Reproductie van een gravure van een portret van Jan Baptist van Deynum door Wenceslaus Hollar before 1877

This is a reproduction of an engraving of Jan Baptist van Deynum by Joseph Maes after Wenceslaus Hollar. It is important to remember that portraiture in the Dutch Golden Age, the 17th century, was far from democratic. Access to it was dictated by one’s class and social standing. Van Deynum, portrayed here, was a lawyer and mayor of Haarlem. Hollar’s original engraving was made during van Deynum's lifetime, in the mid-17th century, when the Dutch Republic was a major economic and military power, a nation in which civic identity was increasingly important. Look at the detail in the clothing, signifying wealth and status. Maes's later reproduction speaks to the institutional role of art in shaping historical memory. The work reminds us of the ongoing interest in the Dutch Golden Age and the way its images and values continued to be reproduced and reinterpreted in later periods. A researcher might look into the archives of civic institutions, genealogies and other historical documentation. What story of Dutch identity was being told and to whom?