Before the year 1600, self-portraits were a pretty rare phenomenon in the art scene of the Northern Netherlands. While self-portraits would become a much sought-after commodity for art lovers in later centuries, only a few have survived from this early period.
This is an example of those earlier ones, a portrait that the Amsterdam pain...ter Jacob Cornelisz. Van Oostsanen (ca. 1470-1533) made of himself. The twisted position of the man and his turned eyes are typical of those who watch themselves in a mirror. The trompe l’oeil note, left on the painting, shows an I and A (for Iacobus Amstelodamensis, Jacob of Amsterdam) with a house mark, along with the year 1533.
It is known that by October of that same year he had died, and there is some controversy on whether the painting was perhaps made earlier and only the note added to it in 1533, especially since the style resembles his earlier work (1520s).
What is certain is that his son Dirck Jacobsz later used the self-portrait in a rather curious anachronistic tribute to his parents: it shows his father, looking like he did in the 1530s (or 1520s), painting his mother who looked like she did around 1550. The latter painting is owned by the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio.
This is an example of those earlier ones, a portrait that the Amsterdam pain...ter Jacob Cornelisz. Van Oostsanen (ca. 1470-1533) made of himself. The twisted position of the man and his turned eyes are typical of those who watch themselves in a mirror. The trompe l’oeil note, left on the painting, shows an I and A (for Iacobus Amstelodamensis, Jacob of Amsterdam) with a house mark, along with the year 1533.
It is known that by October of that same year he had died, and there is some controversy on whether the painting was perhaps made earlier and only the note added to it in 1533, especially since the style resembles his earlier work (1520s).
What is certain is that his son Dirck Jacobsz later used the self-portrait in a rather curious anachronistic tribute to his parents: it shows his father, looking like he did in the 1530s (or 1520s), painting his mother who looked like she did around 1550. The latter painting is owned by the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio.
Comments