Getty Museum

Family Group in an Interior

Date

about 1658–1660

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

Dutch

Department

Paintings

Institution

Getty Museum

Just finishing a Sunday meal, the members of this well-to-do family may be getting ready to return to church. The mother hands a prayer book to the younger of the boys, and the little girl holds her freshly starched cap and fan. Quiringh Gerritsz. van Brekelenkam appears to have combined a family portrait and a genre scene with a moralizing message. Van Brekelenkam emphasized the moral message by placing a large, framed landscape in the background above the mantel. As the family displays domestic virtues, the painting within the painting shows a couple gazing at a ship at sea under a dark sky illuminated by a shaft of light. The painting within their home serves as a reminder to the family to look to the light as they continue on life's uncertain voyage.

The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.