Attributed to Jacob van Oost I (Bruges 1603-1671)

This accomplished head study would have likely been prepared for the shepherd to the far right of Jacob van Oost’s earliest dated painting, the Adoration of the Shepherds of 1630 (Saint Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum). Traveling to Italy in 1621, the artist returned to Bruges in 1628, and it is in his works of the 1630s that the influence of Caravaggio is most prominent in his visual vocabulary. Depicting his model in a dark shirt holding a glass of wine, this head study seemingly dates to shortly after van Oost’s return from Italy, in which the figure’s features are enhanced by chiaroscuro shadows and highlights.