Portret van Jan I Moretus

Peter Paul Rubens painted this portrait of Jan Moretus, likely in Antwerp, sometime in the early 17th century. The image presents us with a man of status. The fine lace ruff, the expensively tailored doublet, and the very act of commissioning a portrait, all point to Moretus’s high social standing. But what was the source of that status? To understand that, we need to look at the social and economic history of Antwerp at this time. The port city was a centre for the early printing press and the print trade. The Moretus family were the leading printers in the city, having taken over the business of Christopher Plantin. This portrait, therefore, speaks to the changing nature of social status. It wasn’t just birth or land ownership that brought status anymore, but commerce and intellectualism. Through careful historical research into the archives of Antwerp, we can continue to learn more about the ways that social change impacted artistic production.