"17th century Dutch scientist": this probably is Christiaan Huygens

Artcurial Lyon, France, sells on 8 October 2016 as lot 114 a "Dutch School, 17th century, circle of Caspar Netscher" portrait of a scientist, a relatively small work (39 by 31 cm) estimated at 2,000 to 3,000 Euro.

Considering its scale, it's rather well painted and worth the estimate on that basis, but this time I'm more interested in the sitter.

We can see on the left side of the painting a globe (probably a celestial globe), a telescope, what looks like a a microscope, and some other scientific instruments. In this period (second half of the 17th century), there were two important scientists in the Netherlands active with these things: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723), father of the microscope but not busy with telescopes; and Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695).

Huygens worked with telescopes, discovered the moon Titan, and invented a time of eyepiece for telescopes (which may be the supposed micrscope in the painting).

There are only two portraits of Huygens as an adult made during his life known at the moment, as far as I know. One is a painting by Netscher from 1671, the other an engraving of an unknown date. The painting we have here seems to be somewhat later than the Netscher painting, ca. 1680. It ha the same long nose, the same somewhat rounded, fleshy face, and the same pronounced chin (though the one for sale lacks the cleft in the chin).

He also resembles his younger brother (and telescope maker) Constantijn Huygens Jr., who is thus also a possible but to me less likely sitter.

I contacted the Rijksmuseum about this painting (the Netherlands doesn't have a National Portrait Gallery as such), but so far haven't gotten a reply (not that they have had that much time since my mail to them), and with this auction nearby, I post it here now anyway to save this one from obscurity (assuming my identification is correct).

If this really is Huygens, one of the greatest Dutchmen ever and with only one other portrait painting known, it should be worth loads more than the estimate, and it wouldn't surprise me if with that description it fetched 20,000 Euro.

UPDATE: sold for 3,203 Euro. If my theory is right, someone got a good bargain. I haven't heard anything from the Dutch museums I contacted, either before or after the sale, which is a bit disappointing.  Perhaps it will resurface in the near future!