Jacob Toorenvliet: Portrait of Carel Quina (1669)

(Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

A painting by the Dutch artist Jacob Toorenvliet (1640-1719). The man on this painting is Carel Quina (1622-1689), merchant from Amsterdam to Italy and the Levant (the eastern Mediterranean). Quina is best known for a trip he made to the Holy Land (highly unusual as the Netherlands became Calvinist in the late 16th century). He made the trip over land and made a travelogue which he publised late ("Beschrijvinge van de landrijs, in Europa en Asia, gedaen door de Heer Carel Quina, ridder") which also has survived. He arrived in Jerusalem on April 6, 1669 - succeeding in his wish to arrive before Easter 1669. In memory of his trip, Quina bought several souvenirs - including a scalemodel of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem of olive wood and inlaid with ebony, bone and mother of pearl (the model was made by the school of Fra Bernardino Amico, who was president of the Holy Sepulchre - the model has survived and can be seen in the Museum van Loon in Amsterdam). Upon return Quina was made Knight of the Holy Sepulchre by king Charles II of England on December 24, 1670. Carel Quina is shown here while he sits behind a table with a large atlas, opened on the page with a map of Europe and the Middle East. The building in the background is St. Peter's in Rome. Painting from 1669.