Portret van Jan Antonides van der Goes 1670 - 1724

This is Jacob Gole’s portrait of Jan Antonides van der Goes, made sometime between 1660 and 1737. The work gives us an intriguing glimpse into the cultural and social life of the Dutch Golden Age. The portrait shows the artist's mastery and the sitter's high social standing. Van der Goes was a poet, a celebrated 'Phoenix of Dutch Poets', as the inscription indicates. The Phoenix reference, coupled with the sitter’s elaborate wig and cravat, tells us something of the self-image cultivated by Dutch intellectuals of the period. The grand manner, which originated in aristocratic France, was here being adopted by a Dutch poet, who would have seen himself as part of a wider European republic of letters. By consulting period sources such as literary journals, letters, and other artworks, we can develop a richer understanding of the painting and how the sitter saw himself in relation to his peers. The meaning of art is always reliant on social context.