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Portrait of a man aged 24 in a feigned oval

Portrait Miniature
1684 (made)
Artist/Maker
Thopas, Johan (artist)
Place of origin
Netherlands (made)

A well-dressed gentleman stands three-quarter length in a feigned oval, turned slightly to his left, holding an engagement ring in his right hand. He wears a periwig, a tight-fitting dark coat with large, upturned brocaded cuffs and no lapels (a justacorps), over a white shirt with a flowing lace jabot tied with a coloured bow.

Object details

Categories
Drawings
Portraits
Object type
Portrait miniature
TitlePortrait of a man aged 24 in a feigned oval (published title)
Materials and techniques
Lead pencil, with touches of opaque white, on vellum, laid down on panel.
Graphite
Drawing
Brief description
Plumbago Portrait, Portrait of a man aged 24 in a feigned oval, Johann Thopas, Dutch School, 1684
Physical description
A well-dressed gentleman stands three-quarter length in a feigned oval, turned slightly to his left, holding an engagement ring in his right hand. He wears a periwig, a tight-fitting dark coat with large, upturned brocaded cuffs and no lapels (a justacorps), over a white shirt with a flowing lace jabot tied with a coloured bow.
Dimensions
  • Height: 195mm
  • Width: 158mm (Note: Sight)
Style
Dutch School
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
Signed, dated and inscribed by the artist, in lead pencil: at lower left, Ætat. 24.; at lower centre, 1684; and at lower right, J: Thopas. fecit. (Signed)
Gallery label
Small portrait drawings like this and its pair (P.27-19520 were developed in the Netherlands around 1600. They were known as ‘plumbago’ owing to the use of graphite, sometimes called ‘black-lead’. Thopas was the most prolific of the great plumbago artists of the ‘Rembrandt period’. This pair are traditional engagement portraits – the woman wears the ring that the man is holding. The couple’s sombre clothing and restrained poses are typical of Dutch Golden Age portraiture.
Object history
P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. Ltd (dealer), London; from whom purchased by the museum (with cat. no. 206), August/September 1952 for £70. 0s. 0d.
Subject depicted
Man
Associated object
P.27-1952 (Pair)
Bibliographic references
  • Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1952. London: HMSO, 1963.
  • p. 135 Rudi Ekkart, Deaf, Dumb and Brilliant. Johannes Thopas, master draftsman London : Paul Holberton Publishing 2014. ISBN: 9781907372674.
  • Jane Shoaf Turner and Christopher White, Catalogue of Dutch and Flemish Drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, 2014), vol. 1, cat. 205, pp.246-47
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
P.26-1952

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1067706/portrait-of-a-man-aged-portrait-miniature-thopas-johan/
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