What kind of sword is this?

[David]

Originally Posted by Ian

Also, the Dayton Museum of Art is not a prime location where one would expect such a work to show up. The attribution to Bol is important in dating the portrait, and that dating is key to where to look for the possible origin of this sword.

I'm confused why you would make such a statement Ian. Do you have reason to believe that the museum is mistaken about what it has in its own collection.
I live about 40 minutes south of the Dayton Institute of Art. Its a fine and respected institution with a sizable collection that regularly also hosts world class traveling exhibitions.

[Kubur]

Originally Posted by David

I'm confused why you would make such a statement Ian. Do you have reason to believe that the museum is mistaken about what it has in its own collection.
I live about 40 minutes south of the Dayton Institute of Art. Its a fine and respected institution with a sizable collection that regularly also hosts world class traveling exhibitions.

I was like you, shocked. A small Museum is not a bad Museum. I'm also shocked by the Art historian expertise. It's not because famous Museums did some mistakes with one or two daggers that the small museums are not able to identify a Dutch masterpiece!

[ariel]

I have never been to Dayton, but I know Toledo Art Museum quite well. These are cities of comparable size and wealth. They are both in NW Ohio, about hour and a half drive from each other.
The Toledo collection has works of Rembrandt, El Greco, Holbein, Rubens and a fantastic collection of French Impressionists.
Size, wealth and publicity do not always matter when we are talking about individual exponates.

I am sure that some of the items in our humble collections would be greedily snatched by Met, Hermitage and Walles:-)

[Ian]

David and Kubur:

Museums of all types frequently make mistakes in attribution of works of art. Unless the provenance is strong, there is always room for doubt. Larger museums obviously have more research staff than smaller ones, so can presumably do more in the way of research and establishing provenance.

Here, for example, is what the Metropolitan Museum of Art provides for one of its three works attributed to Ferdinand Bol:

Petronella Elias (1648–1667) with a Basket of Fruit

Artist: Ferdinand Bol (Dutch, Dordrecht 1616–1680 Amsterdam)
Date: 1657
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 31 5/8 x 26 in. (80.3 x 66 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchase, George T. Delacorte Jr. Gift, 1957
Accession Number: 57.68

Bol was a pupil of Rembrandt in the late 1630s, and followed his teacher's style until the middle of the century. During the 1650s Bol became established in Amsterdam society, enjoyed considerable success as a portraitist and history painter, and adopted a more colorful, fluid, and Flemish style. The elaborate silver basket in the present picture appears again in a double portrait of 1661 in Antwerp.

Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): FBol [initials in monogram] / 1657

Provenance:?Wigbold Slicher and his wife, Elisabeth Spiegel, the sitter's aunt, Amsterdam (until his d. 1718); ?their son, Antonis Slicher (1718–d. 1745); ?his son, Hieronymus Slicher (1745–d. 1755); his son, Wigbold Slicher, The Hague (1755–d. 1790; inv., 1783, no. 16); ?his widow, Dina Henriette Backer (1790–d. 1801); ?Slicher's eldest son, Jan Slicher, The Hague (1801–d. 1815); ?his unmarried sister, Anna Catharina Slicher (1815–d. 1827); Robert Ludgate, London (by 1834–at least 1835); the Bunbury family, Barton Hall, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk; [Scott & Fowles, New York]; Miss Mary Hanna, Cincinnati; [Knoedler, New York, in 1929]; Mrs. Joseph Heine, formerly Mrs. I. D. Levy, New York (until 1944; her sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, November 25, 1944, no. 261, for $7,000); Sydney J. Lamon, New York; [Knoedler, New York, until 1957; sold to MMA]

This provenance appears to track all the way back to the creation of the painting by Bol, but the museum is not entirely sure about the early attributions, so its staff inserted "?" marks to indicate less than complete documentation. Nevertheless, it looks a pretty solid provenance.

For the subject of this thread, all we have for provenance is that it was "a gift of Mr and Mrs Elton F. McDonald, 1962." The museum may have more information, but they did not include it online. To learn anything more about the painting would mean contacting the museum. In looking at a blow up of the online photograph, I can see no signature or date that might help in identifying the artist.

The works of Ferdinand Bol are considered "rare." He does not seem to have been especially prolific and his career ended in 1669 when he remarried after the death of his first wife. He has been lumped in the group of "students and followers of Rembrandt," of which there may have been many, and later in his career he seems to have adopted a more Flemish style and moved away from that of his master somewhat.

Lastly, this portrait does not show up on a collected list of his works here.

I would suggest that we simply do not know the authenticity of the subject of this thread in regard to its attribution to Bol. The supplied provenance is sketchy (to say the least), and we do not know to what extent it has been vetted by experts in Dutch masters. Given the confusion in recent decades about the attribution of works to Rembrandt himself, the work of the Rembrandt Research Program not withstanding, it becomes even harder to know what can be attributed to his students and followers.

For the purposes of the present discussion, however, let's just go with what the Dayton Art Museum says, with the caveat that they could be wrong.

[Jim McDougall]

Extremely well said Ian!!
I understood your note to mean exactly as you have explained, and from what I understand about the study of art, there is often question as to attribution and many other aspects. It seems too often it is presumed that anything specified in museum documentation and cataloguing is taken by many to be the final word on the item or topic specified.
A good many decades ago I admit I was among that group, however in many experiences with museums, large and small, I have found inevitable inaccuracies which have usually inadvertently filtered into their literature.

This is not to discount the character or reputation of any of them, nor their very hard working personnel and staff. We all make 'misteakes'.......and they are not infallible.

As you say, while the evidence may be categorically compelling, we must always allow for the possibility that new evidence may reveal facts which may alter the key material used in support of other research. It is prudent to acknowledge and qualify comments and observations to allow for that possibility.

[Gustav]

Ian, the portrait does appear on the website you provided:


A Young Man with a Sword, https://www.pubhist.com/w9562.

[Jim McDougall]

I couldn't find it in the paintings in the link Ian added either. How did you get to this, using search or other access?
In any case, I remember some time ago being intrigued by Rembrandt's works and all the fuss over 'The Polish Rider' and the actual character etc. Then "The Man in the Golden Helmet", how many years was that attributed to Rembrandt? Then it was discovered to be one of his students or school who had actually painted it.
It seems like reading various art study literature there are so many controversies and highly debated aspects of not only attribution, but of course the many deeply imbued allegories and symbolism in the works.

As one scholar once said, "the thing I like most about history, is how its always changing'! It would seem art history is well included.

[Gustav]

Jim, the picture changes places, but the two last times it was in the last row (first page).

[David]

Originally Posted by Gustav

Ian, the portrait does appear on the website you provided:


A Young Man with a Sword, https://www.pubhist.com/w9562.

I agree. The painting was indeed in the list of acknowledged works by Bol. When i checked it was in the last row of the first page, second from the left.

[Jim McDougall]

Thanks guys, found it!