Portrait of Jacob Trip (c.1576-1661)

This is Jacob Trip, at the age of 84. He is the forefather of one of the most important merchant families of Holland. Despite his advancing years, the elderly Trip – who had made a fortune in the international arms trade – exudes great power.

Trip lived in Dordrecht, where he commissioned Nicolaes Maes to paint this portrait. Maes came from Dordrecht, but lived for some years in Amsterdam, where he studied with Rembrandt. Rembrandt also painted a portrait of Trip as an old man, and one of his wife, Marghareta de Geer.