Dutch Gentleman 

Nicolaes Maes painted this oil on canvas, "Dutch Gentleman", during the Dutch Golden Age. It's a period defined by unprecedented economic prosperity and social change, partly fueled by the Dutch East India Company. Maes's gentleman, swathed in somber, expensive black cloth and linen, represents a departure from the ostentatious displays of wealth seen in other European courts. The painting embodies the values of the Dutch Republic: restraint, piety and civic responsibility. Maes likely made it to celebrate a patron's personal status. The institutional history of portraiture in the Netherlands at the time was tied to the rise of a powerful merchant class. This challenged traditional aristocratic power structures elsewhere in Europe. Understanding the social context of this painting demands that we explore Dutch archives, company records, and period writing to interpret the visual codes embedded in Maes's work.