Wallace Collection Online - A Young Archer

Results: 1

Govaert Flinck (1615 - 1660)
A Young Archer
The Netherlands
c. 1639 - c. 1640
Painting
Oil on oak panel
Image size: 66.2 x 50.8 cm
Made up to, Object size: 67.7 x 52 cm
Frame size: 83.5 x 69 cm
Signature: '….ck…'
P238
East Drawing Room

Described as ‘The celebrated Negro Archer’ by The Times in 1889, the picture was considered a fine example of Rembrandt’s work in the nineteenth century, and acquired as such by the 4th Marquess of Hertford at the sale of the Duke of Buckingham. The signature was apparently tampered with at an early date and once read: R…. The picture was re-attributed to Rembrandt’s pupil Flinck in 1928, an attribution confirmed by the remains of the artist’s signature, and by the existence of a drawing of the same model attributed to Flinck in a private collection, Paris. The picture was probably painted during Flinck’s early years as an independent master, c.1639-40. It has recently been suggested, however, that the work may represent a specific, but as yet unidentified, literary character.

The Collection