Support The single, vertically grained, quarter-sawn oak plank is approx. 0.4 cm thick on the left and approx. 1 cm on the right. The reverse is bevelled on all sides. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1643. The plank could have been ready for use by 1652, but a date in or after 1662 is more likely.
Preparatory layers The single, dense, white ground extends up to the edges of the support. It contains white pigment with minute additions of fine black pigment.
Underdrawing An underdrawing in thin, dark, cursory lines, indicating contours, is faintly visible with infrared photography.
Paint layers The paint extends up to the edges of the support. The composition was built up from the back to the front and from dark to light. The background was loosely laid in, leaving a reserve for the figure. Varying tones of transparent browns were used to model the forms. A medium-rich, fluid, dark brown was applied with a soft round brush to create a free, modulated sketch under the robe. The facial features and hands were modelled with fine, small brushstrokes in medium brown. Short hatching marks the wrinkles of the hand, the hair of the beard and the texture of the sleeve. The final paint layers make use of the underpainting, yet lend opacity and further detail. Light, flesh-coloured details were added as final highlights, especially evident in the strokes depicting the fine mesh of wrinkles on the back of the hand, a few of which inadvertently overlap the beads of the rosary. The lower left corner, as seen through the translucent paint of the crucifix, shows that numerous changes were made to the composition and some reserves were altered, apparently by scraping them away in favour of a new arrangement. The clasped hands, for example, were initially probably placed lower down, as if resting on the horizontal ledge. The tip of the hermit’s right thumb, the shape of which is still faintly visible just above his left thumb, was not executed. Other planned, unidentified elements, visible with infrared photography, have not been included in the final composition, such as a black shape above the cuff, two parallel curved white strokes beneath the part of the cuff resting on the ledge, and a form extending from beneath the cross towards the left.
Gwen Tauber, 2021

Fair. Small, glassy particles, possibly due to the formation of lead soaps, are present throughout. The upper paint layers show marked translucency. The varnish is severely discoloured.

…; sale, Bartholomeus Kley (d. 1788, The Hague), The Hague (auction house not known), 10 May 1781, no. 1 (‘Een Biddend Munnikje met de Handen te Saamen, daar om een Pater Noster met een Kruys voor hem leggende, zeer fraay Gepenseeld en fix behandelt, door G. Douw, hoog 9¾ duym, breet 7¼ duym [25.5 x 19 cm], op penneel’), fl. 170, to Gerrit van der Pot (1732-1807), Lord of Groeneveld, Rotterdam;¹¹Copy RKD. The assumption in R. Baer, The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), diss., New York University 1990, II, p. 41.1, that the painting is identical to the one in sale, Samuel van Huls, The Hague, 3 September 1737, no. 8 (‘A hermit with a book in his hand, 11 inches high, 8½ wide [28.6 x 22.1 cm]’), fl. 145, is incorrect, given the different dimensions and description. E.W. Moes and E. van Biema, De Nationale Konst-Gallery en het Koninklijk Museum, Amsterdam 1909, p. 181, note 1, also refer to this. his sale, Rotterdam (Gebr. Van Ryp), 6 June 1808 sqq., no. 29 (‘hoog 9¼, en breed 7¼ duim. [24.2 x 19 cm] Pnl. Een biddende Monnik, in eene grot, op zijne armen rustende en tusschen zijne zaamgevouwen handen een Pater noster houdende, vestigt met aandacht zijne oogen op een voor hem liggend Crucifix.’), fl. 1,100, to. J.M. Jorissen, for the museum²²Copy RMA; E.W. Moes and E. van Biema, De Nationale Konst-Gallery en het Koninklijk Museum, Amsterdam 1909, pp. 113, 181. Provenance reconstructed in T. Zeedijk, ‘‘Tot Voordeel en Genoegen’: De schilderijenverzameling van Gerrit van der Pot van Groeneveld’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 55 (2007), pp. 128-207, esp. p. 173, no. 47.

Object number: SK-A-88

Throughout his entire career, from around 1631 to 1670, Gerrit Dou produced some 15 paintings of hermits reading, praying or meditating in which neither the attributes nor the setting identify the figure.⁶⁶R. Baer, The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), diss., New York University 1990, II, pp. 17.1-17.2, no. 17, pp. 18.1-18.2, no. 18, pp. 28.1-28.3, no. 28, pp. 41.1-41.2, no. 41, pp. 57.1-57.4, no. 57, pp. 85.1-85.3, no. 85, pp. 91.1-91.3, no. 91, pp. 115.1-115.2, no. 115, pp. 119.1-119.3, no. 119, pp. 120.1-120.5, no. 120, pp. 121.1-121.5, no. 121; sale, New York (Sotheby’s), 22 April 2015, no. 57 (ill.); New York, The Leiden Collection (https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/old-man-praying-2/); sale, Amsterdam (Sotheby’s), 30 November 2010, no. 49 (ill.); sale, New York (Christie’s), 9 June 2010, no. 39 (ill.). His depiction of these men is related to the traditional portrayals of St Francis or St Jerome both thematically and in the choice of motifs, but now the general associations with piety, religious study and contemplation are more important than the specific identity of the saint.⁷⁷Honig in E.J. Sluijter, M. Enklaar and P. Nieuwenhuizen (eds.), Leidse fijnschilders: Van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge, 1630-1760, exh. cat. Leiden (Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal) 1988, p. 86. Many of the hermits and desert saints by followers of Dou, such as Quiringh van Brekelenkam, Peter Leermans, Jacob van Spreeuwen and Johan van Staveren, have a similar generalized iconography. The close-up composition and the absence of symbolic attributes such as a tree stump, travelling case or hourglass, make the Rijksmuseum painting a little different from Dou’s other pictures of hermits, which generally have more secondary details.⁸⁸There is a similar focus on the figure in An Old Hermit; sale, New York (Sotheby’s), 28 January 2000, no. 39 (ill.). The characteristic elements are the Franciscan habit, the rosary and the crucifix, which give the scene a distinctly Catholic flavour, although it is impossible to say whether Dou was specifically appealing to a corresponding clientele.⁹⁹There is speculation on this point by Honig in E.J. Sluijter, M. Enklaar and P. Nieuwenhuizen (eds.), Leidse fijnschilders: Van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge, 1630-1760, exh. cat. Leiden (Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal) 1988, p. 86, and Sluijter in ibid., p. 113. See also P. Hecht, De Hollandse fijnschilders: Van Gerard Dou tot Adriaen van der Werff, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1989-90, pp. 30-31. R. Baer, ‘Image of Devotion: Dou’s Hermit Praying’, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts Bulletin 67 (1995), pp. 22-33, esp. p. 33, note 46, casts doubt on this hypothesis.

