Portrait of a Man as a Turkish Prince

Private collection

portrait

The present portrait is actually a so-called 'portrait historié', a real portrait of a sitter shown as a historic figure, in this case as Jonathan. The biblical figure of Jonathan is described in the Bible, in the Old Testament, in book 1 of Samuel. He was the son of King Saul and a close friend of King David.

About the Artist

Jan Victors

1619 – 1676

Dutch painter, one of Rembrandt 's lesser known pupils, who joined Rembrandt's studio around 1635. He was far from being a genius and his life was a hard one. He tried to make a living by giving nurcing assistance to families stricken by the plague, and he died during a voyage to the East Indies where he was hoping to retrieve his fortunes. His style, compared with that of his contemporaries, was coarse, vulgar and declamatory. He based his genre paintings on stories from the Bible, and he also painted humorous conversation pieces.

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