Portrait of Gerard Edema

Attributed to Mary Beale British

ca. 1680

Not on view

Edema was a Dutch painter who traveled to Newfoundland, New York and Surinam, then settled in Britain and became known as the "Salvator Rosa of the North." Here, he wears a short wig and plain jacket as he gazes fixedly at the viewer. The drawing is executed in ink wash, with touches of white, and includes an indistinct passage below that suggests a longer torso was once contemplated. A seventeeth-century inscription on the mount attributes the work to Mary Beale, a connection which cannot be confirmed because no other portrait drawings firmly attributed to her are known. In 1762, the image was incorporated into a triple portrait of Gerard Soest, Jan Griffier, and Edema (all born in the Netherlands), engraved as an illustration in Matthew Pilkington's "Dictionary of Painters."

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

References

Title: Portrait of Gerard Edema
Artist: Attributed to Mary Beale (British, Barrow, Suffolk baptised 1633–1699 London)
Sitter: Gerard Edema (Dutch, Friesland or Amsterdam ca. 1652–ca. 1707 Richmond, Surrey)
Date: ca. 1680
Medium: Gray washes and touches of white gouache (bodycolor) over graphite
Dimensions: Sheet: 5 1/4 × 4 7/16 in. (13.4 × 11.2 cm)
Mount: 6 7/16 × 4 5/8 in. (16.4 × 11.8 cm)
Backing: 12 3/16 × 9 1/16 in. (31 × 23 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Mr. and Mrs. Francis D. Logan Fund, 2016
Object Number: 2016.61
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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