Jacques de Gheyn II (Antwerp 1565-1629 The Hague)

This is the only portrait by De Gheyn known on vellum. The sitter may be Vincent Jacobsz. Coster (1553-circa 1608), an Amsterdam colour-dealer and wine-merchant who was represented in a print by De Gheyn in 1591 at the age of 38 (Hollstein, VII, no. 318) and again at the age of 48 in a print by Jacob Matham in 1602, copied after a painting by Cornelis Ketel (New Hollstein 242). In the present drawing the sitter appears to be around 45 years of age, which suggests a date of circa 1600. In his Introduction (op. cit.), I.Q. van Regteren Altena compared the spirit of the composition to the Portrait of Abraham Gorlaeus (New Hollstein 245).