Support The single, vertically grained oak plank is approx. 1.2 cm thick. Thin wooden strips were added on all sides at a later date. The reverse is bevelled at the top and bottom and has plane marks. The strips at the top and bottom (approx. 1 cm as seen from the reverse) were sawn askew to cover the bevelling. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1617. The plank could have been ready for use by 1626, but a date in or after 1636 is more likely.
Preparatory layers The single, warm, light grey ground extends up to the edges of the support. It consists of white pigment with an addition of fine earth pigment particles and large, rounded, black pigment particles.
Underdrawing No underdrawing could be detected with the naked eye or infrared photography.
Paint layers The composition was painted from the back to the front, and from dark to light, using reserves. In the left half of the hourglass, a fluid, dilute, brown and grey undermodelling can only just be made out under magnification. Infrared photography showed dark contours, probably in a liquid medium, which are most likely part of an undermodelling. The light paints depicting the illuminated side of objects were applied with short, fine brush marks, describing textures, such as that of the mossy bark of the tree, in minute detail. An interwoven mesh of hatched lines forms the wrinkles of the hands. The lit folds of the cloak are also finely rendered with minute strokes imitating the texture of the cloth. Impasted yellow highlights define the glistening gold-rimmed spectacles. Infrared photography revealed a round shape to the right of the hermit’s right shoulder and arm, and what may have been clasped hands slightly to the right of their final position. Also visible in the infrared images, just above the hermit’s left elbow, is the light-coloured shape of an arm extending towards the right. These forms may indicate that the figure was originally planned in mirror image.
Gwen Tauber, 2010

Good. There are very fine, nearly imperceptible drying cracks in the brown paint of the undermodelling.

