Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 104. (Budapest, 2006)
ZOLTÁN KOVÁCS: "The Witty Pieter Quast": The Works of an Amsterdam Master in Hungary Then and Now
theless, in the true sense of the word, it could not be considered a portrait. They were much rather intended as studies and sketches for a head of interesting physiognomy or a character type, which could be used later within a larger composition. The stock of costumes used in modelling the characters of the "elderly man", the "young woman", the "strapping soldier", the "Turk", etc. accordingly contained "exotic", "antique", "aristocratic", "poor" or simply interesting pieces. The tronie offered an excellent opportunity for the painter, as opposed to the portrait, to demonstrate his abilities freely, here immune from the constraints imposed by the demands of the commissioner. 15 The artist could choose the SIGNATURE OF FIG. 2 model, the costume and the artistic treatment according to his own preference. Perhaps this would explain how a significant demand developed in the seventeenth century for these popular studies, which were chiefly produced from the outset for the market. Due to their relatively low price, they were affordable for many. At the same time, in the case of some ironies, alongside the fresh, lively brushwork, the character portrayal demonstrates such profundity, that it is not always easy to decide whether these are simply studies, or rather real portraits. 16 Likewise in Hungary, there w r as a larger panel of high quality by Pieter Quast in the Budapest collection of Count Jenő Karátsonyi: the Writing MÜH, which appeared on several occasions in the 1930s at the auctions of the Royal Hungarian Savings Bank 1 ' (fig. 2). He presents the sixty to seventy year old man against a neutral background, who regards the view r er with knitted eyebrows and a severe countenance, while he writes with a pen in the massive, open book held in his left hand. His facial type, bushy beard, and locks of hair emerging from under his large, ornamental hat are definitively reminiscent of the elderly male figure depicted in the tronie at the Museum of Fine Arts. The possibility cannot be excluded either that the two pictures portray exactly the same model, with a difference of a few years. Quast's painting demonstrating the most masterly virtues of his painted œuvre appeared last in 1939 on the art market, after which its whereabouts remained unknown, up until the recent past. In December of 2006, it cropped up again in a Budapest private collection, and thus, the possibility opened
