Portraits by the Mysterious “Master I.S.”:  An Art History Detective Story

Master I.S., Portrait of a Woman, Facing Left, ca. 1650. Private collection, courtesy of Nicholas Hall.

A long absence from Leiden

Before last week, I hadn’t been to the Lakenhal Museum in Leiden since January 1978. Back then, I was 22 y.o., and one of ten graduate students on a tour of Netherlands art museums. Our guide was Franklin Robinson, an expert in early modern Dutch Art and a man of limitless enthusiasm. “Uitstekend!” he’d exclaim, before picture after picture.  He expounded upon everything on view...