…; ? sale, Gerard Bicker van Zwieten (1687-1753, The Hague), The Hague, sold on the premises (auction house not known), 12 April 1741 sqq., no. 69 (‘Een Herremiet in een Boek Lesende, met een fraay Landschap, en verder Bywerk, door den selve [Gerard Douw], hoog 1 voet 1 duym breed 11 duym [ca. 33.9 x 28.7 cm]’, bought in at fl. 96;¹¹Copy RKD; 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. 16. ? his sale, The Hague (auction house not known), 4 April 1755, no. 27 (‘Een Hermiet in een Boek leezende, met een fraay Landschap, en verder bywerk, door Gerard Dou, hoog 1 voet 1 duim, breet 11 duim [ca. 33.8 x 28.6 cm]’), fl. 144;²²P. Terwesten, Catalogus of naamlyst van schilderyen, met derzelver prysen, zedert den 22. Augusti 1752, tot den 21. November 1768, zo in Holland, als Braband en andere Plaatzen in het openbaar Verkogt: Dienende tot een vervolg of Derde Deel op de Twee Deelen der uitgegeeve Cataloguen door wylen de Heer Gerard Hoet; Zynde hier agter gevoegt: Catalogus van een gedeelte van ’t vorstelyk Kabinet Schilderyen van Zyne Doorl. Hoogheid, den Heere Prince van Orange en Nassau, Erfstadhouder, Capitain-Generaal en Admiraal der Verëenigde Nederlanden, &c. &c. &c., The Hague 1770, p. 118.…; anonymous sale [Johan Pieter Wierman, Leiden],³³J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, I, London 1829, p. 26, no. 77. Amsterdam (P. van der Land, P. Yver), 18 August 1762, no. 30 (‘Een biddende Heremiet in een soort van Grot, met een kaal Hoofd, een extra fraaje gryze Baard, en een Bril op de Neus, rustende met zyne gevouwen handen, waarin hy een Krucifix houdt, op een open Boek; voor hem een Zandlooper, en verder eenig bywerk. Alles verwonderlyk, delicaat en uitvoerig geschilderd in ’t jaar 1664. Hoog 12 Duim Breed 10 Duim [30.8 x 25.7 cm]’), fl. 655, to P. Yver;⁴⁴Copy RKD.…; ? collection Crawford, 1801;⁵⁵According to J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, I, London 1829, p. 26, no. 77, the painting was auctioned by Mr Christie in 1801, but a catalogue for this sale has not been located.…; anonymous sale [section A], Amsterdam (P. van der Schley et al.), 6 August 1810, no. 25 (‘Hoog 13, breed 10½ duimen [34 x 27 cm]. Paneel. Dit fraaije stukje verbeeld een eerwaardig Grijsaard, zittende in een Kluis, houdende een Krucifix in zijne zamengevouwene handen, waarmede hij op een opengeslagen Boek rust, voor hem staat een Zandlooper, Watervat en ander bijwerk.’), fl. 1,310, to the dealers Texier and Gerbet, for the dealer Jean-Baptiste Pierre Lebrun, Paris;⁶⁶Copy RKD. his sale, Paris (J.-B.P. Lebrun), 16 (18) April 1811 sqq., no. 111 (‘Un Hermite en prière, vu à mi-corps, tenant entre ses mains jointes un crucifix qu’il contemple. Son crâne demi-chauve n’est garni que de quelques cheveux blancs; sa barbe est blanche, il porte des lunettes, est vêtu du costume de capucin, et ses mains sont appuyées sur un grand livre ouvert. On y remarque sur un coin son chapelet, sur lequel sont écrits le nom du peintre et l’année de la composition du tableau. En devant du livre est un sablier, derrière, une petite barrique et des paniers de jonc; un rayon de lune vient frapper sur l’hermite et sur le haut d’un arbre mort placé derrière lui. Le fond laisse voir trois voûtes qui se succèdent; à cette dernière l’on voit des barreaux de fer et le jour qui éclaire cette pièce. […] – Haut. 0,325 m, larg. 0,271 m. B.[ois]’), fr. 3,610, to Paillet;⁷⁷Copy RKD.…; sale, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Prince de Bénévent (1754-1838, Paris), Paris (C.P. Henry et al.), 9 July 1817, no. 14 (‘Bois. Hauteur, 12 pouces, largeur 10 pouces [32.4 x 27 cm]. Un vieil ermite, vu à mi-corps, la figure tournée à gauche, et vêtu de l’habit de saint François, joint les mains et tient un crucifix qu’il contemple avec l’expression d’une profonde piété. Les lectures continuelles d’un livre qui est ouvert devant lui, et sur lequel il s’appuie, ont tellement affaibli ses yeux qu’il a besoin du secours des lunettes. Son crâne est à demi-chauve, et ses cheveux, ainsi que sa barbe, sont tout à fait blancs. On voit à la droite du saint ermite un petit baril avec un panier, et devant lui un sablier qui lui rappelle à chaque moment que le temps fuit avec rapidité. Le fond de ce tableaux présente une voûte souterraine, à l’entrée de laquelle est un arbre décrépit. On lit sur un bout de chapelet le nom de l’auteur et la date de l’ouvrage.’), fr. 10,500, to the dealer W. Buchanan;⁸⁸GPI, F-761. from whom, 400 gns, to Edward Gray (?-1838), Harringhay Park, Hornsey;⁹⁹W. Buchanan, Memoirs of Painting: With a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England since the French Revolution, II, London 1824, pp. 323-24. purchased from his heirs by the dealer John Smith, London;¹⁰¹⁰J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, IX, London 1842, p. 24, no. 78. from whom, £300, to Adriaan van der Hoop (1778-1854), Amsterdam, September 1839;¹¹¹¹Lijst van schilderijen, beelden en teekeningen van Adriaan van der Hoop te Amsterdam, NHA, ARS, no. 388 (copy in Rijksmuseum Research Library), p. 24, no. 189: ‘In Sept heb ik te London zijnde, met J: Smith & Sons eene Ruil gedaan, hebbende van hem gekocht no. 189. Een zeer uitvoerig klijn schilderij van G. Douw, voorstellende een zittende Hermiet afkomstig van de verzameling van E. Gray, en vroeger in die van Vorst Talleyrand, waarvoor toen in 1817 de prijs van £420 besteed geworden is, thans … £300’. by whom bequeathed to the City of Amsterdam, with 223 other paintings, 1854;¹²¹²Taxatie van schilderijen, teekeningen en beeldhouwwerken gedaan door Pieter E.H. Praetorius en Gerrit de Vries Jz., executeuren van het testament van A. van der Hoop [...] 29 april 1854, NHA, ARS, no. 388 (copy in Rijksmuseum Research Library), p. 3, no. 189: ‘G Dou Heremiet in godsdienstige overpeinzing f. 3500’. on loan from the City of Amsterdam to the museum since 30 June 1885¹³¹³Provenance reconstructed in A. Pollmer, ‘Catalogus van de schilderijen in de verzameling van Adriaan van der Hoop’, in E. Bergvelt et al., De Hollandse meesters van een Amsterdamse bankier: De verzameling van Adriaan van der Hoop (1778-1854), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Amsterdams Historisch Museum; Rijksmuseum) 2004-05, pp. 135-95, esp. p. 146, no. 45.

