(Tourcoing circa 1600–1638 Leiden)
A singing violinist,
signed with monogram and dated lower right: JR (ligated) A 1631,
oil on canvas, 95.2 x 79.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, France

Werner Sumowski confirmed to the previous owner that the present painting is an autograph work by Jacques des Rousseaux (December 2014).

Even if Jacques des Rousseaux was primarily known for his so-called “tronies”, i.e. idealised heads, his oeuvre also comprises several musical scenes, such as A Lute Player and an Old Man Singing (Allegory of Music), which was first published by Werner Sumowski (Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, vol. II, Landau 1983, no. 904) as a work by Gerrit Willemsz. Horst (1612–1652), but later, after restoration, revealed itself to be a monogrammed painting dated 1631 by Jacques des Rousseaux.

Another four works by this artist featuring musicians are known, all of which are dated 1631:

1) Three Women and a Man Making Music (sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 30 January 1997, lot 23);
2) Concert Scene (Collection Foundation Hannema-de Stuers, Heino); 3) A Music-Making Party Grouped around a Cask (sale, Christie’s, London, 13 July 1979, lot 159, as Salomon Rombouts);
4) A Woman Playing the Lute (photograph at the Sumowski Archives at the Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam)

Remarkably, the features of the young man in the present painting recur in two of these compositions. The date 1631, which appears repeatedly in these musical scenes, coincides with the time when Jacques des Rousseaux had completed his training in Rembrandt’s studio and was probably planning to establish himself as an independent painter specialising in this genre.