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Dentist by Candlelight

Gerrit Douc. 1660–65

Kimbell Art Museum

Kimbell Art Museum
Fort Worth, United States

The contemporary of Johannes Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch, Gerrit Dou was the founder of the so-called fijnschilders (“fine painters”) of his native Leiden, notable for the miniaturistic detail and polished surface of their work. In Dentist by Candlelight, Dou displays his legendary virtuosity in rendering still-life objects, the effects of artificial light, and the nuances of emotional states.

The tooth-puller is a frequently depicted subject in Dutch and Flemish art from the seventeenth century. Dou incorporates the familiar components of the scene, including the long-suffering patient and concerned onlooker, here no doubt his wife. Dou’s visual wit is evident as the anxious, open-mouthed patient rolls his eyes upward to see the sharp-toothed crocodile (often displayed on the premises of barber-surgeons) suspended above him.

By 1660, Dou’s reputation surpassed those of all other Dutch painters, including that of his former teacher, Rembrandt van Rijn. After visiting Dou’s studio in 1662, the Danish scholar Ole Borch proclaimed the painter to be “unequaled in the Netherlands and even in all other countries in the world.”

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  • Title: Dentist by Candlelight
  • Creator: Gerrit Dou
  • Date Created: c. 1660–65
  • Physical Dimensions: 14 5/8 x 10 7/8 in. (37.2 x 27.7 cm)
  • Provenance: Willem Six [1662–1733], Amsterdam; (his deceased sale, Pieter van den Berge, Amsterdam, 12 May 1734, no. 17;) purchased for Dfl. 1,005 by a member of the Six family, Amsterdam; by descent in the Six family, Amsterdam; purchased in 1803 by (Louis-Bernard Coclers.) Possibly Mme Hoffmann, Haarlem, by 1827. Probably Johann Goll van Frankenstein [1756-1821], Amsterdam; his son Pieter Hendrik Goll van Franckenstein [1787-1832]; (his deceased sale, De Vries and Roos, Amsterdam, 7 July 1833, no. 15); purchased for Dfl. 7,375 by Albertus Brondgeest for M. Six van Hillegom, Amsterdam; by descent in the Six Collection, Amsterdam; (sale, Frederik Muller, Amsterdam, 10 July 1923, no. 102); purchased for Dfl. 20,400 by (Paul Cassirer, Berlin); private collection, Middle Rhine region, Germany, since 1923/27; (sale, van Ham, Cologne, 28 June 2001, no. 1263); (Otto Nauman, New York); purchased by Kimbell Art Foundation, Fort Worth, 2002.
  • Rights: Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
  • External Link: www.kimbellart.org
  • Medium: Oil on oak panel
  • Japanese: Dutch
  • Century: 17th century
  • Artist Dates: (1613–1675)
Kimbell Art Museum

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