plate no. 2110

Portrait of Jan de Reus

oilBaroqueportraitportraitfiguremanclothinghairdrapery

what to study here

It shows how a near-binary value structure and soft modeling can make an aged face the sole focal point against a nearly black ground.

Study how the whole picture is organized around one lit oval. The light comes from the left-front and rakes across the face, while the background and coat sit near black. The face and neck linen are the lightest values, and the hair holds warm mid-tones between the two extremes. Squint and you should see a bright oval floating in darkness. Then look inside the face. The modeling is done with small value shifts: lit cheek and forehead, deeper eye sockets, a warmer underside of the jaw. There are no hard transitions, so the age reads through softness, not through sharply drawn wrinkles. Edges are soft throughout, and the hair is built from directional strokes that follow the waves but stay cohesive. The linen collar has slightly crisper edges where it meets the dark coat, and it works as a small value accent that anchors the head. Note the warmth in the whites: the linen is off-white, not pure white. Copy this restraint when you paint an older sitter: keep the background recessive and let the face carry the picture.

key decision

Maes keeps the background and clothing nearly black and reserves the lightest values for the face and linen. Soft, small value shifts model the face, so the eye goes straight to the head.

recreation guide

Nicolaes Maes’s 'Portrait of Jan de Reus' (1680) represents the artist’s mature style, characterized by a shift from the austere, dark-background portraits of his early career to a lighter, more elegant aesthetic influenced by Flemish and French portraiture (Source 3). By 1680, Maes was the leading portrait painter in Amsterdam, catering to a prosperous mercantile class who favored sophisticated staging over the somber Calvinist restraint of earlier Dutch traditions (Source 4, Source 7). The work likely employs the standardized formats Maes used during this period, potentially featuring a half-length or three-quarter-length figure set against a lighter background, possibly a garden or terrace, reflecting the 'lighter spirit of the times' (Source 3).

estimated time

20-30 hours over 5-7 sessions

materials

4 items

steps

5 in sequence

materials

item	purpose	modern equivalent
Oil paints (White Lead, Yellow Ochre, Red Ochre, Black, Ultramarine, Vermilion/Cinnabar)	Primary pigments for underpainting and glazing, consistent with historical palettes described in sources.	Titanium White (for safety, though Lead White is historically accurate), Cadmium Yellow/Red, Ivory Black, Ultramarine Blue.
Linseed Oil or Oil of Copavia	Medium for mixing paints, specifically noted by Reynolds as used by old masters for first and second paintings.	Stand Oil or Linseed Oil.
Varnish	Mixed with oil for later glazing stages to gain mastery over transparent coats.	Dammar Varnish or Synthetic Resin Varnish.
Canvas	Support for the oil painting.	Linen canvas, primed.

preparation

surface prep

The canvas should be prepared with a ground suitable for oil painting. While specific ground recipes for Maes are not detailed in the sources, the practice of the 'old masters' involved preparing a surface that could support glazing and scumbling (Source 1). A neutral or slightly warm ground is often preferred for this technique to allow the underlying tones to influence the final color.

underdrawing

Sources do not explicitly describe Maes’s underdrawing method for this specific portrait. However, as a pupil of Rembrandt and a master of the Dutch Golden Age, he likely employed a loose, fluid underdrawing to establish composition and light before applying paint. The focus in the sources is on the painting process rather than the drawing stage.

underpainting

The process likely begins with a monochrome underpainting (grisaille). Source 1 describes a method where the artist mentally extracts red and yellow colors, painting the remaining tones in black, ultramarine, and white (or similar earth tones) to establish form and value. This grisaille must be quite dry before proceeding to color (Source 1).

color palette

White

White Lead or Chalk White

Highlights and mixing for lighter tones in the grisaille and final layers.

Black

Ivory Black or Vine Black

Shadows and defining forms in the grisaille stage.

Yellow Ochre

Natural Ochre

General use in the palette; ancient artists used this for fixedness and covering (Source 2).

Red Ochre/Vermilion

Red Ochre or Cinnabar (Vermilion)

Flesh tones and clothing accents; applied via glazing and scumbling.

