Portret van Jan I Verkolje I met het portret van zijn vrouw Judith Verheul 1683 - 1746

Curator: I'm immediately struck by the image’s almost dreamlike quality, the subtle chiaroscuro imbuing the scene with an introspective air. Editor: This is a print depicting Jan I Verkolje, with the portrait of his wife Judith Verheul in the background, made sometime between 1683 and 1746 by Nicolaas Verkolje. It's held in the Rijksmuseum. Curator: The placement of the oval portrait, in the upper left corner behind Jan Verkolje suggests a kind of muse-like quality. The portrait is looking downwards. How do you interpret the gaze and its symbolic implications for his artistic identity? Is she the source of inspiration? Is she looking approvingly? Editor: Notice the rendering of light, a play of textures achieved purely through line and tone, typical for engraving. This print epitomizes baroque sensibility, but also the intimacy of the Dutch Golden Age. Verkolje’s posture is very intriguing. He seems almost approachable and removed from the world all at the same time. Curator: Indeed. His direct gaze draws us in, while the artistic setting speaks to a higher plane of creation, or a more interior space. What do we read into his inclusion of his materials, that strange book-like palette that sits upon his lap? Is he signaling that love, portraiture and paint are interlinked? Editor: Precisely. Consider how Verkolje positions himself – artist and subject intertwined. The background painting becomes another layer. Through semiotics, this arrangement underscores artistic creation as an act of mediation, reflecting reality and the artist’s inner world. Curator: This work gives us a glimpse into 17th and 18th century conventions around portraiture, yet Verkolje gives us clues to how to connect the intimacy of life and love to the more cerebral work of being an artist. Editor: I'm left considering how seemingly disparate stylistic choices coalesce into this really striking, nuanced image, blending portraiture conventions with intense innerity.