FRENCH SCHOOL, MID-17TH CENTURY

The panel is incised on the reverse with the mark of Melchior de Bout, who was recorded as a ‘wittter ende paneelmaker’ (‘grounder and panel maker’) active in Antwerp. De Bout appears to have specialized in the production of panels that were covered on both sides with a preparatory layer consisting of chalk and glue. His ‘ready-made’ panels were used by, among others, Willem Kalf, Sebastian Stosskopf, Charles Le Brun, Jacques Linard, Lubin Baugin and Willem van Aelst. Since each of these artists was active in Paris around the middle of the seventeenth century, it seems likely de Bout was producing his panels for use in the French market (for additional information, see A. Koopstra, ‘De Antwerpse “witter ende paneelmaker’ Melchior de Bout (werkzaam 1625/26-1658): leverancier van ‘ready-made’ panelen voor de Parijse markt,’ Oud Holland, CXXIII, 2010, pp. 108-124).