Van den Eeckhout was one of Rembrandt’s most successful pupils. This drawing belongs to a group of related studies—some of the most outstanding figure drawings produced in seventeenth-century Holland—characterized by a contemplative mood and an economical rendering. The bearded figure was executed almost entirely with a brush and brown wash applied in broad, energetic strokes. The artist seems to have been particularly interested in describing the stark interplay of light and shade, exemplified by the man’s face. Although the figure was probably not observed from life, he has an intense, brooding presence.
Gerbrand van den Eeckhout
Dutch, 1621–1674
A bearded figure wearing a turban and fur coat, half length, turned to the right, ca. 1670
Brush and brown wash, and pen and brown ink
The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Richard and Mary L. Gray; 2019.845
Gray Collection Trust, Art Institute of Chicago
Photography by Art Institute of Chicago Imaging Department
Austėja Mackelaitė: Gerbrand van den Eeckhout was a prolific draftsman with over 200 studies attributed to him today. From around 1635 to 1640, he spent time in Rembrandt's Amsterdam studio, absorbing the older artist's lively and endlessly inventive approach to drawing. While some of Rembrandt's students never fully escaped the influence of their master, van den Eeckhout developed a style that was entirely his own. This drawing is a case in point. Look closely at the rapid painterly marks that describe the man's attire, or at the way in which light catches in his wavy shoulder-length hair. The unmistakably modern sensibility of this and other sheets by van den Eeckhout have long baffled scholars. Executed almost entirely in brush and brown wash, these works have been attributed to a wide range of 17th century artists, such as the genre painter, Johannes Vermeer, and even to 18th century French masters like Fragonard. Indeed, one might argue that van den Eeckhout's unmatched facility with the wash aligns the sheet more closely with Italian Baroque drawings, such as the study by Giorgino displayed nearby, than with works by his northern contemporaries. The enigmatic quality of the work is heightened by the man's sullen countenance and the sharp contrast between light and dark.