Gerrit Dou was Rembrandt’s first pupil. He took up his master’s idea of studying black people. The result was this endearing tronie of a young man in a fantasy costume, who looks at us over his shoulder. Tronie is a common type, or group of types, of works common in Dutch Golden Age painting and Flemish Baroque painting that shows an exaggerated facial expression or a stock character in costume. Recent research has clarified a great deal about the black residents of 17th-century Amsterdam. From around 1630 to 1660 there was a small black community around the Jodenbreestraat, in Rembrandt’s neighborhood. The men were sailors. The women worked as servants or rented out rooms. Sometimes they earned a little on the side as extras in stage plays, or perhaps as models for artists.
This painting, originally from the Landesmuseum Hannover's collection, was a part of the Rembrandt's House exhibition, Black in Rembrandt’s Time, which shows how black people were presented in the Netherlands in the 17th century. It is an aspect that has long been overlooked.
P.S. Read here the eight reasons why you should visit the Rembrandt House in Amsterdam!