Attracting a Buyer with Motion: Examining de Keyser’s Use of Pose in Portraiture
Written by Flavie Deveaux
Edited by Beatrice Moritz
Figure 1. Thomas de Keyser, A Musician and His Daughter, 1629, oil on wood, 74.9 x 52.7 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Thomas de Keyser (1596-1667) was born in Amsterdam in 1596 and became the preeminent portrait artist of the city's elite middle-class during the 1620s and 1630s.1 His 1629 painting A Musician and His Daughter (Fig. 1), exhibits characteristics similar to those found in his other works, particularly the full-body pose of the musician depicted with dynamic movement.2 Although some have suggested that the man is simply sitting statically in the chair, Ann Jensen Adams contends that the musician is instead depicted in a pose of motion.3 The position and shape of the legs and torso, along with the 105-degree angle at the knee, indicate that the man is not sitting, but rather poised to soon sit and play the lute that he holds in his right hand. The chair behind the musician is also set further back than expected if the subject was sitting, instead this man was posed by de Keyser in a way that suggests motion, as he is frozen in time about to sit in his chair. The rest of the image shows a domestic interior, with the musician's daughter on the right side of the painting. The two figures are dressed in expensive, black and white clothing, in an open room with cool-tone grey, blue, green, and peach colours.4 The lute provides a warm-tone brown contrast, drawing the viewer's attention back to the musician and his dynamic pose. By painting the musician in a pose that conveys dynamic motion, de Keyser was able to attract future buyers who preferred this dynamic style of artwork. The motion displayed within A Musician and His Daughter effectively captures the attention of potential buyers through the display of the artist's exceptional artistic abilities, the incorporation of academic themes prevalent in art during this period, and the creation of a relatable, natural subject matter that appeals to the middle-class viewers of de Keyser's portrait.
The incorporation of a full-body pose in A Musician and His Daughter was a unique stylistic choice that catered to the evolving socio-economic conditions of early seventeenth century Amsterdam. During this period, the Dutch Republic was experiencing significant changes, including the end of the Twelve Years Truce, the Reformation, and the decline of Church-commissioned art.5 Concurrently, there was a growing disdain for aristocratic traditions and an emphasis on individuality in the art world.6 Artists now needed to express their individuality in their art as the art market evolved along with the culture.7 De Kyser successfully adapted to these changes by opting for a dynamic, full-body pose in his portraits of the middle-class elites, which was a style previously reserved for the aristocracy.8 By doing so, de Keyser was able to enliven his portrait work of the musician through the use of contemporary styles sought after by patrons in 1629 Amsterdam.9 This unique approach to portraiture helped de Keyser gain fame and attract future patrons as it displayed a more desirable style that appealed to the new socio-economic world. Therefore, the full-body pose used by de Keyser in A Musician and His Daughter demonstrates his ability to align with contemporary ideas and attract potential buyers.
De Keyser effectively conveyed his artistic authorship in a non-verbal manner, allowing audiences to distinguish his works from those of other artists, by portraying the central figures of A Musician and His Daughter in a pose that conveys dynamic motion.10 Through the use of this innovative pose, de Keyser positioned himself as a creative artist, a quality that his clients sought after in art.11 He also employed a unique perspective in the interior of his paintings, utilising the pose of motion to differentiate the subject from the background. As Adams writes, by placing the viewer in a position where they looked down on the lower half of the body and up towards the upper half, de Keyser created a more distinctive viewing experience and a fashionable pose that allowed viewers to see the entire subject.12 The skill required to depict a subject in motion was another appealing attribute for potential buyers of A Musician and His Daughter. Francis Junius (1589-1677) noted that de Keyser's technique of portraying subjects in motion bestowed, “‘a more lively and forcible grace to the worke [through] the likeness of an outward motion’” towards the viewer.13 This comment on the artist's proficiency in portraiture was the reason de Keyser depicted the musician in a dynamic pose of motion. The pose, which appeared to show the musician preparing to sit down, showcased the unique qualities of de Keyser's art and the expertise he employed to create more animated portraits of his patrons. Thus, by selecting a pose of motion for the main subject, de Keyser established a style for his art, attracting more buyers during a distinct socio-economic period in the Dutch Republic.
