This early portrait was painted in Holland around 1631. The piece measureѳ 28 by 38 cm excluding a large gilt frame not showing on the image. The work is unsigned and shows the young and desperate artist during one of his hardest moments in his short life. Provenance from several major collections. The most notable of these would be the fact that the piece was given to his unrequited love Suzi Whiscas, who moved to Berlin and brought the painting with her. The painting has been found on a exhibition list from a show on degenerated art by the nazis in Munchen 1637. By chance the painting was not destroyed as was planned, but was given to Heinrich Himlers nephew as a toy. The Painting was purchased soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 by the english collector Geoff Somerset, who came across the piece for a bargain price in a secondhand store.