MOSTAERT, Jan
(b. ca. 1475, Haarlem, d. 1555/56, Haarlem)

Portrait of Abel van den Colster

1500-10
Panel, 90 x 56 cm
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

Numerous portraits have been attributed to Jan Mostaert. These range from those of ancient nobility to lesser Dutch aristocrats and burghers. The royal portraits are all copies after originals painted for Margaret of Austria, but the others are taken from life and then imbued with an aristocratic flavour through the settings. Such is the case in the present portrait where a coat of arms in the architecture and the initials on the cushion beneath his hands identify the sitter, who was a knight of a well-known Haarlem family.