Portraiture

During the seventeenth century, a burgeoning mercantile class eager to display their new-found wealth became a rich source of commissions for portrait painters. Strict Calvinistic principles precluded excessive rhetoric, meaning that, in general, portraiture of the time was characterised by sombre clothing and undemonstrative poses. Even a full-length might be construed as extravagant. The portraits selected here demonstrate a departure from that formulaic norm. It was thought that the inclusion of props, possessions or views of land in the background would demonstrate pride and, as such, there is a certain conventionality about many Dutch portraits.