Boy Holding a Sword, Standing near a Table in an Interior; verso: Various Sketches of Figures and Ornamental Forms

Anonymous, Dutch, 17th century Dutch
 Former Attribution Anthonie Palamedesz. Dutch

Not on view

In a simple interior, a boy wearing an ample cloak stands near a chair and table, holding a sword and looking tensely at the viewer. Through the doorway in the left background, a sculpted bust on a wooden pedestal is visible. The drawing is a somewhat unusual example of the kind of genre scenes produced by numerous mid-seventeenth-century Dutch artists, depicting the young boy in a role usually reserved for a gentleman or soldier, and lending a slightly eerie character to the scene. The author of the drawing has not yet been identified; one of the monograms on the verso may offer a clue. The former attribution to Anthonie Palamedesz. (1601–1673), known for his interior scenes with soldiers, cannot longer be upheld, as is clear from a comparison with, for instance, a figure study by that artist in the Museum’s collection (acc. 2000.22).

Boy Holding a Sword, Standing near a Table in an Interior; verso: Various Sketches of Figures and Ornamental Forms, Anonymous, Dutch, 17th century, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown ink, black chalk; framing line in pen and brown ink, by a later hand; verso: pen and brown ink, black chalk.

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Boy Holding a Sword, Standing near a Table in an Interior; verso: Various Sketches of Figures and Ornamental Forms, Anonymous, Dutch, 17th century, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown ink, black chalk; framing line in pen and brown ink, by a later hand; verso: pen and brown ink, black chalk.
Boy Holding a Sword, Standing near a Table in an Interior; verso: Various Sketches of Figures and Ornamental Forms, Anonymous, Dutch, 17th century, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown ink, black chalk; framing line in pen and brown ink, by a later hand; verso: pen and brown ink, black chalk.

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