Portret van de schilder Jacques de Roore 1720 - 1792

Aert Schouman made this portrait of the painter Jacques de Roore using pen in gray ink and brush in gray and brown. The portrait bust is framed in a trompe l’oeil oval of painted stone, set upon a stone plinth. The accoutrements of the artist’s trade, a palette, brushes and books, are strewn at the base of the plinth. As we can tell from details of dress, it was made in the Netherlands, during the 18th century. Here, the artist uses the visual language of classical sculpture to ennoble the profession of painting, by representing de Roore as a figure worthy of being memorialized in stone. The painter’s tools suggest the learned nature of artistic production, setting it apart from mere craft. The art institutions of the day – guilds, academies and printmaking shops – helped disseminate this image of the artist as a learned professional. By looking at archival material we can learn more about the networks of patronage that sustained artists like Schouman and de Roore. The historian's task is to situate such images in their institutional contexts.