The painting A Musician and His Daughter showcases a unique and intellectually stimulating scene that was popular in the art market of seventeenth century Amsterdam. De Keyser, in this work, incorporated popular academic themes from this time through the musician's pose of motion.14 The theme of domesticity and temporality is conveyed through the subject's pose alone, which portrays a greater expression of the patron's private life. Domestic life was a greatly explored theme in seventeenth century Dutch art with specific regard to the dichotomy between private and public space. In A Musician and His Daughter, the pose presents a greater expression of the patron’s private life, which aligns with these contemporary themes in art. Depicted as though he is in the process of sitting down, with his right elbow supported on the table for extra stability as he sits, and a lute in that hand (Fig. 1), the main subject looks like he is about to play something. This pose conveys activity through the potential for sound that lends a more vivid and engaging viewing experience of the musician's domestic life. This depiction of the domestic life of the middle-class elite was a desirable feature of de Keyser's portrait and was likely attractive to potential buyers.15 De Keyser's style and the academic ideas of domesticity are combined in this portrait, which seeks to express the private aspects of family life through the depiction of the musician and his daughter.16 The dynamic pose of the musician brings the viewer into the domestic spaces of the elite class, making it a unique and captivating work of art.17 As viewers watch the man sit down with a lute in his hand, they can only wonder what song he is about to play for his family and the audience.
While the depiction of a moment frozen in time, as seen in A Musician and His Daughter, creates a greater sense of a domestic atmosphere, it is the concept of temporality, or the freezing of time and a viewer's existence within that moment, that is being conveyed with the motion. This idea is reminiscent of the seventeenth century Dutch vanitas paintings, in which food and flowers are frozen in time to symbolise the fleeting nature of life.18 The dynamic pose of the musician in motion also presents ideas of time, death, and immortality achieved through the freezing of an image in a painting. De Keyser’s pose is narrative in its ability to convey these ideas to viewers so they might contemplate their own time in relation to the subject.19 Therefore the viewer's relationship to the subject's time is also explored, with the pose’s ability to convey these ideas to invite viewers to contemplate their own relationship to time. In the seventeenth century, timepieces struggled to keep accurate time, leading people to record their own time through “personal perceptions of change.”20 This new privatisation of time created a new understanding of time in Dutch culture, where time was seen as “being created by the moments it could be broken down in man's mind. The use of a pose in motion for the main subject allows A Musician and His Daughter to reference this new understanding of time, making the painting relevant to academics and art buyers. This creates a scene where the viewer becomes “aware of their own viewing process in their own time for just an instant,” bringing the painting into the world of the audience and giving the portrait an atmosphere of temporality.21 The academic themes of temporality and domesticity in A Musician and His Daughter were likely appealing characteristics that would have caught the attention of potential buyers. By employing the motion of the musician's pose as he sits down in his home, de Keyser situates viewers in a mental state conducive to exploring such academic ideas, thereby attracting future buyers. The musician's pose achieves this by conveying motion, which Adams notes, diminishes the psychological barrier of the portrait as an object and enhances the portrait's capacity to stimulate discussion among the elite middle-class.
A Musician and His Daughter was produced at a time when there was a strong desire for paintings that depicted naturalistic and relatable narratives.22 In de Keyser's work, this is evident in the pose of motion, which portrays an action that is universally comprehensible to everyone. The motion of sitting is a familiar action that viewers can easily relate to, and as Adams notes, “‘ordinary subject matter would [have been] comfortably familiar to any viewer’s subjective experience’.”23 At the time, the ability to connect with a painting was a highly sought-after quality, and the musician's pose of motion effectively achieves this by breaking down the barriers of the painting as an object. By using motion in the animation of the musician, de Keyser enhances the viewer's connection to the subject matter and brings the subject into the viewer's world. This dynamic pose created a more immersive viewing experience and was likely appealing to viewers and buyers alike. Adams argues that a static pose would not effectively convey the connection between the subject and the viewer, as it would fail to break through the barrier of the painting as an object. Drawing upon Aristotle's notion that the senses are linked to and produced by motion, Adams suggests that de Keyser's use of a dynamic pose enhances the viewer's ability to connect with the portrait. By animating the musician, de Keyser brings the subject into the world of the viewer and allows them to imagine themselves as the subject of one of his portraits. This dynamic pose not only creates a more engaging viewing experience, but also appeals to potential buyers who seek a more dynamic and lively artwork.
In de Keyser's portrait A Musician and His Daughter, the primary subject is positioned to gaze off to the right side of the canvas, as if capturing him in a natural state of being (Fig. 1).24 This element of naturalism, which was highly favoured in seventeenth century Dutch art, allows viewers to connect with the subject in a relatable and unaware state. Although naturalism did not diminish the desire for individuality and independence from other portrait styles, it was an essential quality that attracted potential buyers.25 In A Musician and His Daughter, de Keyser's use of a natural pose appealed to the middle-class buyers, as it depicted an ordinary representation of the middle-class lifestyle. De Keyser's style draws viewers into the domestic and ordinary atmosphere of the painting through the musician's dynamic pose, which creates a greater sense of naturalism. Dutch burghers preferred their commissioned portraits to reflect their true selves, without any idealisations.26 By utilising an innate, relaxed, and relatable pose for the musician, de Keyser invites viewers to connect with his style of portraiture to attract future buyers. A natural pose is ideal for attracting future patrons for the same reason that it had attracted the musician to commission de Keyser to paint him and his daughter. The pose in de Keyser's work holds a desirable composition for the elite middle-class of Amsterdam, and the artist's use of pose conveys this desirable quality to viewers and potential future buyers.
