Hendrik Schoock (1630 Utrecht - 1707 ibid.) Portrait of the Utrecht councillor and lawyer Eduard van Voorst Composed in a stone window, a genre-like portrait of Eduard van Voorst at the age of 35, depicted as a councillor in a brown robe and beret, his right arm resting on a green velvet cushion. Behind the sitter, the view opens up into an indistinct interior, framed by a heavy curtain in the left half of the picture. The finely painted, harmonious panel painting is entirely in the tradition of the so-called "window paintings", as characterised above all by the Leiden painter Gerrit (Gerard) Dou (1613 - 1675). This is particularly evident in the composition of the picture, which has obvious parallels to Dou's "Self-Portrait in a Window" (Collection of the Residenzgalerie in Salzburg, inv. no. 536). The portrait is a rare work close to genre painting in Schoock's oeuvre, who, as a pupil of Abraham Bloemaert and Jan Davidz. de Heem, devoted himself almost exclusively to still life painting. However, Houbraken indicates that Schoock, who was also a pupil in the workshop of Jan Lievens, initially tried his hand at genre painting before specialising in his characteristic flower pieces. The present cabinet piece depicts Schoock's cousin Eduard van Voorst (1638 - 1694) and was created (according to the date on the reverse) in the exact year in which the painter and his cousin made a bet: 1673. According to traditional sources, part of this bet was which of the two competitors would marry first - the outcome of this agreement, however, is not sufficiently clear. In 1697, Schoock founded a drawing academy in Utrecht together with Gerard Hoet (1648 - 1733). Oil/oak panel. Signed lower left; old paper label verso with information on the sitter and date 1673. 49 cm x 37 cm. Frame. The painting is registered by the RKD in The Hague as a "Portrait of Eduard van Voorst" (RKD no. 169651), there as a work by an anonymous painter, dated 1673. Provenance: Auction at Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, Feb. 1969, lot 204; liquidation of an important German private collection - part II. Oil on oak panel. Signed. Information about the sitter provided on an old label with year 1673 on the reverse.