Jacob Jacob de Gheyn III

1596 (age 45)

Haarlem, North Holland, Netherlands

The portrait is half of a pair of pendent portraits. The other piece is a portrait of de Gheyn"s friend Maurits Huygens, wearing similar clothing (ruffs and black doublets) and facing the opposite direction. This was a shared interest with the Huygens family who lived close by (Christian Huygens Senior was councillor of state). Excepting tours of London in 1618 with the Huygens brothers and Sweden in 1620, De Gheyn lived in the Hague until 1634, when he moved to Utrecht to become canon of Street Mary"s church (torn down in the 19th century). His engravings became known though the writings of Aernout van Buchel who admired his work. Of De Gheyn is smaller than most of Rembrandt"s works, measuring only 29.9 by 24.9 centimetres (118 by 98 inches). lieutenant has been stolen numerous times (see below), and its size is one factor that has contributed to its numerous thefts. Huygens and de Gheyn had commissioned Rembrandt to paint them in identical formats and he did so upon the same oak panel. The friends had agreed that the first of them to die would receive the painting owned by the other, as evidenced by inscriptions on the their reverse. They were reunited when de Gheyn died. Dendrochronological research has revealed that Rembrandt also made a self-portrait in the same year with a panel from the same wood: has been given the moniker "takeaway Rembrandt" as it has been stolen four times since 1966 – the most recorded of any painting. Between 14 August 1981 and 3 September 1981 the painting was taken from Dulwich Picture Gallery and retrieved when police arrested four men in a taxi who had the painting with them. A little under two years later a burglar smashed a skylight and descended through it into the art gallery, using a crowbar to remove the painting from the wall. The police arrived within three minutes but were too late to apprehend the thief. was missing for three years, eventually being found on 8 October 1986 in a luggage rack at the train station of a British army garrison in Münster, Germany. The other two times, the painting was found once underneath a bench in a graveyard in Streatham, and once on the back of a bicycle. Each time the painting has been returned anonymously with more than one person being charged for its disappearance.

Jacob Jacob de Gheyn III

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artist engraver painter

Background

De Gheyn learned engraving from his father, who was a favored royal artist who designed a garden in the Hague for the royal family.

Education

The younger De Gheyn studied in Leiden with Constantijn and Maurits Huygens, who remained lifelong friends.

Career

The portrait is half of a pair of pendent portraits. The other piece is a portrait of de Gheyn"s friend Maurits Huygens, wearing similar clothing (ruffs and black doublets) and facing the opposite direction. This was a shared interest with the Huygens family who lived close by (Christian Huygens Senior was councillor of state).

Excepting tours of London in 1618 with the Huygens brothers and Sweden in 1620, De Gheyn lived in the Hague until 1634, when he moved to Utrecht to become canon of Street Mary"s church (torn down in the 19th century).

His engravings became known though the writings of Aernout van Buchel who admired his work. Of De Gheyn is smaller than most of Rembrandt"s works, measuring only 29.9 by 24.9 centimetres (118 by 98 inches).

lieutenant has been stolen numerous times (see below), and its size is one factor that has contributed to its numerous thefts. Huygens and de Gheyn had commissioned Rembrandt to paint them in identical formats and he did so upon the same oak panel.

The friends had agreed that the first of them to die would receive the painting owned by the other, as evidenced by inscriptions on the their reverse.

They were reunited when de Gheyn died. Dendrochronological research has revealed that Rembrandt also made a self-portrait in the same year with a panel from the same wood:

has been given the moniker "takeaway Rembrandt" as it has been stolen four times since 1966 – the most recorded of any painting. Between 14 August 1981 and 3 September 1981 the painting was taken from Dulwich Picture Gallery and retrieved when police arrested four men in a taxi who had the painting with them.

A little under two years later a burglar smashed a skylight and descended through it into the art gallery, using a crowbar to remove the painting from the wall.

The police arrived within three minutes but were too late to apprehend the thief. was missing for three years, eventually being found on 8 October 1986 in a luggage rack at the train station of a British army garrison in Münster, Germany. The other two times, the painting was found once underneath a bench in a graveyard in Streatham, and once on the back of a bicycle.

Each time the painting has been returned anonymously with more than one person being charged for its disappearance.

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Jacob Jacob de Gheyn III

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