Portrait of a Gentleman - Carel de Moor (1655-1738)

Our painting depicts a gentleman seated, his body turned three-quarters, his head to face, his meditative gaze, dressed in a richly embroidered silk robe and a shirt, his neck adorned with a lace tie, he leans on a stone entablature and holds the sides of his dress with his right hand thus showing the blue satin lining. This embroidered silk dressing gown is part of a menswear wardrobe in Holland. It derives from a Japanese kimono. Holland was the only country allowed to trade with the Japanese who used to offer 30 kimonos to Dutch officers at the signing of commercial treaties. Thus one often finds his interior dresses on the Dutch portraits of the end of the XVIIth. In the background under a heavy sky we can see an Italian garden decorated with a Medici vase and a colonnade behind the cypresses.
The dark light mastered by Carel de Moor, creates here a soft and intimate atmosphere, the light illuminating the face of the model and his right hand, accentuates the brightness of the silks, the folds create a multitude of shadows.
Signed CD Moor for Carel de Moor and dated 1690 on the entablature.
This oil on canvas is presented in a beautiful frame of tortoiseshell veneer.

Dimensions: canvas: h. 48 cm, l. 38 cm, framed h. 68 cm, l. 58 cm

Carel de Moor (22 February 1656, Leiden - 1738, Warmond) is a Dutch painter of the golden century. He is known for his portrait paintings and genre scenes. His father is an art dealer and a framer. He allows him to study art and painting when he is convinced that his young son speaks with talent in this field. He is a pupil of Gerard Dou, Frans van Mieris de Oudere, Godfried Schalcken, and Abraham van den Tempel. His meticulous style influenced by Gerard Dou is characteristic of the painters of the Leiden school. He became a member of the guild of St. Luke of Leiden in 1683. He then became dean of the guild several times between 1688 and 1711. In 1694 he founded the Academy of Drawing with Willem van Mieris and Jacob Toorenvliet. He is the director until 1736. He teaches painting and has for pupils Pieter Lyonet, Andrei Matveev, Arent Pijl, Arnout Rentinck, and Mattheus Verheyden. Despite the success in genre painting, Carel de Moor specialized in portrait painting and his reputation spread throughout Europe. He executed the portraits of rulers of his time: Peter the Great, the Russian Tsar and Catherine I, the Tsarina. The Grand Duke of Tuscany asked him for his portrait for the Uffizi Museum and the artist sent him in 1702. He painted for the imperial ambassadors the portraits of Prince Eugene of Savoy and the Duke of Marlborough, works which earned him letters. of nobility. Charles VI, ruler of the Romans named him knight. Throughout his career, Carel de Moor has been considered one of the most important Dutch portrait painters. He died in 1738 in Warmond.