(London 1616–1673 Amsterdam)
Portrait of a Lady, in a blue silk dress and a white shawl,
oil on canvas, 107 x 92 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Germany, 2021

We are grateful to Bernd Ebert for confirming the attribution to Isaack Luttichuys after inspection of the original. He suggests a date of execution between 1655–65.

The present portrait of an unidentified but brilliantly costumed and self-confident young lady, set before a glowing evening sky, is typical of the mature oeuvre of Isaack Luttichuys. Executed after Isaack’s move to Amsterdam, where by the 1650s he had a busy workshop on the Singel, the rendering of this portrait reflects the modish tastes of his patrons at that time. The noble colours of white and blue and the high status imbued by the shimmering silk of the sitter’s dress were symptomatic of the affectations of the haute-bourgeoise, and also certain high-ranking military officers and their families, many originally from Germany, whom Luttichuys portrayed. Several individual portraits such as the present picture, may have originally been part of a pair, painted on the occasion of the marriages of the scions of these wealthy families. The balance of the present composition, as well as the overall brightness of the palette is distinct from the style of Luttichuys’s more renowned contemporaries such as Rembrandt van Rijn and Frans Hals, but the existence of such a large number of Isaack’s works, over a hundred are catalogued by Ebert, attest to his popularity.

Born in London to immigrant parents, Isaack’s father Bernard was originally from Münster in Westphalia, thus Issack may have had a linguistic connection to some of the Amsterdam-based German origin families that constituted part of his circle of patronage. Little is known of Isaack’s training, although it is assumed that he may have collaborated with his brother Simon Luttichuys, a noted still-life painter. Beyond his recognisable stylistic impact on other Amsterdam painters, particularly in the 1650s and 1660s, when the present work was painted, his influence is attested to also by inventories – for example the 1678 estate of the artist Caesar van Everdingen lists a ‘Copijtie naa Luttickhuysen’ valued at six guilders.