Portrait of a Man Holding a Watch

About the Artwork

Held in the hand or displayed in a private domestic space, miniature portraits were designed for intimate viewing. The sitter holds a watch, often a symbol of mortality and the passage of time. Like his colleague Gerrit Dou, Slingelandt was one of the Leiden fijnschilders (fine painters), a group of artists whose paintings were internationally recognized for their extraordinary detail and precise technique.

Inscriptions

signed with monogram at right, lower center: PVS

Provenance

Sept. 4, 2016: (Schloss Ahlden, Ahlden, Germany, September 4, 2016, no. 1094) Sept. 4, 2016 - 2017: (Phillip Mould & Co., London, by whom sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.

Quick Overview

Artist: Pieter Cornelisz van Slingelandt (Dutch)
Date: c. 1665–70
Medium: oil on wood
Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 cm (3 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: European Painting and Sculpture
Credit line: L. E. Holden Fund
Accession no.: 2017.105

Open-access museum record · AT-00009940