A Dutch Family Group (Portrait of Two Boys)
About this artwork
This painting was formerly part of a much larger composition, which at some point was cut into smaller pieces. The Scottish National Gallery also owns another fragment from the same work (NG 2259). The picture has previously been ascribed to various Dutch artists, including to Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp and Karl van Mander III, but it has more recently been attributed to Jan Daemen Cool. Cool painted a number of family portraits. This painting is from the left of the original composition. Two young boys stand against a seascape with a huge gunship anchored off-shore. They are dressed in fashionable clothes and so clearly belong to a wealthy family. The inclusion of boats and the sea may allude to the family’s involvement with the shipping industry.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Jan Daemen Cool (1584 - 1660) Dutch
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title:A Dutch Family Group (Portrait of Two Boys)
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date created:1633
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materials:Oil on panel
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measurements:Fragment: 108.00 x 83.20 cm; Framed: 116.00 x 92.00 x 7.50 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1891
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accession number:NG 824
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gallery:
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subject:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Jan Daemen Cool
Jan Daemen Cool
Little is known of the artist Jan Daemen Cool. He was born in Rotterdam in 1589, and by 1614 he is recorded as entering the Painters’ Guild of Saint Luke in Delft. While in Delft, he was possibly the pupil of Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt, an extremely successful portrait painter whose style was...