Portrait of Gerard Reynst, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies 1614 - 1675

This portrait of Gerard Reynst, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, was produced by an anonymous artist using oil on canvas. Oil paint has a special capacity to capture the details of Reynst’s official attire. His voluminous ruff, likely made of linen or lace, signifies wealth, as do the gold embellishments on his doublet, sword, and chain of office. These details draw our eye and speak to Reynst’s status. Look at the way the artist rendered the chain, each link seemingly catching the light. The canvas support and oil paint were, by this time, mainstays of European portraiture, yet their value resided in the way they captured the likeness, accoutrements, and, by extension, the status of the sitter. The portrait is not only a likeness of the man, but it signifies the wealth and power that he accrued during his lifetime as a figure of the Dutch East India Company. Consider how this painting, as a crafted object, also participated in the system of labor and consumption. The artist, the producers of the cloth and gold thread, and even Reynst himself, were all players in this theater of mercantile power.