(Antwerp 1599–1650 Paris)
A bearded man,
oil on panel, 54 x 43 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection, until 2013

Pieter van Mol trained in the workshop of Artus Wolffort, who like van Mol’s other great influence, Peter Paul Rubens, was a pupil of Otto van Veen. By 1623/4 he was made a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke, and in 1631 moved to Paris where by 1640 he was recorded as court painter to the French Queen, Anne of Austria. Commissioned there to paint a major work The Adoration of The Shepherds for the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Près (now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts Marseille), he was later a founding member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture which was established nearby in 1648.

The present painting is a fine example of a head study by the hand of the mature painter and shows a clear affinity for the Rubens school. The exact date of execution is difficult to determine, as despite frequent mentions in inventories, both dated works and surviving tronies by the artist are rare. A date of circa 1630 has been suggested, which would place the work at the end of the artist’s Antwerp period. The impasto on the forehead and rendering of the wrinkles correspond to van Mol’s Diogenes Searching for an Honest Man in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orléans.