Portrait of Jakob Zeeus

This preparatory drawing for Houbraken's engraving was executed as part of a vibrant tradition of exchange between the practitioners of the visual and written arts. Jakob Zeeus (1686-1718), the sitter in the present portrait, was a notable poet and singer and his portrait is similar to those which Arnold Houbraken executed of Dutch Golden Age painters in his De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718), the work for which he is now best known. The verses on the present portrait describe Zeeus appealing to the goddess of Song and winning her favour through his devotion to his art. They appear to be from the hand of Frans Greenwood (1680-1753), an amateur poet and draftsman who was one of the most highly regarded stipple-engravers on glass in this period. Zeeus himself had, on an earlier occasion, written laudatory verses for the portrait of his fellow Dutch poet Joost van den Vondel, which was engraved by Pieter van Gunst (circa 1714; British Museum, inv. 1874,1212.1).