Jan Anthonisz Van Ravesteyn
(Dutch 1572-1657)
"PORTRAIT OF A LADY"
(Signed with Monogram and Dated 1636)
Oil on Panel,
66.3cm x 53cm
Jan Anthonisz van Ravesteyn was a successful portrait painter to the Dutch court in The Hague. It is unknown who taught him how to paint, but he was a follower of the Delft portrait painter Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt. Van Ravesteyn is mentioned there in the city archives 1597. From 1598 until his death he lived in the Hague, where in 1598 he became a member of the Guild of St. Luke of the Hague. In 1656 he left the guild with a group of dissatisfied painter friends and was one of the founders of the Confrerie Pictura.
The artwork is signed with a monogram and dated 1636. In 1999 the artwork was auctioned at Phillips, London, described as “Portrait of a lady wearing an embroidered black dress, a lace collar, a pearl necklace and a lace and jewelled headdress”