The Hermit
Gerrit Dou·1670
Historical Context
Gerrit Dou's The Hermit, painted in 1670, depicts a religious ascetic in his cave — a subject that allowed Dou to display his extraordinary powers of observation in rendering different surfaces and light effects. Dou, Rembrandt's first pupil, developed a microscopically detailed painting style that was the antithesis of his teacher's broad manner. By 1670, Dou was one of the most expensive painters in the Netherlands, and his cabinet pictures were avidly collected across Europe.
Technical Analysis
Dou's oil-on-oak technique achieves the extraordinary smoothness and detail characteristic of Leiden fine painting. Every surface — the hermit's wrinkled skin, the rough cave walls, the pages of the book — is rendered with almost obsessive precision, while the controlled light creates a meditation on the textures of solitude.
Provenance
Probably Kurfürst Karl Albrecht [1697-1745], Munich, by 1742.[1] (Kurfürstliche Galerie, Munich);[2] Alte Pinakothek, Munich, by the mid-eighteenth century; deaccessioned in 1927;[3] sold to (Galerie van Diemen, New York and Berlin);[4] William R. Timken [1866-1949], New York; by inheritance to his wife, Lillian S. Guyer Timken [1881-1959], New York; bequest 1960 to NGA. [1] On the back of the painting are two wax seals that were detached from the original panel when it was cradled and then reapplied. According to Dr. Susan Neuburger (letter, 6 November 1981, in NGA curatorial files), one of these seals is that of Kurfürst Karl Albrecht, and this seal was used until 1742. The other seal may also be that of Karl Albrecht, or alternatively of Kurfürst Maximillian II Emmanuel (1662–1726). [2] Franz von Reber, _Katalog der Gemälde-sammlung der kgl. Älteren Pinakothek in München_, Munich, 1884: 86, no. 399 (also reprint, 1904: 93, no. 399). [3] Dr. Susan Neuburger (letter, 6 November 1981, in NGA curatorial files) wrote that a painting by Dou that appeared in an auction in Amsterdam in 1779 (May 19, no. 49; a sale by Van der Schley, De Winter, Hosteyn, and Yver for a “Mr. V…”), traditionally thought to be The Hermit, was another work, as the NGA painting must have already been owned by the Alte Pinakothek. She also provided the information about the deaccession and sale of the painting. [4] In 1935 the Berlin branches of van Diemen and its affiliated galleries were liquidated by order of the Nazis, with sales organized by Graupe on January 25 and April 26. This painting was not in either of those sales, and thus had been sold from the Berlin branch or sent to the New York branch before 1935.