Ultramarine

Shadows and cool tones in the grisaille and final glazes.

composition

Maes’s mature portraits from the 1670s and 1680s often featured sitters in elegant gardens or against sunset skies, with a free brushstroke and emphasis on gestures and poses (Source 3). The composition likely avoids the 'swagger and excessive rhetoric' of aristocratic Baroque portraiture, favoring a more restrained but elegant presentation typical of Dutch burgher portraits (Source 5). The sitter may be leaning against a prop such as a column or rock, consistent with Maes’s standardized formats for three-quarter-length figures (Source 3).

step by step

underpainting→first pass→refining→finishing

underpainting

step 01
Create a grisaille (monochrome underpainting) using black, ultramarine, and white. Mentally extract red and yellow tones to focus on form and value.
Tip — Ensure the grisaille is quite dry before proceeding to color layers.
Grisaille

first pass

step 02
Apply transparent glazes of yellow and red tones over the dry grisaille. Use oil as a medium initially.
Tip — Glazing is a transparent coat of color that allows the underlying painting to show through.
Glazing

refining

step 03
Use scumbling (semi-opaque painting) to adjust tones and create effects like a 'grey bloom' over darker grounds.
Tip — Scumbling tends to coldness when employed over a darker ground; use it to refine highlights and mid-tones.
Scumbling

finishing

step 04
As mastery is gained, mix varnish with oil for subsequent glazing layers to deepen colors and unify the surface.
Tip — This method was practiced by old masters to achieve rich, luminous colors.
Varnish Glazing
step 05
Pay attention to the simultaneous contrast of colors, ensuring that adjacent tones modify each other correctly to avoid inaccurate color perception.
Tip — The eye may see colors inaccurately due to mixed contrast; adjust tones to reflect the true interaction of adjacent hues.
Simultaneous Contrast

critical techniques

Glazing and Scumbling

Used to build up color and luminosity over a dry monochrome underpainting. Glazing adds transparent color, while scumbling adds semi-opaque layers to modify tone and texture.

Monochrome Underpainting (Grisaille)

Establishes form and value without the distraction of color, allowing for precise control over light and shadow before introducing hue.

Simultaneous Contrast

Understanding how adjacent colors influence each other’s appearance to achieve accurate color harmony and tonal balance.

common pitfalls

→Applying color layers before the grisaille is completely dry, which can lead to muddying and loss of clarity (Source 1).
→Ignoring the effects of simultaneous contrast, leading to inaccurate color perception and disharmonious tones (Source 6).
→Over-modeling or becoming too tied to outlines, which can result in a stiff, lifeless appearance; Maes’s later style favored a free brushstroke (Source 3, Source 8).
→Using a palette that is too limited or too complex without understanding the chemical stability of pigments; earths and ochres are recommended for their fixedness and covering power (Source 2).

what the sources don't tell us

Where the corpus is silent, we say so rather than guess. These are the gaps a complete recreation guide would normally cover that our source passages don't.

·Specific details of Jan de Reus’s clothing, jewelry, or facial expression are not described in the sources.
·The exact dimensions and format (half-length vs. three-quarter-length) of this specific portrait are not confirmed, though Maes’s standard formats are described.
·Maes’s specific underdrawing technique for this work is not documented in the provided sources.
·The specific background setting (garden, terrace, or dark) for this particular portrait is not explicitly stated, though general trends are noted.

grounded in

The technical procedure in this guide traces to the following classical art-instruction texts.

The Practice of Oil Painting↗
- COLOURING A MONOCHROME — applied to Underpainting, glazing, and scumbling techniques.
Laws of Contrast of Colour↗
- 315-318 — applied to Color theory and simultaneous contrast.
The Science of Painting↗
- CHAPTER V. COLOURING SUBSTANCES — applied to Palette selection and pigment properties.

cross-referenced from

Named facts about this artwork and artist were checked against these reference pages.

Wikipedia bio — Nicolaes Maes↗
- part 4 — applied to Style evolution, composition, and standardized formats.
Wikipedia: Dutch Golden Age painting↗
- part 8 — applied to Context of Dutch portrait conventions.

