De portretten van Jacob Trip en Margaretha de Geer door Nicolaes Maes in Boedapest

AbstractThe two unsigned and undated lifesize portraits of the merchant Jacob Trip and his wife Margaretha de Geer in the Szépmüvészeti Muscum in Budapest (figs. i and 2) are generally regarded in the art-historical literature as authentic works painted by Nicolaes Maes in about 1660. However, opinion differs as to the connection between the man and another portrait of Jacob Trip, also painted by Maes, in the Mauritshuis, The Hague (fig. 3). In view of the inscription denoting the sitter's age this portrait is dated in 1659 or 1660 and hence frequently regarded as the model for the Budapest painting. Stylistic comparison clearly shows that the portrait in The Hague is inconsistent with Maes' work of around 1660 but entirely in keeping with the portraits he painted between 1665 and 1669 (figs. 4 and 5). It must therefore postdate Jacob Trip's death in 1661, and was probably a pendant to the portrait of Margaretha dc Geer (fig. 6) which was destroyed in 1944/1945 and bore the date 1665.