Abraham De Vries Gender Roles

Portrait painting thrived in the Netherlands with the increase in production driven by interest in the idea of personhood and the definition of the individual self. Portraits help document the development of a personal identity as it connects factors like marital status, class, and profession. A common portrait genre produced during the seventeenth century portrays their subjects with an impassive demeanor with little vigor. At first, these paintings may be evaluated as lacking “personality” or “characterization” due to the artist’s lack of talent. However, this is not the case. In trying to understand Dutch portraiture, it’s important to identify what type of functions they serve. Abraham de Vries’ Double Portrait functions not only as recording …show more content…
De Vries presents two figures of equal importance. The fact that the woman is on equal level with the man and reflects her husband’s demeanor is reflective of the increased power and authority given to the wife during this period. She is placed to her husband’s right, the viewer’s left, a reversal of the typical composition of a double portraits that has the woman on the subservient side (the man’s left). The husband and wife are complementary to one another, emphasizing the theme of marriage being one of compromise and …show more content…
The calm and sober attitudes of the sitters can be associated with neo-stoic ideals, which advocated for the restraint of passion and emotion, which were believed to be the roots of human suffering. Thus, the lack of movement in the painting does not reflect an inability to render the personality of his sitters, but rather presents the enviable trait of restraint. This portrait might have promoted the sitters’ personal values as they reflect an idealized perception of oneself and helped set a framework for them to understand themselves and their social relations. This philosophy also had an underlying class barrier as those in the upper class and who were wealthier could attain this impassive state more readily than someone of the lower classes. By representing the figures with poise and self-possession, it reflects their virtue and moderation. This shows the transition of the ideas of neostoicism from the public sphere into the private sphere. This prevalent philosophy of Neo-stoicism demanded self-discipline reflects the acknowledgements of the duties of those in power. As for the representation of the body, a portrait could display the philosophy of neostoicism. De Vries’ three-quarter portrait shows his figures in a quiet, almost meditative manner around the Bible. Both the man and the woman have expressionless faces. This impassive demeanor can be considered as a powerful signs of