JORDAENS, Jacob
(b. 1593, Antwerpen, d. 1678, Antwerpen)

Self-Portrait with the Family of his Father-in-Law Adam van Noort

1615-16
Oil on canvas, 131 x 159 cm
Staatliche Museen, Kassel

This is one of the earliest portraits by Jordaens. In it the figures seem to be crowded together in the foreground, so that their attitudes and outlines still look somewhat Mannerist. They fit into the sixteenth-century tradition of the family portrait; here, too, family harmony is expressed by emblematic details, such as fruit, flowers and musical instruments, and by the organic relationship of the different personages.