Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen Painting a Portrait of His Wife
Artist: Dirck Jacobsz. (Dutch, ca. 1497-1567)
Date: about 1550
Dimensions:
painting: 24 7/16 x 19 7/16 in. (62.1 x 49.4 cm)
framed: 27 3/4 x 23 x 1 3/4 in. (70.5 x 58.4 x 4.4 cm)
Medium: oil on wood panel
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1960.7
Label Text:An artist stands before his easel, painting a portrait. He looks out, presumably at the woman whose likeness he is painting. Yet on further consideration it becomes apparent that both the painter and the painted gaze out, but at whom? Who was originally intended to view this painting?
Dirck Jacobsz here depicted his deceased father, Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (about 1472-1533), also a painter. The painting within the painting shows Jacobsz’s mother, who died some years after her husband, possibly around the time this panel was painted. This unusual double portrait seems to be a kind of personal memorial by the son, who would have been positioned before the panel as painter, viewer, and object of his parents’ “attention.” The picture may also have served a more public function, since it possibly was installed above the couples’ grave.
Dirck Jacobsz here depicted his deceased father, Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (about 1472-1533), also a painter. The painting within the painting shows Jacobsz’s mother, who died some years after her husband, possibly around the time this panel was painted. This unusual double portrait seems to be a kind of personal memorial by the son, who would have been positioned before the panel as painter, viewer, and object of his parents’ “attention.” The picture may also have served a more public function, since it possibly was installed above the couples’ grave.
On view
In Collection(s)