger tom Ring the Elder.

Ernst Holzinger. Letter to Hermann Williams. March 9, 1938, identifies the arms in the portrait as those of a Rhenish family, "Steinhart".

Harry B. Wehle and Margaretta Salinger. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Early Flemish, Dutch and German Paintings. New York, 1947, pp. 130–31, ill., date this portrait between 1510 and 1520 according to the costume and the execution; comment that its style indicates "some minor imitator of Jan Mostaert"; identify the arms of the young man as those of the Dutch family Van Steynoert, "which strengthens the probability that the painter, like the sitter, was Dutch".

Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 32.

Helmut Nickel. Letter to Veronique Sintobin. March 28, 1994, states that the coat of arms in the painting are those of "the van Steynaert [not "van Steynoert"] family".

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 264, ill., as "Portrait of a Young Man of the Van Steynoert Family".

From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Maryan W. Ainsworth and Keith Christiansen. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1998, p. 410, ill.

The arms: argent three mascles vert, were borne by the the Van Steynoert family of Holland.