Portrait of a man, full-length, handing a letter to a boy, in an interior (The Young Messenger)
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This intriguing panel, part portrait and part genre painting, was possibly painted by Coques, who specialized in small-scale, finely worked portraits and family groups. Its unfinished state gives us a glimpse into a practice that may have been shared by other Dutch artists in which the artist painted the heads and objects in a room—here the closely observed velvet-covered armchair and the implements related to the task of writing—while leaving the men’s clothing at the level of underdrawing. Perhaps at this point a studio assistant would have taken up the painting.
Artwork Details
- Title: Portrait of a man, full-length, handing a letter to a boy, in an interior (The Young Messenger)
- Artist: Attributed to Gonzales Coques (Flemish, Antwerp 1614/18–1684 Antwerp)
- Date: maybe 1640s
- Geography: Country of Origin Belgium
- Medium: Oil on panel
- Dimensions: 22 × 17 3/8 in. (55.9 × 44.1 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Orsay Collection
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art