BIJLERT Jan Harmensz van (School of) Utrecht 1597 - 1671. Coridon or the shepherd with a fig. Oil on canvas (Re-tooled; restorations, notably on the right hand, shoulder and back, and the drapery; spotting on the cheek). H. 83.5 - L. 66.5 cm. An early version of an original that seems to have disappeared, but is known from the engraving by Crispinj de Passe (1643) and forms a counterpart to the portrait of the shepherdess Silvia. The fig is an explicit allusion in the language of love to feminine attributes (Cf. Paul Huys Janssen, Jan van Bijlert, Catalogue raisonné, P.5 & Plate 202 & 203- 1998).