Read more about the corpus on the sources page and how the guides are built on the methods page.

read from the painting

observed from the image, not the label

6 dominant colors, measured

what the eye sees

Light sources from the left-front, raking across the face and creating a strong focal point of illumination against an almost entirely dark background. The elderly man's face and neck linen are the brightest elements, emerging dramatically from black and very dark brown surrounding the shoulders and hair. The eye travels directly to the face because of this stark value contrast; the composition is simple but powerfully directed. The long, wavy hair and dark coat recede into the shadows, framing the head.

value structure

Nearly binary value structure: the background and clothing are nearly black (darkest darks), while the face and neck linen sit in the light zone (lightest lights). The hair occupies warm mid-tones that bridge these extremes. Within the face itself, subtle shifts—from the lit cheek and forehead to shadowed eye sockets and the warm underside of the jaw—create dimension without dramatic contrast. Squint and you see a bright oval (the face) floating in darkness.

observed palette and mixes

#201c19
Ivory black + raw umber, slightly warm
Background, clothing, and deep shadows throughout
#604f37
Raw umber + burnt sienna + touches of yellow ochre
Hair, warmer mid-tones in shadows, and upper background undertones
#d4c5a9
Titanium white + raw umber + touch of burnt sienna
Flesh base in lit areas, creating warm, aged skin tone
#f5f1e8
Titanium white + trace of raw umber
Linen collar and cravat, off-white with subtle warmth
#8b7355
Raw umber + burnt sienna, warmed
Shadow areas of the face, creating age and depth

edges and brushwork

Edges are uniformly soft throughout—the face has no hard transitions, with subtle value shifts modeling the planes. Hair is rendered with directional strokes that suggest the flow of curls and waves, but the edges remain soft and the values blend naturally. The linen collar shows slightly crisper edges where it meets the dark coat, but even here the paint surface feels worked and integrated. Overall brushwork is invisible; you see form and light, not the hand that made it.

a working sequence

01
Establish the dark ground
Block in the entire background and clothing areas with a very dark brown-black (ivory black + raw umber). Work across the full composition—face will be saved for light. Keep the paint loose; this is your value foundation. The darkness should feel almost unified, with only the faintest warm variation in the upper areas near the hair.
02
Map proportions and position
Using a dry brush or charcoal, lightly sketch the head proportions and position. Mark the eye line, center of the face, and the angle of the shoulders. This person's face is roughly oval, slightly long; check that the nose sits at true center, the eyes are set well apart, and the hair mass balances the head shape.
03
Build the flesh base
Mix a warm, aged flesh tone (titanium white + raw umber + touch of burnt sienna). Apply this across the face and neck with gentle brushwork, leaving the darkest shadow areas (eye sockets, the underside of the jaw, along the nose) for layering. This base should feel luminous but not pink—think aged parchment in warm light.
04
Model the face with shadows
Deepen the shadow passages with a cooler, warmer mix (burnt sienna + raw umber + touch of the dark background). Work the eye sockets carefully, create the shadow plane under the cheekbone, define the nose with subtle shadow on one side. Age the face by softening all transitions—there should be no lines, only gentle shifts. The left eye (viewer's right) catches slightly more light; the right eye socket is deeper.
05
Develop the hair
Layer warm brown tones (raw umber + burnt sienna) into the hair area, following the direction of the waves and curls. Work lighter where light hits the outer edges and top; keep the interior shadowed. Blend softly so the hair feels like a cohesive mass, not individual strands. Observe the striated quality—light and shadow running through the waves—but resist overworking.
06
Paint the linen collar
Carefully render the white cravat and collar with off-white (titanium white + trace of raw umber). Add subtle shadow along the folds and where it sits against the neck. The linen is crisp in structure but soft in edges. Notice how it frames the neck and anchors the composition—it's a small but crucial value accent that breaks up the dark coat.
07
Render the visible hand
The left hand emerging from the coat shows similar aged flesh tones as the face. Keep it less detailed than the head but modeled with the same soft touch. The hand is at rest, the form clear but gentle. The cuff of white linen at the wrist echoes the collar.
08
Unify, soften, and strengthen the focal point
Step back frequently. Soften any hard edges that have crept in, especially around the face. Ensure the background remains nearly black and doesn't compete. Slightly strengthen the lightest lights on the face—the bridge of the nose, the highest points of the cheeks—to draw the eye. The entire surface should feel like quiet, confident brushwork. Age and dignity should dominate, not detail.

where studies of this painting go wrong

Making the background too warm or too light—it should feel almost black and utterly recessive, a void that supports the face
Over-detailing the face or adding too much surface texture; aged skin reads as soft and gently modeled, not etched. Resist the urge to render every wrinkle sharply
Rendering the hair as a uniform brown mass instead of suggesting directional waves and light-and-shadow play through it while keeping it cohesive
Making the linen collar pure white instead of off-white with warm undertones; it should feel like aged fabric in the same light as the face
Losing the quiet, dignified character by animating the expression too much; the age and gentle seriousness come from restraint, not exaggeration

measured difficulty