Cosimo III de' Medici (1642–1723), later Grand Duke of Tuscany

Artist Justus Sustermans (Giusto Suttermans) Flemish, active in Italy, 1597–1681

Datecirca 1644–1646

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions38 1/2 x 29 in. (97.8 x 73.7 cm)
Frame: 45 3/8 x 36 1/2 in. (115.3 x 92.7 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina

Object number52.9.114

On View

On view

ProvenanceCreated Florence [present day Italy], ca. 1644–1646. Probably Lucien Bonaparte (1775–1840), Prince Français, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano; [his sale, William Buchanan, London, February 6, 1815, no. 13, as Portrait of a Child of the Family Medicis, by Souttermans, bought in]; [his sale, Stanley, London, May 16, 1816, no. 138, as Portrait of a Boy of the House of Medici, by Soutermans]. [1] Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814– 1906), 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts, Holly Lodge, Highgate, London; Lady Beryl Gilbert (d. 1918), Revesby Abbey, Boston, Lincolnshire, England; [posthumous sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, February 8, 1918, no. 125, as Portrait of a Child, by Cuyp. [David M. Koetser Gallery, New York]; sold to NCMA, 1952.

[1] The painting sold at the second Bonaparte sale, in 1816, but the buyer is not listed.
Published ReferencesProbably “Catalogue of the splendid collection of pictures belonging to Prince Lucien Bonaparte” (auction catalogue) (London: William Buchanan, February 6, 1815), lot 13, as Portrait of a Child of the Family Medicis, by Souttermans.

Probably “A catalogue of the magnificent gallery of paintings, the property of Lucien Bonaparte” (auction catalogue) (London: Stanley, May 14-16, 1816), lot 138, as Portrait of a Boy of the House of Medici, by Soutermans (sold May 16).

Pierre Bautier, Juste Suttermans: peintre des Medicis (Brussels: 1912), 91-94.

“Catalogue of ancient and modern pictures and drawings…also pictures by old masters the property of the Lady Beryl Gilbert, removed from Revesby Abbey, Boston, Lincolnshire” (auction catalogue) (London: Christie, Manson & Woods, February 8, 1918), lot 125, as Portrait of a Child, by Cuyp.

Betty Chamberlain, "North Carolina: First state-initiated collection: How to get and spend a million dollars for art," Art News 55, no. 2 (April 1956), 38, illus.

W. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 138, illus. (b-w).

Eduard Plietzsch, Holländische und Flämische Maler des XVII Jahrhunderts (Leipzig: E. A. Seemann, 1960), cat. no. 356, illus.

La Siecle de Rubens (exhibition catalogue) (Brussels: Musées des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 1965), cat. no. 270, illus.

B. Purrucker, “Knaben in Mädchenkleider II,” Waffen und Kostümkunde: Zeitschrift für Historische Waffen und Kostümkunde 3, no. 17 (1975), plate 54, illus. (b-w).

Karla Langedijk, Portraits of the Medici: 15th-18th Century, 1 (1981), 605, 607.

Sustermans: Sessant 'anni alla corte dei Medici (exhibition catalogue) (Florence: Palazzo Pitti, 1983), cat. no. 166, illus.

Jo Allen and Gil Leebrick, eds., Robert Lee Humber: A Collector Creates (exhibition catalogue) (Greenville, NC: The College of Arts and Sciences and The School of Art, East Carolina University, 1996), illus. (color) 38.

Eleanor H. Gustafson, "Museum accessions," Antiques (April 2004), mentioned 30.

“Old Master Paintings,” (auction catalogue) (London: Sotheby’s, July 6, 2006), mentioned in entry for lot 218.

Dennis P. Weller, Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings [Systematic Catalogue of the Collection] (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2009), cat. no. 72, illus. (color) 347.
Exhibition HistoryBrussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, "Le Siecle de Rubens," October 15-December, 1965, cat. no. 270, illus.

Greenville, N.C., Gray Gallery, Jenkins Fine Arts Center, Eastern Carolina University, "Four New Exhibitions," February 7-April 30, 1980.

Florence, Palazzo Pitti, "Sustermans: Sessant 'anni alla corte dei Medici," July-October, 1983, cat. no. 166, illus.

Greenville, NC, East Carolina University, Wellington B. Gray Gallery, "Robert Lee Humber: A Collector Creates," November 1-23, 1996, illus. (color) 38.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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