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| Title | Portrait of a Lady in a Fur-Trimmed Dress | |
| Collection | Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle | |
| Artist | Attributed to Rootius, Jan Albertsz. (Dutch painter, ca. 1615-1674) Previously attributed to Vos, Simon de (Flemish painter, 1603-1676) |
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| Date Earliest | possibly about 1660 | |
| Date Latest | possibly about 1670 | |
| Description | In this portrait attributed to Jan Albertsz. Rootius, the lace-edged collar and the type of cap worn by the unknown sitter correspond to Dutch female fashions of the 1660s. Rootius emphasises the details that suggest the comforts of a wealthy seventeenth-century Netherlandish household. Grapes and pomegranates appear in a china bowl and a fur blanket is folded over the sitter's knees. The fruit could also have symbolic meaning: grapes, pomegranates and oranges were often used in Dutch portraiture as references to fertility. | |
| Current Accession Number | B.M.100 | |
| Inscription | front ul 'Aetas sua 36 Dvos f.' | |
| Subject | portrait | |
| Measurements | 136.4 x 107.1 cm cm (estimate) | |
| Material | oil on canvas | |
| Acquisition Details | Bequeathed by the founders John and Joséphine Bowes 1885. | |
| Principal Exhibitions | Arts Council, 1959 - 1960, cat. no. 31. | |
| Publications | Mayer, A. L., 'Die Gemälde Sammlung des Bowes Museum zu Barnard Castle', Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, vol. 23, 1912; Renckens, B. J. A., Netherlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboeck, 1948-1949, p. 226, no. 57, pl. 16. | |
| Notes | The previous attribution to Simon de Vos was owed to the false signature that the painting bears in its upper left corner. The current attribution to Rootius was first proposed by B. J. A. Renckens, from the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (correspondence, 1946) and again by H. Gerson, from the same institution (1953). The decorated china plate on the left appears in two other portraits attributed to Jan Albertsz. Rootius. For these paintings and the symbolism of the fruits depicted, see De Jongh, E., 'Grape Symbolism in Paintings of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries', Simiolus, vol. 7, no. 4, 1974, pp. 166-91. |
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| Rights Owner | The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham | |
| Author | Dr Mercedes Cerón | |