Skip to main content

Rembrandt, 'Portrait of Margaretha de Geer, Wife of Jacob Trip', about 1661

About the work

This is one of a pair of portraits of a husband and wife, one of the richest couples in the Netherlands. Margaretha de Geer had been married to Jacob Trip for nearly 60 years, and the two portraits, both in the National Gallery, were made to hang together, almost certainly in one of the grand reception rooms of a palatial new residence – the Trippenhuis – which was being built in Amsterdam for their two sons.

Rembrandt has created a fascinating contrast between the couple. Not only are their poses asymmetrical – Margaretha meets our gaze head on, Jacob sits askew, his mind apparently elsewhere – but he used different painting techniques. Jacob is rendered using swift, economical brushwork, while Margaretha’s skin and ruff are worked with great intensity and attention to detail.

Jacob died in 1661, around the time the painting was made. Perhaps Rembrandt was deliberately contrasting the fading presence of a dying man with the vibrant energy of his wife, who still had another ten years to live.

Key facts

Full title
Portrait of Margaretha de Geer, Wife of Jacob Trip
Artist
Rembrandt
Artist dates
1606 - 1669
Part of the series
Portraits of Jacob Trip and his Wife Margaretha de Geer
Date made
about 1661
Medium and support
oil on canvas
Dimensions
130.5 × 97.5 cm
Acquisition credit
Bought, 1899
Inventory number
NG1675
Location
Room 22
Collection
Main Collection
Frame
21st-century Replica Frame

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

About the series: Portraits of Jacob Trip and his Wife Margaretha de Geer

Rembrandt, 'Portrait of Jacob Trip', about 1661

In seventeenth-century Holland, it was common for married couples to be depicted separately in paintings designed to be hung as a pair, with the woman’s portrait invariably hung to the right. This placed the wife to her husband’s left – or, as it was regarded at the time, his inferior side: marriage was a partnership steered by the man.

These portraits are particularly large examples, reflecting the status of the couple, Jacob Trip and Margaretha de Geer – who belonged to one of the richest families in Holland. They were probably commissioned by two of the Trips‘ sons, to be hung in a palatial residence which they were building in Amsterdam.

The poses are unusual. Normally we’d expect each sitter to be half turned towards the other. But Margaretha faces the viewer directly. She may be sitting on her husband’s inferior side, but Rembrandt seems to imply that she is the more active and engaged of the two.

Portrait of Jacob Trip
Portrait of Jacob Trip
Rembrandt
This is one of a pair of portraits of a husband and wife, one of the richest couples in the Netherlands. Jacob Trip, who made much of his money as an arms dealer, had been married to Margaretha de Geer for nearly 60 years. The paintings, both in the National Gallery, were made to hang together, a...
Room 22
Portrait of Margaretha de Geer, Wife of Jacob Trip
Portrait of Margaretha de Geer, Wife of Jacob Trip
Rembrandt
This is one of a pair of portraits of a husband and wife, one of the richest couples in the Netherlands. Margaretha de Geer had been married to Jacob Trip for nearly 60 years, and the two portraits, both in the National Gallery, were made to hang together, almost certainly in one of the grand rec...
Room 22

More works by Rembrandt

(Showing 6 of 25 works)
A Bearded Man in a Cap
A Bearded Man in a Cap
Rembrandt
This melancholy image of an old man lost in thought is one of a group of studies made by Rembrandt in the 1650s. They were not portraits of individuals – the identity of the sitter wouldn‘t have been considered relevant, either to the artist or the person who bought the painting. They were known...
Room 22
A Franciscan Friar
A Franciscan Friar
Rembrandt
This man is wearing the habit of an order of monks founded to follow the teachings of Saint Francis of Assisi. His pose, eyes cast down and apparently lost in thought, reflects the Franciscan way of life – one of simplicity and prayer. This may be a portrait of an individual friar, or perhaps a t...
Room 22
A Woman bathing in a Stream (Hendrickje Stoffels?)
A Woman bathing in a Stream (Hendrickje Stoffels?)
Rembrandt
Rembrandt’s painting, unique for him in its tender intimacy, shows a young woman almost up to her knees in a stream. She lifts her shift and looks down with a little smile of pleasure at the cool water rippling against her sturdy legs.Although it’s not certain, this woman may be Hendrickje Stoffe...
Room 22
An Elderly Man as Saint Paul
An Elderly Man as Saint Paul
Rembrandt
Rembrandt’s pensive Saint Paul belongs to a series of half-length pictures of religious figures that the artist painted in the late 1650s and early 1660s. The dark picture is devoid of unnecessary details, but the saint’s traditional attributes are just about visible: an open book sits on the tab...
Room 22
Anna and the Blind Tobit
Anna and the Blind Tobit
Rembrandt
A cold, grey light creeps through an open window into a room that is itself very old – no glass in the window, a heavy wooden shutter, an open fire with an earthenware pot beside it. The light falls onto an old man. He sits facing into the room, his hands clasped, his head lowered, his face almos...
Room 22
Belshazzar's Feast
Belshazzar's Feast
Rembrandt
In his great dramatic painting, Rembrandt tells a story from the Old Testament (Daniel 5: 1–5, 25–8). The man in the gold cloak, enormous turban and tiny crown is Belshazzar, King of Babylon. His father had robbed the Temple of Jerusalem of all its sacred vessels. Using these to serve food at a f...
Room 22
You've viewed 6 of 25 works