Object number: SK-C-128

Credit line: On loan from the City of Amsterdam (A. van der Hoop Bequest)

Gerrit Dou produced some 15 scenes of hermits.¹⁷¹⁷R. 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.). The earliest ones elaborate on the spatial composition of his Hermit of the second half of the 1630s in which the figure is depicted full length, kneeling in front of a Bible and a crucifix, surrounded by accessories and vanitas symbols.¹⁸¹⁸Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, illustrated in A. Laabs, The Leiden ‘fijnschilders’ from Dresden, exh. cat. Dresden (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister)/Leiden (Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal) 2000-01, p. 33. In the present painting of 1664, according to Martin the most beautiful one of the series,¹⁹¹⁹W. Martin, Het leven en de werken van Gerrit Dou beschouwd in verband met het schildersleven van zijn tijd, diss., Leiden University 1901, p. 55, note 3. For a variant by Peeter Gijsels see the catalogue for the sale, Vienna (Dorotheum), 24 March 2004, no. 114 (ill.). he is shown half length, which is the more common type in Dou’s later treatments of the subject. The hermit is wearing a Franciscan habit,²⁰²⁰E.J. Sluijter, ‘Schilders van “cleyne, subtile ende curieuse dingen”: Leidse “fijnschilders” in contemporaine bronnen’, 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, pp. 14-55, esp. pp. 52-53, note 190, points out that such scenes were sometimes identified as depictions of St Francis in seventeenth-century inventories. and is contemplating Christ’s death and resurrection while gazing upon a cross held between his clasped hands.²¹²¹For other works by Dou centred around this motif see R. Baer, The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), diss., New York University 1990, II, pp. 18.1-18.2, 119.1-119.3, nos. 18, 119; illustrated in W. Martin, Gerard Dou: Des Meisters Gemälde in 247 Abbildunge, Stuttgart/Berlin 1913, pp. 6, 8. The lack of identifying attributes, though, means that the man is not a specific religious figure. Details such as the wicker basket, hourglass, rosary and brickwork arch²²²²Baer in A.K. Wheelock Jr (ed.), Gerrit Dou 1613-1675: Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, exh. cat. Washington (National Gallery of Art)/London (Dulwich Picture Gallery)/The Hague (Mauritshuis) 2000-01, p. 132, esp. note 4, and p. 150, refers to hermit scenes by Jan Brueghel I, Pieter Lastman and Bartholomeus Breenbergh with similar dilapidated architecture. featured far earlier in a lost painting of 1630-31 by Rembrandt, which served as a sort of benchmark for Dou’s many depictions of the subject.²³²³The Rembrandt is known from a print of 1631 by Jan Gillisz van Vliet; see C. Schuckman, M. Royalton-Kisch and E. Hinterding, Rembrandt and Van Vliet: A Collaboration on Copper, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Museum Het Rembrandthuis) 1996-97, pp. 46-47. On the relationship between the pictures by Rembrandt and Dou see S. Donahue Kuretsky, ‘Rembrand’s Tree Stump: An Iconographic Attribute of St. Jerome’, The Art Bulletin 56 (1974), pp. 571-80, esp. pp. 578-80. The emphasis on spiritual reflection and the combination of this figure with the cross and the withered tree would have been derived from it, but can also be placed within the visual tradition of scenes showing the hermit St Jerome venerating a crucifix.²⁴²⁴S. Donahue Kuretsky, ‘Rembrand’s Tree Stump: An Iconographic Attribute of St. Jerome’, The Art Bulletin 56 (1974), pp. 571-80, esp. p. 580.

