Pompeius Occo

portrait

The escutcheon hanging from the branch tells us that this is Pompeius Occo: a man from East Friesland who had become an Amsterdam banker and merchant with international connections, a humanist and a prominent citizen, and also King Christian II of Denmark's diplomatic representative in the Netherlands. Jacobsz portrayed the banker as a self-assured individual. His attributes - a skull and a carnation - are references to Occo's religion, in which this earthly existence is merely transient but there is hope of eternal life.

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About the Artist

Dirck Jacobsz.

1496 – 1567

Dirck Jacobsz, the son of Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen was one of the first artists to specialize in portraiture. In 1529 he also painted the first portrait of a civic guard association, which was to became a Dutch speciality. He was later eclipsed by Anthonis Mor of Utrecht, court painter to the Spanish Netherlands.

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