Dirck Jacobsz: Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen painting a portrait of his wife Anna (1530)

(Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, USA)

Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen (before 1470-1533) was an important Dutch painter and designer of woodcuts from the 15th/ 16th century. Almost nothing is known from his life. He was born in Oostzaan and he had a studio in Amsterdam. Van Oostsanen painted mostly religious themes. This unusual double portrait of the artist and his wife was made by Dirck Jacobsz., a son of van Oostsanen. An investigation of this painting with x-ray has shown that Dirck Jacobsz originally wanted to show his father painting a self-portrait but Dirck replaced the self-portrait later with a portrait of his mother. The clothing of the mother suggests that this painting was from around 1530.