Albert Jacob Cuyp

ALBERT JACOB CUYP (Dordrecht, Netherlands, 1620 - 1691).
"Portrait of a married couple".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 145 x 182 cm; 149 x 185 cm (frame).
Paintings like the one in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Holland, "Merchant with his wife and servant", c. 1650'-1655, or in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, "Woman and knight on horseback", c. 1660-1665 show us the incursion of the artist in the matrimonial portrait. The present work immortalizes the protagonists in a vaporous landscape. The lady on the right, as is usual in matrimonial portraiture, is shown in profile, but with her face turned towards the viewer, directing her deep gaze towards him. The man, however, is oblivious to any gaze and only pays attention to the lady holding one of her hands. The naturalness and spontaneity of the gestures of both protagonists show us the virtuosity of the artist, who flees from the pictorial tradition of couple portraits anchored in a strict frontality and in a regal and distant discourse with respect to the viewer.
Albert Jacob Cuyp was one of the main Dutch painters of the Golden Age, mainly a landscape painter. The most famous of a family of painters, a pupil of his father, Jacob Gerritszoon Cuyp (1594-1651/52), he is especially known for his large views of Dutch riverside scenes in golden early morning or late afternoon light. He was born and died in Dordrecht. Known as the Dutch equivalent of Claude Lorrain. Cuyp's father was his first teacher and they collaborated on many paintings throughout his life. Little is known about Albert Cuyp's life. His period of activity as a painter is traditionally limited to the two decades between 1639 and 1660, which fit within the generally accepted limits of the most significant period of the Dutch Golden Age, 1640-1665.