Portrait of a Gentleman - Pieter Nason (1612–vers 1688)

Pieter Nason (Amsterdam 1612 – c.1688 The Hague)

Portrait of a Gentleman in Armour

Oil on canvas 72.5 x 57 cm

Provenance: private collection, The Netherlands

Pieter Nason was the son of the butcher Herbert Nason of Antwerp and of Sara van Soom. He was married in The Hague in 1639 to Maria van Manezee. His sister Maeike married the Augsburg silversmith Andries Grill in Amsterdam in 1634.

Nason was taught by the portrait painter Nicolaes Eliasz Pickenoy was accepted as an independent master and member of the Guild of St Luke in 1639. He was also a member of the ‘oranje vendel’ of the ‘schutterij’ civic guard. He participated in the Confrerie Pictura in 1656 and lived on the Bierkade. He specialised in refined portraits of the towns elite and his most notable patron was Johan Maurits of Nassau Siegen, who lived in a city palace that is now the Mauritshuis.

The present painting is a good example of Nason’s talents as a portrait painter.