Petrus Rutgers

New research re-identifies the painter of this rare work and the sitter.

Once thought to be a portrait of Anthony Rutgers by Pieter Vanderlyn, this painting has recently been firmly reattributed to Gerardus Duyckinck. Based on stylistic analysis, baptismal records, genealogical research, and common sense, the sitter has been re-identified as Anthony's son, Petrus. The portrait shows Petrus Rutgers in an authoritative yet comfortable pose, with one glove casually grasped in his left hand. A hazy landscape can be seen through an opening to his right. The composition is based on that of British mezzotints, a practice shared by numerous colonial painters, from the Duyckincks all the way to John Singleton Copley, often with full cooperation from the sitters.

The Duyckincks were a family of painters and artisans working in New York across four generations. By 1731, at age thirty-six, Gerardus Duyckinck was listed as a freeman of the City of New York (meaning he had finally completed his apprenticeship). In 1735 he advertised in the New-York Weekly Journal:

"Lookin-glasses new Silvered, and the Frames plaine Japan'd or Flowered, also all sorts of Picktures, made and Sold, all manner of painting Work done. Likewise Lookinglasses, and all sorts of painting Coullers and Oyl sold at reasonable Rates, by Gerardus Duyckinck at the Sign of the two Cupids, near the Old Slip Market. N.B.Where you may have ready Money for old Lookinglasses"

The advertisement testifies to the multitasking required of working artists in the 18th century, who could not depend upon portraiture alone.