Portrait of a gentleman wearing a red pilgrim’s hat,
oil on panel, 28 x 21.3 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, France

The present panel depicts a wealthy Antwerp burgher, sporting an intaglio ring, slashed silk doublet and fur-collared cape, executed, as suggested by Jan de Maere, sometime in the 1540s. The red woolen slouch cap is further identified by de Maere as the probable mark of a pilgrimage from Flanders to the shrine of Saint James the Greater in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. Indeed, depictions of such pilgrims by Flemish art are not uncommon, although as with the circa 1510–19 portrayal of Saint James as a Pilgrim by Juan de Flandes conserved in the Museum of Pilgrimage and Santiago, Santiago de Compostela, there are often shells depicted on the headdresses, usually, but not exclusively.

The infrared reflectogram of the present painting illustrates the outstanding state of preservation of the present work. The original edges of the paint layer are visible showing that the picture was initially painted while already framed. This was common practice in sixteenth century Northern European panel painting. The original frame has since been lost.