Lot 1143 Dα

Jacob Jordaens used this oil study of a bearded old man for his monumental work "The Apostle Peter Finding the Tribute Money in the Mouth of the Fish", which is considered one of this Flemish artist's most important works and is now kept in the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen. Here, the old man's head can be seen to the right of the mast of a boat laden with people and animals. The actual subject of the painting - Peter finding the tribute money in the mouth of a fish - is depicted beside the boat, relegated to the right edge of the painting. The elderly man depicted in this study is one of the few figures actually shown observing the main motif.
In his monograph on the artist published in 1982, R. A. d'Hulst emphasises the importance of such studies in the artist's creative process, and describes the painting in Copenhagen as an excellent example of this: "No painting by Jordaens illustrates better the significant use he made of studies of heads". This fine study of the head of an old man, the whereabouts of which were still unknown to d'Hulst, has now been rediscovered in a German private collection.