Portrait of a Man in a Tall Hat

The painting was acquired for the Stanisław August collection in 1779 from Jacques Triebel, as a work by Rembrandt—it appears on the list of 28 paintings delivered to the king on 14 October 1779, and was valued at 120 ducats. … .

The painting was considered to be by Rembrandt until the mid-19th century—it was thus published by Ksawery Kaniewski and Bolesław Podczaszyński in Revue universelle des arts of 1856. Dmitry Grigorovich ([D.W. Grigorowicz], Warszawa. Dworiec w Łazienkach. Bielwiedier. Zamok. Opis priedmietam imiejuszczim prieimuszczestwienno chudożestwiennoje znaczenije, S. Pietierburg 1886]) described it as being by Govaert Flinck, whereas Andrei Somov ([A. Somow, Katałog kartin nachodiaszczichsia w impieratorskom Łazienkowskom Dworce, Warszawa 1895]), and later Stanisław Iskierski ([S. Iskierski, Katalog galerii obrazów Pałacu w Łazienkach w Warszawie, Warszawa 1931])—as the work of an anonymous Dutch artist from the 17th century. … . The authorship of the Dutch portraitist, Jacobus Leveck, active in Dordrecht, temporarily working in Amsterdam (1653–55) and in Sedan (in c. 1660), was suggested by Maria Kluk and Hanna Benesz (documentation of the National Museum in Warsaw) and adopted by Iwona Zarębska ([Rembrandt i inni. Królewska kolekcja obrazów Stanisława Augusta, kat. wyst. (I. Zarębska i in.), vol. 1, Warszawa, Muzeum Łazienki Królewskie, Warszawa 2011, no. 66.]). The oeuvre of this artist has not yet been studied in depth—few of his signed works have been noted … . The earliest known is the purported portrait of Leveck’s mother, dated to 1654 (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, inv. no. 2991; … ). None of the above-mentioned examples, in our opinion, shows stylistic similarities to the Łazienki painting. Moreover, the date 1649, recorded in the above-discussed documents as the date of its execution (perhaps once visible on its surface) and being in accordance with the details of his costume, seems to exclude the authorship of Leveck, who could have been no more than 15–16 years old at the time.