2-976-474 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Portrait of a Member of the Van der Mersch Family, 1736. The portrait conveys a sense of convivial hospitality, as if the man were inviting us into his home to enjoy his art and music. In a typically 18th-century way, the portrait has no sense of distance, of authority. It introduces us directly to the open personality of this enthusiastic young member of a wealthy Baptist family from Amsterdam. He was not expecting visitors: there are a few specks on his shoulder from when he powdered his wig.