Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy (Amsterdam 1588-1650/65)

The present painting is an important new discovery and addition to the oeuvre of the well-known Amsterdam portrait painter Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy.
Peter van den Brink, to whom we are grateful for endorsing the attribution on the basis of photographs, has kindly pointed out the strong similarities with the few signed history paintings by the artist (written communication, 13 August 2013). The closest in style and composition is Paris and Oenone, which was with Colnaghi in 1991-2.
Blankert compares the present composition to a painting on panel, measuring 41 x 52.2 cm., with the identical figures of Heraclitus and Democritus, which is attributed to the circle of Lambert Jacobsz., in the Muzeum Narodowe we Wroclawiu, Wroclaw (inv. no. 508) (op. cit., p. 110).