Portrait of Johan Philip van der Kellen (1831-1906). Director of the Rijksprentenkabinet (1876-96) by Jan Veth

Jan Veth · 1904-01-01

In 1904, Jan Veth painted Johan Philip van der Kellen, who had directed the Rijksmuseum's print department for twenty years. The portrait still hangs in the Rijksmuseum, the institution he helped shape.

He wears a dark suit, a bow tie, and a blue-and-gold decoration on his lapel, a mark of a lifetime of public service. He was seventy-two when he sat for Veth. The artist's brushwork is smooth and restrained: Impressionist in its handling of light, formally precise.

The museum commissioned the portrait to document the figures who had built it. Van der Kellen had retired eight years earlier, in 1896. He died in 1906, two years after Veth painted him.

A man who spent a career preserving the work of others became the subject himself.

Details

This man ran its print collection for twenty years.

A prominent feature that adds to his distinguished appearance and suggests a certain formality.

Transcript

In 1904, the Rijksmuseum commissioned portraits of the people who built it. This man ran its print collection for twenty years. That blue and gold decoration marks a lifetime of public service. He looks straight out from 1904. Jan Veth painted him. Two years later, he was dead.