Terms and Conditions
The artist, title and date of the work must be listed anywhere the image is reproduced:
Egbert van Heemskerck I
Family group in a landscape 1666
oil on canvas
88.0 × 102.5 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1964
Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
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Family group in a landscape
1666
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
88.0 × 102.5 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1964
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
Amid the growing wealth of the Dutch middle classes, the gezin (nuclear family), comprising parents and children bound by feelings of affection, was considered the building block of a strong civic body. The importance of the family unit in seventeenth-century Holland is attested to by the emergence of the family portrait, which ordinary burghers commissioned in great numbers. These delightful paintings balance a correct sense of gratitude for luxury (evidence of God’s blessing) with a prudent fear of hubris. In this scene, fond glances between family members attest to emotional cohesiveness, while the go-cart symbolises the centrality of children in Dutch life.
Artwork Details
Inscription
inscribed in black paint l.r.: V (inverted) 1666
Accession Number
1444-5
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Dame Carol Colburn-Grigor CBE through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Human Figures Portraits Relationships and Interactions
Subjects (specific)
children (people by age group) childrenswear dog (species) families (kinship groups) infants men (male humans) ruffs women (female humans)