Focus on Portrait of the Trip Sisters and discuss the History and description.
It shows Margarita Trip (1640-1714) and her sister Anna Maria Trip (1652-1681), both daughters of the merchant Louis Trip and his wife Emerentia Hoefslager. Trip also commissioned the imposing Trippenhuis, over two of whose fireplaces this painting and Portrait of Johanna de Geer and her Children as Charity originally hung. On the left two putti carry a large book, possibly in an allusion to the love of knowledge. In the background there is see a balustrade with a park-like area behind, and a fountain in the shape of a putto (or Cupid) on a dolphin. This motif comes from Roman art. There is also a peacock on the balustrade. On the far right against a wall is the shield of Minerva with the head of Medusa on top.
The painter Ferdinand Bol painted a second mantel piece for this house, the Portrait of Johanna de Geer and her Children as Charity, which, just like the portrait of Margarita Trip also has an allegorical meaning. A painting in which the sitter is depicted in, for example, a mythological role is referred to by the term portrait historié. Such portraits were more common in the 17th century.
balustrade Portrait of Johanna de Geer and her Children as Charity Medusa Ferdinand Bol putti Roman art Cupid Trippenhuis peacock