A Young Archer
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| Artist | Govaert Flinck |
|---|---|
| Year | c. 1639–1640 |
| Material | Oil on oak panel |
| Dimensions | 66.2 cm × 50.8 cm (26.1 in × 20.0 in) |
| Location | Wallace Collection |
A Young Archer is an oil painting, painted about 1640 by the Dutch Golden Age artist Govaert Flinck. The painting depicts a young black boy dressed as an archer.[1] The painting is in the collection of the Wallace Collection, in London, England.[1]
Attribution
For many years the painting was believed to have been the work of Rembrandt, and was purchased as such by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford, in 1848.[1] Flinck had studied under Rembrandt in 1631-32, and his style had become so closely associated with him that for many years a self portrait by Flinck in the National Gallery, London, was thought to have been a portrait of Rembrandt.[2] Flinck painted numerous works in the style of Rembrandt when there was a demand for his work in the 1630s and 1640s.[3] The true origin of the painting was discovered after it was cleaned in 1913, and the signature believed to be by Rembrandt turned out to have been falsely added later.[3] A signature beginning with the letter "f" was discovered.[3] The painting had been reattributed to Flinck by 1928.[3]
Description
An inscription below a print from a drawing of the model suggests that the painting may be modelled after ancient bowmen from Nubia in Eastern Africa.[1] The style of the painting is known as a "tronie", meaning "a head, a face, or expression". Tronies were not portraits of named people but character studies of exotic figures.[2]
Identity of sitter
Rembrandt also portrayed people of African origin, including black soldiers and figures in armour.[2] It is not known whether the boy was a model, in the army, or a huntsman of a Dutch country estate.[2] Flinck's model was probably a slave, and would have been one of the first slaves to arrive in 17th-century Holland, possibly from Ghana, where the Dutch had a slave trading post in Elmina.[3] Art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon wrote of the subject of A Young Archer in 2004 that
Whether the young man painted by Flinck was actually from the Sudan, or not, it seems likely that the painter intended to show him as a living embodiment of the proud, martial spirit of the Nubian race – a poignant contrast to his actual situation, as a first-generation African slave...The solemn, thoughtful humanity of Flinck's portrayal makes it unusual, among early Western European depictions of black Africans, suggesting at the very least a bond between the artist and the sitter.[3]
