Portrait of Carolus Marinus Johannes Willem van Rijnen (1832-1903)

Portrait of Carolus Marinus Johannes Willem van Rijnen was painted by Mondrian in 1902, the same year as the Louise van den Bosch portrait — part of the stream of academic commissions that sustained him before his breakthrough into abstract art. Van Rijnen was a Dutch official whose portrait demanded the dignified conventional treatment appropriate to his status. Mondrian fulfills this with competence and quiet attention to character, painting in the tradition of the Dutch portrait that stretches back to Rembrandt and Frans Hals. The work is held at Simonis & Buunk Fine Art Dealers in the Netherlands.

The portrait is painted in a controlled late-Impressionist manner — warm, unified tonality with careful modelling of the face. Clothing and background are handled more broadly. The composition is straightforward and dignified, with no experimental elements to anticipate the later Mondrian.