Harvard Art Museums > 2023.627: The Three Ages of Man Drawings Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"The Three Ages of Man (Jan Philipsz. van Bouckhorst) , 2023.627,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 18, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/183539. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Gallery Text Whether derived from imagination or observed from life, portraits and head studies were a mainstay of Dutch draftsmanship of the early Golden Age. As the four drawings displayed at the center of this room show, the medium of pen and ink, with the occasional addition of washes, was popular among artists intent on producing technically refined and visually striking human likenesses. Jacob Matham’s Portrait of a Man stands out for its exceedingly controlled and meticulous pen work. This, in essence, is a showpiece, produced to celebrate the artist’s skill as a draftsman. Matham’s exacting study can be contrasted with the bold and painterly drawing manner of Jan van Bouckhorst, whose drawing depicts the allegory of the Three Ages of Man. A more informal approach was also adopted in Dirck de Vries’s Head of a Young Woman in Profile. Showing the woman’s unruly hair falling over her neck and eyes, and rendering her upper body in quick angular strokes, the drawing gives the impression of an intimate study done from life. While the model in De Vries’s work will likely remain anonymous, the sitter in the portrait by David Bailly can be identified as Dutch painter and draftsman Jan Pynas. Formal in approach and polished in execution, this drawing is the only known likeness of the artist, whose own landscape drawing is also included in this installation. [25.1998.6, TL41760.4, TL41760.23, TL41760.24] Identification and Creation Object Number 2023.627 People Jan Philipsz. van Bouckhorst, Dutch (Haarlem(?), Netherlands c. 1588 - 1631 Haarlem, Netherlands) Title The Three Ages of Man Classification Drawings Work Type drawing Date 1629 Culture Dutch Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/183539 Physical Descriptions Medium Brown ink, brown wash, and white opaque watercolor on off-white antique laid paper Dimensions 20 x 16.1 cm (7 7/8 x 6 5/16 in.) Inscriptions and Marks Signed: Brown ink, upper right corner: .Iv.Boúchorst / Harlemensis Fecit / Anno 1629. inscription: verso, lower left, graphite: Ginsburg Collection / W. Bockorst 1629 inscription: verso, lower left, black ink, stamp: L. 1145 [Dr. C. D. Ginsburg 1831-1914] watermark: Arms of Baden-Hochberg [Churchill 267; 1644, Rhenish] collector's mark: verso, lower center, stamp: AMG [mark of Maida and George Abrams, Lugt 3306] Provenance Recorded Ownership History Dr. Christian David Ginsburg (1831-1914), Palmer's Green, England (Lugt 1145). [Christie's, London, January 9, 1991, lot 89]. Maida and George S. Abrams, Boston, gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2023 Acquisition and Rights Credit Line The Maida and George Abrams Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Gift of George Abrams in memory of William F. Pounds Accession Year 2023 Object Number 2023.627 Division European and American Art Contact am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description Framing line in graphite. Publication History Old Master Drawings, auct. cat., Christie's, New York (New York, January 9, 1991), lot 89, repr. Marijn Schapelhouman and Peter Schatborn, Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: Artists born between 1580 and 1600, Rijksmuseum and Merrel Holberton (Amsterdam and London, 1998), p. 19, under no. 32 William W. Robinson, Bruegel to Rembrandt: Dutch and Flemish Drawings from the Maida and George Abrams Collection, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 43, repr. Exhibition History Bruegel to Rembrandt: Dutch and Flemish Drawings from the Maida and George Abrams Collection, British Museum, London, 06/13/2002 - 09/22/2002; Institut Néerlandais, Paris, 10/10/2002 - 12/08/2002; Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/22/2003 - 07/06/2003 Mirror of Holland: Drawings from the Maida and George Abrams Collection, Part 1, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 11/20/2010 - 03/06/2011 The Art of Drawing in the Early Dutch Golden Age, 1590–1630: Selected Works from the Abrams Collection, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/09/2017 - 01/14/2018 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
