Abraham de Vries (painter)

[1] As he led a peripatetic lifestyle and worked in France, Antwerp and the Dutch Republic his stylistic qualities are difficult to pin down.

[1] During his period of residence in Aix-en-Provence around 1623-1624 he was the teacher of the Flemish artist Jan Cossiers who had travelled from his native Antwerp to the south of France.

During his stay in France he became acquainted with the prominent French scientist and humanist Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc who was a close friend of Rubens.

The Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria who was the Governor of the Spanish Netherlands saw a portrait by de Vries during his visit to Antwerp on 20 April 1635.

[2] A similar Flemish feistiness can be seen in his Portrait of a man holding a ring of 1629 (Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon).

[4] The textured description of skin and soft handling of hair from the mid-1630s onwards show the influence of Antwerp portrait painters of that period.

The influence was so strong that his Portrait of a Dutch gentleman (1647, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne) was for some time mistakenly attributed to Rembrandt.

In the background in the middle of the composition a member of staff of the orphanage leads a small orphan girl into the room and thereby links up the two groups.

In the Portrait of a Gentleman (1630–1640, Beecroft Art Gallery) de Vries employed a unique technique to render the sitter's broad lace collar: he applied the paint with his thumb.