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Lot Essay
Ferdinand Bol is Rembrandt’s best-known and, arguably, his most gifted pupil. Born in Dordrecht he settled in Amsterdam in 1637, where he rose to become one of the Dutch Republic’s most respected history and portrait painters. The present pair of portraits epitomizes Bol’s mature and elegant portrait style, when the artist had broken away from the style of his teacher.
The male sitter, Pieter Bouwens, was born in Aachen, descending of a Dutch family of merchants. Having moved to Amsterdam at a young age Pieter and his father accrued their wealth in the trade of iron and copper. On 11 June 1651 he married Anna Maria van Nutt in Amsterdam, taking up residence on the Geldersekade. Anna Maria was also native of Aachen and born into a merchant family, and when Pieter died in 1680, she continued her husband’s trading business.
Bol portrayed Bouwens frontally. The merchant strikes a pose of confidence with one hand akimbo and the other resting on the stone balustrade. By comparison, Anna Maria is shown demure. The fan she holds, an attribute denoting status, is enveloped in Orange blossom, a well-known marriage symbol, while the branch of roses on the balustrade is a symbolic allusion to love. The curtains not only lend these portraits an air of gravitas, the red colour also exudes warmth and is here cleverly used as a counterweight to the dominating passages in black and white.
The male sitter, Pieter Bouwens, was born in Aachen, descending of a Dutch family of merchants. Having moved to Amsterdam at a young age Pieter and his father accrued their wealth in the trade of iron and copper. On 11 June 1651 he married Anna Maria van Nutt in Amsterdam, taking up residence on the Geldersekade. Anna Maria was also native of Aachen and born into a merchant family, and when Pieter died in 1680, she continued her husband’s trading business.
Bol portrayed Bouwens frontally. The merchant strikes a pose of confidence with one hand akimbo and the other resting on the stone balustrade. By comparison, Anna Maria is shown demure. The fan she holds, an attribute denoting status, is enveloped in Orange blossom, a well-known marriage symbol, while the branch of roses on the balustrade is a symbolic allusion to love. The curtains not only lend these portraits an air of gravitas, the red colour also exudes warmth and is here cleverly used as a counterweight to the dominating passages in black and white.