Portret van Hadrianus Junius 1574 - 1612

Pieter van der Borcht made this portrait of Hadrianus Junius as an engraving. Looking at this portrait, we can see that the artist made it during a time when a humanist education and a writer’s intellectual gifts were highly prized. Hadrianus Junius was a renowned physician and scholar based in Haarlem in the Netherlands. The setting is not naturalistic but symbolic: the cherubs and grotesque masks of the frame are classical references that signal his learning. The Latin text praises his virtue and asks whether he is not the most supreme in the history of his country. This image and its inscription are designed to enhance Junius’s status and fame in a society that valued the written word and the revival of ancient learning. The Rijksmuseum holds this print, reminding us of the important role that museums and other institutions play in preserving and interpreting art. Studying the social and intellectual context of a work of art, using resources such as letters, publications, and institutional records helps us to appreciate its meaning.