In the painting A Musician and His Daughter, the pose of the main subject effectively conveys middle-class themes to the audience of early seventeenth century Amsterdam. De Keyser was known for creating portraits for the elite middle-class, incorporating both domestic and aristocratic themes into his work to create his own unique style.27 Through the pose of motion in the musician's depiction, the painting is able to connect with the middle-class viewers who encountered the painting in the patrons home. De Keyser used dynamic poses to establish his own artistic style in the socio-economic world of the Dutch Republic during the 1620s. Although he would later be overshadowed by the more famous Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669),28 de Keyser was still able to create a lasting impression on the Dutch art world through his attractive paintings and dynamic poses. The artist created paintings fit for the time which incorporated poses of subjects in motion to create more dynamic and pleasing works of art. By also incorporating popular academic themes into his work, de Keyser was able to create a discussion piece that was fitting for the domestic life of the elite middle-class. Through these elements de Keyser’s work can no doubt be considered attractive in its day. Therefore, de Keyser’s use of the full body and dynamic pose of motion, A Musician and His Daughter can be considered attractive and desirable for the elite middle-class art buyers of 1620s Amsterdam.
Endnotes
Henriette Rahusen, “Thomas de Keyser”, (National Gallery of Art Washington Online Editions, 2019), 1.
Ann Jensen Adams, “Two Forms of Knowledge: Invention and Production in Thomas de Keyser’s Portrait of a Young Silversmith, Sijmon Valckenaer”, (Amsterdam University Press), 30.
Ann Jensen Adams, “Temporality and the Seventeenth-century Dutch Portrait”, (2013), 10.
Euripides Altintzoglou, “Rembrandt’s Dilemma”, (Routledge, 2018), 48.
Christopher D.M. Atkins, “Painting for the Market”, (Amsterdam University Press, 2012), 119; Altintzoglou, “Rembrandt’s Dilemma”, 43.
Altintzoglou, “Rembrandt’s Dilemma”, 43.
Atkins, “Painting for the Market”, 117.
Rahusen, “Thomas de Keyser”, 1.
Frederic Schwartz, “The Motions of the Countenance: Rembrandt's Early Portraits and the Tronie”, (University of Chicago Press, 1989), 91.
Atkins, “Painting for the Market”, 118.
Adams, “Two Forms of Knowledge”, 29.
Adams, “Two Forms of Knowledge”, 37.
Schwartz, “The Motions of the Countenance”, 92.
Adams, “Temporality and the Seventeenth-century Dutch Portrait”, 1.
Schwartz, “The Motions of the Countenance”, 93.
Schwartz, “The Motions of the Countenance”, 92.
Altintzoglou, “Rembrandt’s Dilemma”, 57.
Adams, “Temporality and the Seventeenth-century Dutch Portrait”, 1.
Schwartz, “The Motions of the Countenance”, 96.
Adams, “Temporality and the Seventeenth-century Dutch Portrait”, 8.
Adams, “Temporality and the Seventeenth-century Dutch Portrait”, 10.
Adams, “Two Forms of Knowledge”, 30.
Adams, “Temporality and the Seventeenth-century Dutch Portrait”, 4.
Schwartz, “The Motions of the Countenance”, 95.
Altintzoglou, “Rembrandt’s Dilemma”, 37.
Altintzoglou, “Rembrandt’s Dilemma”, 45.
Rahusen, “Thomas de Keyser”, 2.
Rahusen, “Thomas de Keyser”, 1.
Bibliography
Adams, Ann Jensen. “Temporality and the Seventeenth-century Dutch Portrait”. In Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art. 5, 2, 2013.
Adams, Ann Jensen. “Two Forms of Knowledge: Invention and Production in Thomas de Keyser’s Portrait of a Young Silversmith, Sijmon Valckenaer”. In In His Milieu. Edited by A. Golahny, M.M. Mochizuki, and L. Vergara, Amsterdam University Press: 29-46.
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Schwartz, Frederic. “The Motions of the Countenance: Rembrandt's Early Portraits and the Tronie”. In Anthropology and Aesthetics 18, University of Chicago Press (1989): 89-116.