Prince Charles Louis with His Tutor, as Alexander Instructed by Aristotle

1631 · J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

portrait

This painting is a 'portrait historié' with contemporary sitters in the role of biblical or historical figures. The young man in his rich dress is most probably the palatine Prince Charles Louis (1617-1680), the eldest surviving son of the Winter King and Winter Queen, whereas the older man is his tutor Wolrad von Plessen (1560-1632), and they are represented as Alexander the Great and Aristotle. The portrait historié was rather popular at the Palatine court in exile.

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Prince Charles Louis with His Tutor, as Alexander Instructed by Aristotle

About the Artist

Jan Lievens

1607 – 1674

Jan Lievens (or Lievensz.), Dutch painter of portraits and religious, allegorical and genre subjects. He was a friend and contemporary of Rembrandt and a pupil of Lastman in Amsterdam. Then shared a studio with Rembrandt in Leiden in the later 1620s: many works of this period show one influencing the other. Lievens went to England, probably in 1632 after Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam, but he was in Antwerp by 1635, where he was influenced by the courtly style of Van Dyck. He returned to Holland in 1639 and became a successful painter of portraits and allegories. Raising of Lazarus is a good example of his works.

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