Jules Porgès collection, Paris, circa 1880-1914 (as Jan van Bijlert);
With Charles Brunner, Paris, by 1919 (as by Hendrick Ter Brugghen);
Private collection, United Kingdom;
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 6 December 1989, lot 241 (as by Jan van Bijlert), for £38,000 to Corsini;
With Pietro Corsini inc., New York, 1990;
With Galleria Caretto, Turin, 2006;
Acquired by the present owner in July 2006.

London, Robilant and Voena, French, Dutch and Flemish Caravaggesque Paintings from the Koelliker Collection, 2007, no. 4.

B. Nicolson, Hendrick Terbrugghen, London 1958, p. 46, under nos. A3 and A4 (as Anonymous);
G.J. Hoogewerff, "Jan van Bijlert, schilder van Utrecht", in Oud Holland, vol. 80, no. 1, 1965, p. 27, no. 44 (as Jan van Bijlert);
A. Blankert, "Heraclitus en Democritus in het bizjonder in de Nederlandse kunst van de 17de eeuw" in Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, vol. 18, 1967, p. 97, no. 30, reproduced p.62, fig. 18;
B. Nicolson (rev. L. Vertova), Caravaggism in Europe, vol. I, Turin 1989, p. 156, reproduced vol. III, plate 1355 (as Petrus Portengen);
Important Old Master Paintings, exhibition catalogue, New York 1990, p. 70, reproduced plate 14;
C, Wright in French, Dutch and Flemish Caravaggesque Paintings from the Koelliker Collection, London 2007, pp. 18-19, reproduced (as Hendrick Bloemaert).

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has an old lining and an old stretcher that has been extended quite long ago by narrow strips all round. The lining canvas has a few old mould spots that are clearly not active any more, and it appears to have been added over an even older lining in thicker canvas with a blue and white ticking weave. This double lining is very strong, but there is scarcely any accidental damage at all to account for it. The base edge is a little messy but with no retouching apart from one old knock at the base of the white sleeve, with a few smaller retouchings occasionally at the other edges. Elsewhere there is just a single small retouching by the right collarbone, and one or two other minimal touches in the main body of the painting. Various pentiments can be seen with the naked eye, for instance where the shirt is slipping off the shoulder, as well as by the hands and sleeves. The lining may be rather hard but the subtle quality of the brushwork and gentle tone is beautifully preserved. Not only is the painting remarkably undamaged but it is also in unusually good condition overall. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This striking depiction of the philosopher Democritus has confounded scholars throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. When in the Jules Porgès collection, Paris, it was considered to be by Jan van Bijlert and was later published as such by G.J. Hoogewerff in 1965 (see Literature). Prior to that it had been with Charles Brunner as either Hendrick Terbrugghen (according to Hoogewerff, 1965) or Bernardo Strozzi (according to Nicolson, 1989). Nicolson refuted the attribution to Terbrugghen in his 1958 monograph on the painter, later publishing it as a work by Petrus Portengen. More recently Christopher Wright has published it as by Hendrick Bloemaert, an attribution that has been fully endorsed by Dr. Albert Blankert and tentatively supported by Prof. Marcel Roethlisberger on the basis of photographs.