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Bust of Jacob van Reygersberg (1625 - 1675)

Creator

Dutch Artist · 1624–1698

In seventeenth-century Netherlands, distinguished men who wanted commemorative portraits of themselves-and it was the fashion to have one--commissioned sculptor Rombout Verhulst. He made dozens of them, particularly of naval heroes, and established a lucrative business as the Netherlands' premier sculptor of monuments to accomplished men. Moving to Amsterdam in 1646, Verhulst worked under Flemish

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Date: 1671
Medium: Marble
Culture: Dutch
Department: Sculpture
Institution: Getty Museum

Although represented in the artificial format of a bust, cut off at mid-chest, the marble statue of Jacob van Reygersberg nevertheless strikes the viewer with its extraordinary realism. The sculptor Rombout Verhulst conveyed the figure's motion and spontaneity through the twisted head, furrowed brow, and pursed lips. Verhulst's facility in differentiating textures--Van Reygersberg's shield has a smooth hardness, his cravat a lacy delicacy, and his skin an unusual, satiny texture-heightens the realism. Decorative scrolls, which also lead the viewer's gaze up toward the subject's face, is soften the figure's sudden truncation at mid-chest. Jacob van Reygersberg was a wealthy provincial politician who had recently been sent to the States General, the national governing body of the Netherlands, to represent the Dutch province of Zeeland. His armor identifies him as a member of the noble class.

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