

A Musician and His Daughter, 1629
Thomas de Keyser (Dutch, 1596/97–1667)
Oil on wood
Thomas de Keyser (Dutch, 1596/97–1667)
Oil on wood
29 1/2 x 20 3/4 in. (74.9 x 52.7 cm)
Anonymous Gift, 1964 (64.65.4)
De Keyser was the most prominent portraitist in Amsterdam until Rembrandt arrived there in the early 1630s. Both painters employed narrative ideas—here, probably, that of a music lesson—to animate the figures and to balance the concentration upon costume details. De Keyser, however, never tempered his penchant for precise patterns, which in this case exquisitely compensates for the artist's characteristically awkward perspective scheme.







