(Antwerp circa 1545 – circa 1589)
Portrait of a nobleman, bust-length, in a black costume with a white ruff,
monogrammed and dated upper left: ATK (ligated) / 1581,
inscribed upper right: AETA - XXIII,
oil on panel, 48 x 36.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection

We are grateful to Koenraad Jonckheere for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a photograph.

This monogramed painting is a recent addition to the oeuvre of one of the most celebrated portrait painters active in the second half of the 16th century, Adriaen Tomasz. Key. This work, dated 1581, comes from the mature phase of the artist’s activity, by which time Key had refined his painterly style, producing extremely faithful and realistic portraits, in which the features of the sitters are made with great attention to detail, from expression to the texture of beards and hair. Much attention is paid to costume, an important symbol of the protagonist’s high social status, consisting of a black doublet worn over a white silk shirt and a sumptuous lace ruff. The Portrait of Hubert Languet from the Manchester City Art Gallery dated to 1580 and the Portrait of a Man from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam dated to 1581 belong to this same period.

Born in Antwerp around 1544, Adriaen Thomasz. probably trained under the portrait painter Willem Key and upon the master’s death in 1568, took over his workshop, adding the surname ‘Key’ to his own signature. The handover took place during a particularly turbulent period in the history of Flanders, the beeldenstorm of 1566, when Calvinist iconoclastic fury destroyed hundreds of churches and chapels along with their furnishings. The Netherlands were at that time subjugated to Spanish power, and Philip II’s reaction initiated the so-called Eighty Years’ War (1568-1648). Despite these difficult times, Adriaen Thomasz. Key, nevertheless, managed to keep his atelier active and flourishing, partly inheriting Willem’s patrons and partly expanding his clientele, becoming one of the most sought-after portrait painters by the Antwerp aristocracy and wealthy bourgeoisie. Although he was of the Calvinist faith, the artist also continued in the workshop’s tradition of producing large works with religious subjects for Catholic patrons, such as the large altarpiece, painted in 1575 for Gillis de Smidt and his family and now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp.