Jacob Willemsz van Veen by Marten van Heemskerck in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2007

Jacob Willemsz. van Veen (1456–1535), the Artist's Father, 1532
Marten van Heemskerck (Netherlandish, 1498–1574)
Oil on wood; 20 1/2 x 13 3/4 in. (52.1 x 34.9 cm)
Purchase, 1871 (71.36)

This forceful and sober image of the artist's father was painted in the year Van Heemskerck left Haarlem for an extended trip to Italy. The sitter's dour expression is matched by the matter-of-fact Dutch inscription which translates as, "My son portrayed me here when I had lived 75 years so they say." Although Van Heemskerck was a master of the more classicizing, "Latin," style, the Gothic letters and the artist's choice of the vernacular declare this to be a portrait grounded on life and experience.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/europe...