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Jan de Bray (painter) Dutch, c. 1627 - 1688 Portrait of the Artist's Parents, Salomon de Bray and Anna Westerbaen, 1664 oil on panel Overall: 78.1 x 63.5 cm (30 3/4 x 25 in.) framed: 99.7 x 85.7 x 8.9 cm (39 1/4 x 33 3/4 x 3 1/2 in.) Gift of Joseph F. McCrindle in memory of his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Feder 2001.86.1 On View |
Although this compelling double portrait traditionally has been dated to around 1660, Jan de Bray almost certainly painted it in May 1664 as a posthumous portrait of his parents shortly after they had succumbed to the plague in Haarlem. This stark double profile image has a timeless quality that is enhanced by the parents' simple black dress and austere surroundings. Jan represented Salomon (1597–1664) with his left hand outstretched as though he were about to speak, a rhetorical pose that identifies him as a man who excelled at intellectual pursuits. Such associations are reinforced by his skullcap, dark mantle, and simple white collar—all common scholarly attire. De Bray stipulated in his will that the painting should be given to the city of Haarlem, an indication that he viewed this work as a commemorative portrait, one that would ensure that his parents would not be forgotten.
The profile portrait was a common format on Roman coins, cameos, and celebratory medals depicting individuals of high birth and rank. The tradition of using profile portraits to represent famous men and women was revived in the Renaissance and is even found in the seventeenth-century Netherlands, specifically in representations of the prince and princess of Orange. De Bray's use of overlapping profile portraits, however, is found only rarely in seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish painting, the most important precedent being Peter Paul Rubens' (1577–1640) Agrippina and Germanicus. Rubens, who studied and collected antique cameos and medallions, explicitly adapted this format for his painting of these Roman aristocrats, which he probably executed shortly after he visited Hendrik Goltzius (1558–1617) in Haarlem in 1613. De Bray, who may have been familiar with this evocation of a cameo, chose a similar pose to imbue his parents' portrait with classical ideals of dignity and permanence.