Portrait of a Girl
Oil on canvas
39.7 x 49.5 x 0 cm
Not For Sale
The rise of the bourgeois class in Antwerp at the start of the 17th century and the dawning of a new understanding of one’s own social status, led to a greater demand for family portraits as a representative form, reflecting the economic success and social status of the client. Working under the grand influence of Rubens and, especially, Van Dyck, Cornelis de Vos developed his own style that had earned him extraordinary popularity among the local bourgeoisie and had made him the leading portrait artist in Antwerp in the first half of the 17th century. He was particularly successful in the portrayal of children, to which special attention was paid in Dutch culture in those days in the trend of the rising significance of the family.
Exhibitions with this piece
Rubens' Circles
Rubens and his legacy
The oeuvre of Peter Paul Rubens, an artist who achieved unprecedented fame throughout Europe already at the beginning of his career and whose paintings in the collections of the most powerful patrons of his time were a measure of prestige has given rise to unending debates on his actual contribution to the enormous number of artworks that came out of his studio. It is clear from the enormity of the number of works bearing the mark of his artistry that, despite his exceptional talent, inexhaustible energy, and fabled speed of painting, he could not possibly have produced all of them without the help of his studio, whose size became the stuff of legend.