The more generalized emphasis on the meditative nature of a hermit’s life could be a reference to the vita contemplativa – the life of contemplation aimed at preparing oneself for the Last Judgement by means of theology and philosophy.²⁵²⁵A.K. Wheelock Jr, Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century, coll. cat. Washington (National Gallery of Art) 1995, p. 58 (ill.), suggests this in connection with the thematically related Hermit in Washington, on which see also R. Baer, The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), diss., New York University 1990, I, pp. 55-57. In any event, the hourglass and possibly the travelling case²⁶²⁶On which see P. Hecht, De Hollandse fijnschilders: Van Gerard Dou tot Adriaen van der Werff, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1989-90, p. 30. and the withered tree allude to the brevity of earthly existence. Vanitas symbolism of this kind was common in the iconography of St Jerome,²⁷²⁷See, for example, St Jerome in his Study, attributed to Marinus van Reymerswale (SK-A-3123). and was absolutely essential for the depiction of penitents from the early seventeenth century on.

An unknown Penitent Mary Magdalen by Dou that was also signed and dated 1664 is regarded as the pendant of this painting on the evidence of its description, dimensions and date.²⁸²⁸W. 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. 11. The two hermits supplement each other, and they were quite often paired by the Leiden fijnschilders.²⁹²⁹C. Moiso-Diekamp, Das Pendant in der holländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts, Frankfurt/Bern/New York 1987, p. 121. On this see also P. Hecht, De Hollandse fijnschilders: Van Gerard Dou tot Adriaen van der Werff, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1989-90, p. 31. However, the supposed companion piece has a different provenance and was last seen at the 1840 Schamp d’Aveschot auction,³⁰³⁰Sale, Schamp d’Aveschot, Ghent (Regemorter), 14 September 1840 sqq., no. 213. which makes it very difficult to substantiate the hypothesis in this particular case.³¹³¹C. Moiso-Diekamp, Das Pendant in der holländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts, Frankfurt/Bern/New York 1987, p. 101, notes that all the proposed Dou pendants are uncertain.

Various alterations visible with infrared photography demonstrate that Dou had a bit of a struggle with this composition, ³²³²See Technical notes. and perhaps indicate that he had originally wanted to depict the figure turned to the viewer’s right. If so, the painting would have been closer to Dou’s Hermit Praying of 1670 in Minneapolis³³³³Minneapolis Institute of Art; illustrated in A.K. Wheelock Jr (ed.), Gerrit Dou 1613-1675: Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, exh. cat. Washington (National Gallery of Art)/London (Dulwich Picture Gallery)/The Hague (Mauritshuis) 2000-01, p. 131. and his undated Hermit Reading in Dresden,³⁴³⁴Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister; illustrated in A. Laabs, The Leiden ‘fijnschilders’ from Dresden, exh. cat. Dresden (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister)/Leiden (Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal) 2000-01, p. 36. which is also from that period.³⁵³⁵R. Baer, The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), diss., New York University 1990, II, p. 91.3. The artist used the same model for the latter work in the current Hermit Contemplating a Cross.

There is a rare etching in reverse after the present picture by the Antwerp printmaker C.H. van Meurs, who was probably active in the late 1720s.³⁶³⁶G. Wuestman, ‘C.H. van Meurs and his fijnschilder Prints: A Mysterious Printmaker with a Forgotten Oeuvre’, Simiolus 37 (2013-14), pp. 118-40, esp. pp. 133-34, no. 10.

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, I, London 1829, p. 26, no. 77; 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. 16; C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, I, Esslingen/Paris 1907, p. 344, no. 12; Sluijter 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, pp. 111-13, no. 15; R. Baer, The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), diss., New York University 1990, II, pp. 91.1-91.3, no. 91

1885, p. 92, no. 41; 1887, p. 36, no. 282; 1903, p. 84, no. 797; 1934, p. 84, no. 797; 1960, p. 85, no. 797; 1976, p. 197, no. C 128

Gerbrand Korevaar, 2026, 'Gerrit Dou, A Hermit Contemplating a Cross, 1664', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20027802