Following the death of Peter Paul Rubens in 1640 and Anthony van Dyck in 1641, Jacob Jordaens became Antwerp's leading painter. In this, a typical late portrait by Jordaens, he has endowed the anonymous sitter with a serene, monumental presence and surrounded her with signs of wealth. The presence of a parrot, a common symbol of matrimony in Flemish portraiture, suggests that this work was originally paired with a portrait of the woman's husband.

(back to top)