The Rijksmuseum picture has long been regarded as one of the rare works to bear the artist’s monogram, but it is not clear whether the barely legible ‘GD’ is all that remains of his usual ‘GDov’ signature or a true monogram.¹⁰¹⁰A work by Dou with a true monogram is Man in a Gorget and Feather Beret, Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister; R. Baer, The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), diss., New York University 1990, II, p. 41.2. Illustrated in C. Vogelaar and G. Korevaar (eds.), Rembrandts moeder: Mythe en werkelijkheid, exh. cat. Leiden (Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal) 2005-06, p. 144. Whereas Martin and Sumowksi assigned the painting to 1630-35,¹¹¹¹W. Martin, Gerard Dou: Des Meisters Gemälde in 247 Abbildunge, Stuttgart/Berlin 1913, p. 9; W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, I, Landau/Pfalz 1983, p. 526, no. 246. and Baer placed it around 1645,¹²¹²R. Baer, The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), diss., New York University 1990, II, p. 41.1. the dendrochronology gives a probable date of 1662 or later, which makes an execution around 1662-65 more likely. There is a formal resemblance to a Dou of 1663 which is today known only from a reproductive print by Carel de Moor.¹³¹³Illustrated in F.W.H. Hollstein et al., Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts ca. 1450-1700, XIV, Amsterdam 1956, p. 78, no. 4. R. Baer, The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), diss., New York University 1990, II, catalogue C, p. 3, no. C52, rejects the painting. W. Martin, Gerard Dou: Des Meisters Gemälde in 247 Abbildunge, Stuttgart/Berlin 1913, p. 11, mistakenly states that the print is dated 1665. The RKD has a photograph of a painting reversed left for right with the same figure but a different background. The present Hermit in Prayer is therefore from around the same time as Dou’s 1664 Hermit Contemplating a Cross, also in the Rijksmuseum.¹⁴¹⁴SK-C-128. Compared to that picture, though, it looks like a swiftly brushed study, since Dou allowed the preparatory brownish underpaint to play an important role in the finished surface. The many pentimenti around the crucifix and the hands are also evidence of rapid execution. Dou’s distinctive brushwork is clearly visible near the crucifix, where he applied precise, colourful details with dynamic brushstrokes. That briskness and sureness of touch have a great deal in common with the design of the tree in his Hermit Contemplating a Cross of 1664. Wadum has described how Dou rendered skin with thin hatching that gives a lively imitation of the texture.¹⁵¹⁵J. Wadum, “Dou Doesn’t Paint, oh no, he Juggles with his Brush: Gerrit Dou a Rembrandtesque ‘Fijnschilder’”, Art Matters 1 (2002), pp. 62-77, esp. pp. 68-69, 72-73. The wrinkled face and hands of the old man here were modelled in the same way.

It has been suggested that Hermit in Prayer is in fact by Van Brekelenkam,¹⁶¹⁶Written communication, Maarten Wurfbain, 15 December 1975. but quite apart from the presence of Dou’s signature the painting not only fits better within the latter’s oeuvre from the stylistic point of view but is also too good to be a Van Brekelenkam.

Gerbrand Korevaar, 2026

See Key to abbreviations, Rijksmuseum painting catalogues and Acknowledgements

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, IX, London 1842, p. 4, no. 9; W. Martin, Het leven en de werken van Gerrit Dou beschouwd in verband met het schildersleven van zijn tijd, diss., Leiden University 1901, p. 185, no. 17; C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, I, Esslingen/Paris 1907, p. 344, no. 13; R. Baer, The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), diss., New York University 1990, II, pp. 41.1-41.2, no. 41

1809, pp. 18-19, no. 73; 1843, p. 16, no. 72 (‘the entire piece with bare patches, also very translucent’); 1853, p. 9, no. 66 (fl. 1,500); 1858, p. 30, no. 66; 1880, p. 85, p. 74; 1887, p. 36, no. 277; 1903, p. 84, no. 798; 1934, p. 84, no. 798; 1976, p. 197, no. A 88

Gerbrand Korevaar, 2026, 'Gerrit Dou, A Hermit in Prayer, c. 1662 - c. 1665', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20027806