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
recent treatment of the subject: D. Hirschfelder, Der Bildtyp der Tronie in der holländischen Malerei des II. Jahrhunderts und sein Verhältnis zur Porträtmalerei, Diss., Bonn 2005. On the relationship between the tronie and the portrait in Rembrandt's art, see Wetering 2005, 139-42. Auction of the Royal Hungarian Postal Savings Bank Auction Hall, Budapest, 14-31 October 1931, lot 569, pl. XII; Auction of the artworks of the Buda palace of Count Kardtsonyi, 18-27 February 1937, lot 116, pl. II; LXXXVIII. Auction, 7 December 1938, lot 414; XC. Auction, 25 AIay-7 June 1939, lot 437. Each catalogue displays the picture as a 71 x 60 cm signed oil painting; nevertheless, none provide the supporting material or the precise signature. Oil on oak panel, 71.2 x 59.8 cm. Signed and dated lower right: PQ (ligatured) 1631. An oval format tronie, depicting an elderly man wearing a hat and with a haggard face, held at the Museum Boymans van Beuningen in Rotterdam is of similar measure. Due to the uncertain reading of the monogram on it (JPQ, or JDR A" 1635), the painting is attributed either to Quast, or to Jacques de Rousseaux. See Museum Boymans-van Beuningen. Catalogus van schilderijen tot 1800, Rotterdam 1962, 108 (as Quast); XV. Sumowski, Gemälde der RembrandtSchüler, IV, Landau 1983, 2506, no. 1679 (as Rousseaux). Oil on panel, 58 x 47 cm, Sotheby's, London, 7 July 2004, lot 7. Following the emergence of the painting, the Museum of Fine Arts initiated negotiations with the current owner with respect to purchasing the work. I hope that by the time this essay is published, we may welcome the artwork to the collection of the Old Masters' Gallery. Oil on panel, 71.5 x 59.5 cm. Signed right centre: PQ (ligatured). The artwork known from autopsy appeared at international auctions on a number of occasions: Weinmüller, Alunich, 22 April 1970, lot 682; Galerie am Neumarkt, Zurich, 12 May 1971, lot 122; Lempertz, Cologne, 23 November 1996, lot 1075, pi. 13. Rembrandt: Self-Portrait in a Helmet, Kassel, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Inv. no. GK. 237, oil on panel, 80.5 x 66 cm. J. Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. II, Dordrecht, Boston, and Lancaster 1986, 526, fig. 1. Likewise similar to Quast's painting is the composition entitled Man in a Golden Helmet (inv. no. A44, oil on canvas, 67 x 50 cm) in Berlin, recently attributed to one of Rembrandt's pupils. See Ch. Tümpel, Rembrandt. Mythos und Metbode, Antw r erp 1986, 302. Bredius 1902, 75. Inv. no. 71.20. Oil on oak panel, 49 x 36.5 cm. Signed lower left: PQ (ligatured). Summary Catalogue 2. 2000, 138. Ernst Museum Auctions II, Collection oi Hugó Kilényi, retired ministry advisor, Budapest, 26 November 1917, lot 108, pl. XXXII.
