Two head studies

Jordaens painted many such oil studies in the first half of his career, after the example of Rubens, with this practice also adopted by van Dyck. While these at times depicted individual head studies, Jordaens also combined several heads on a single support, as in the present work, which he would have kept in his studio for use in larger compositions. While it is not possible to link the present studies to any specific finished work, with the figure’s reverential upturned gaze, illuminated by a beatific light, he may have formed part of a composition of an Adoration or a Crucifixion, both as a figure seen frontally and from behind.

Brecht Vanoppen, to whom we are grateful, has examined a photograph of the painting and compares the figure’s ruddy cheeks and contouring to other studies by the young Jordaens, such as that sold in these Rooms, 6 December 2018, lot 11. While holding reservations, Vanoppen also notes the characteristic use of the paper support, which was often laid down on canvas or panel, as it is here.