Equestrian Portrait of Cornelis and Michiel Pompe van Meerdervoort with Their Tutor and Coachman by Cuyp in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2011

Title: Equestrian Portrait of Cornelis (1639–1680) and Michiel Pompe van Meerdervoort (1638–1653) with Their Tutor and Coachman

Artist: Aelbert Cuyp (Dutch, Dordrecht 1620–1691 Dordrecht)

Date: ca. 1652–53

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 43 1/4 × 61 1/2 in. (109.9 × 156.2 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931

Object Number: 32.100.20

This portrait of two adolescent scions of an eminent family was most likely commissioned by their widowed mother. Instead of depicting an actual country estate, Cuyp placed a ruined castle in the background, evoking the sitters’ ancient lineage. Astride horses, accompanied by retainers and hounds, the two youths pose as propertied huntsmen, ready at any moment to depart for the conquest of their prey. Cuyp’s skill as a landscape painter is in tension with the relative awkwardness of the figures.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436063