Artwork
Portrait of Pieter Soutman
Portrait of Pieter Soutman is an oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painting artist Anthony van Dyck. It dates from 1628 and is held in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The portrait thus conveys both individual distinction and the broader cultural values of wealth, authority, and civic responsibility in the Dutch Golden Age.
The painting shows Pieter Soutman, a prominent Amsterdam merchant and city councilor, rendered in the refined elegance characteristic of early‑17th‑century Dutch portraiture. Van Dyck emphasizes Soutman's status through fine clothing and a composed posture, while the work also reflects the sitter's involvement in civic life and his family's connections to the Dutch Republic's commercial elite. The portrait thus conveys both individual distinction and the broader cultural values of wealth, authority, and civic responsibility in the Dutch Golden Age.
Technique & Style
Anthony van Dyck executed Portrait of Pieter Soutman in 1628 using oil paint on a canvas support. The portrait is of modest dimensions, measuring 75.5 cm in height and 58.3 cm in width. As a work in the portrait genre, the composition focuses on the depiction of the sitter, Pieter Soutman. The painting is part of the collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
History & Provenance
Anthony van Dyck's Portrait of Pieter Soutman was painted in 1628, the date recorded for the work's inception. The oil-on-canvas portrait depicts the engraver and painter Pieter Soutman, who had been Van Dyck's teacher during his apprenticeship in Haarlem.
The painting entered the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, the Habsburg governor of the Spanish Netherlands and a major patron whose holdings formed the nucleus of the imperial art collection. It subsequently passed into the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where it remains part of the museum's holdings.
The painting is held in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna. It is inventoried as 747 in the museum’s holdings.
It was exhibited in 1980 at the exhibition "Van Dyck: Ein Maler aus Antwerpen" held in Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum).
Overview
The Portrait of Pieter Soutman is a 1628 oil painting by Anthony van Dyck, a prominent figure in the Flemish Baroque movement.
Artist & collection
Artist
Sir Anthony van Dyck (; Dutch: Antoon van Dijck; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist, who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy.
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