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En 1655, l’une des plus graves épidémies fait rage dans la ville de Leyde. Le 4 août de cette année, Pieter Loridan, « teinturier de drap et d’autres étoffes » de son état, décide de faire rédiger son testament, qui prévoit que la majeure partie de son héritage servira à faire construire un hospice comprenant douze logements. Loridan doit avoir un pressentiment, parce que quinze jours plus tard, il meurt. Quatre régents sont chargés d’assumer la continuité des ressources nécessaires à l’hébergement et au ravitaillement des habitants de l’hospice. Vous les trouvez représentés sur cette peinture, vêtus de beaux costumes en drap de laine. De la cartouche en haut du tableau, c’est Loridan lui-même qui nous regarde. In contrast to the rest of Europe, the most important source of art commissions in the Netherlands in the 17th century was not the nobility, but rather members of the wealthy urban bourgeoisie. To illustrate their social status, representatives of urban gilds in particular (such as the ‘regents’, or provosts, of charitable and social institutions) would have themselves painted in life-size group portraits. Typically, commissions would be given to local artists who specialized in this sort of portraiture. In the case of the present painting, the commission was awarded to the painter Jacob Fransz. van der Merck (around 1610–1664), himself a native of Leiden. In 1658, he painted a portrait of the five provosts of the Loridanhof, a charitable foundation for elderly people. However, also depicted (in a somewhat withdrawn position on the left-hand edge of the picture) are the institution’s porter and clerk. The varying degrees of prominence accorded by this arrangement is hardly surprising, since each sitter had to pay for his own portrait, which resulted in differences in the depictions of the individual subjects. Hence such regents’ portraits also partly offer a visual portrayal of socio-economic relations in 17th century Dutch society
Size: 5074px × 3805px
Location: Musée de Lakenhal
Photo credit: © Thierrymas94 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1610-1664, 1658, almshouses, charitable, dautres, de, der, dor, drap, dutch, eeuw, foundations, fransz, gouden, hof, hollande-éridionale, hospice, jacob, lakenhal, leiden, leyde, loridan, loridanshof, merck, musé, painter, pays-bas, peintre, pieter, regents, siècle, teinturier, van, zuid-holland, éerlandais, étoffes
