Portrait of Maerten Soolmans

Rembrandt painted this portrait in 1634 in Amsterdam, shortly after Maerten Soolmans married Oopjen Coppit in June 1633. The work remained with Soolmans's family until around 1798, when it passed to the van Winter family through Pieter van Winter. Anna Louisa van Winter inherited it and, through her marriage to Willem van Loon, it entered that family.

After her death in 1877, a consortium led by Baron Gustave de Rothschild acquired it among sixty-eight paintings from the collection. The portrait stayed with the French Rothschild branch for over a century, displayed publicly only once in 1956.

In 2014, the Rothschild family decided to sell. Rather than let the pair be separated, a Franco-Dutch agreement was reached: the Dutch State acquired the portrait for the Rijksmuseum, while France acquired its pendant for the Louvre, each for €80 million. Finalized on 1 February 2016, the accord mandates the two portraits always be shown together, alternating between the two museums on five- then eight-year cycles, and never be loaned elsewhere.

The painting is held by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, accessioned as SK-C-2048.

It was once part of the Rothschild family collection in France, having been acquired by Gustave Samuel de Rothschild, Robert de Rothschild, and Eric de Rothschild between 1877 and 2014. The work was exhibited only once publicly in 150 years, at a joint show organized in 1956 by the Rijksmuseum and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

In 2016 it entered the Rijksmuseum under a shared French–Dutch acquisition with the companion portrait of Oopjen Coppit, and both works are alternately displayed at the Louvre and the Rijksmuseum in rotation.

Painted by Rembrandt in 1634 during the Dutch Golden Age, the Portrait of Maerten Soolmans belongs to a pair of full-length marriage portraits commissioned by the Amsterdam merchant Maerten Soolmans and his wife Oopjen Coppit, who had married in June 1633. The work was first catalogued by Hofstede de Groot in 1915, who misidentified the sitter as Maerten Daey; the confusion arose because the painting remained in Daey's family for generations. After passing through the van Winter and van Loon collections, the portrait was acquired in 1877 by a consortium led by Baron Gustave de Rothschild, leaving the Netherlands for France, where it remained in the Rothschild family's possession for over a century.

Its only public showing during that period was a joint exhibition organised in 1956 by the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam and the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.

In 2014 a Franco-Dutch joint acquisition was arranged, with the Dutch State securing the Soolmans portrait for the Rijksmuseum and the Louvre acquiring its pendant, each at 80 million euros. Finalised on 1 February 2016, the agreement stipulates that the two paintings must never be separated and are displayed alternately at the Louvre and the Rijksmuseum, on a cycle of five then eight years, and cannot be loaned to other institutions.

The legacy of the portrait was marked by a century of private ownership within the French Rothschild branch, during which it remained largely unseen by the public. It was exhibited only once in 150 years, during a joint 1956 show at the Rijksmuseum and the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. This history culminated in a landmark 2014 acquisition agreement between the Netherlands and France, resolving a prior failed attempt to purchase the work in 1877.

Acquired for 80 million euros, the painting is now held by the Dutch state for the Rijksmuseum. A binding agreement ensures the portrait is never separated from its companion piece, with the two works alternating display between the Louvre and the Rijksmuseum in cycles of five and eight years.

Created in 1634, this oil on canvas depicts Maerten Soolmans, a Dutch gentleman of the early seventeenth century. Executed by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, a central figure of the Dutch Golden Age, the portrait measures a modest size and is now part of the Rijksmuseum’s collection in Amsterdam.