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| Pendant portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit Rembrandt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
Overview: Why These Pendant Portraits Matter
Rembrandt’s Pendant portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit (1634) are among the most striking society portraits of the Dutch Golden Age: life-size, full-length, and painted to commemorate a high-profile marriage in Amsterdam. They are rare in Rembrandt’s oeuvre—indeed, the only pair of full-length standing portraits of a couple he ever painted—and they have remained together since the day they were made.
Their fame today rests on three pillars: the paintings’ artistic daring, a richly documented provenance culminating in a record-setting joint acquisition by two national museums, and their position within a competitive portrait market dominated by Rembrandt and his contemporaries.
The Sitters and the Occasion
Maerten Soolmans (1613–1641) and Oopjen Coppit (1611–1689) married in 1633, and the portraits were completed in 1634. Soolmans, the son of a prosperous sugar refiner who migrated from Antwerp, was a young law student with political ambitions. Oopjen came from a well-connected brewing family. The portraits telegraph new-money confidence and patrician aspiration at life size, on canvases so tall they presuppose a grand interior with high ceilings.
Oopjen’s gown, jewelry, and accessories (including an ostrich-feather fan and layered pearls) proclaim fashion leadership at the highest tier of Amsterdam society, while Maerten’s shimmering black silks, lace, and rosettes display wealth with restrained swagger. In the 1630s, pearls were prized above diamonds; the couple’s adornment functioned as social currency as much as decoration.
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| Pendant portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit Rembrandt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
What Makes the Paintings Artistically Special
Full-Length Scale and Theatrical Presence
Full-length, life-size pendant portraits were the most expensive format in the Dutch Republic’s portrait market. Rembrandt transforms the format from courtly parade to psychological encounter: the figures dominate the viewer’s space, yet their poses feel plausible, even conversational, rather than stiffly ceremonial. This fusion of grandeur and immediacy is part of what made the pair so coveted in their own time and ours.
Mastery of Black-on-Black and Material Illusion
Each canvas is a virtuoso study in black fabrics—satin, silk, and velvet—set against deep grounds. Rembrandt layers warm and cool blacks, then activates them with pinpoint highlights in lace, cuffs, shoe rosettes, and glints of metal. The result is chromatically restrained yet optically rich, a demonstration that black can be a spectrum of color when handled by a master. The tactile realism of the textiles gives the impression that one could almost touch the garments.
Chiaroscuro and Human Presence
While court portraitists often prioritized surface finish and etiquette, Rembrandt insists on the presence of the sitters—breathing, pausing, meeting the viewer’s gaze. Light shapes faces with soft transitions, drawing attention to eyes and mouths, and then falls off across the garments, where flashing accents guide a slow read of texture and status. This is chiaroscuro subordinated to character rather than theatrical effect for its own sake.
Fashion as Identity
These works double as fashion documents: Oopjen’s flat lace collar (rather than the older millstone ruff), layered pearls, and sumptuous black gown announce cutting-edge taste; Maerten’s outfit answers with an equally current, meticulously trimmed ensemble. In Amsterdam’s mercantile culture, such display was not mere vanity but a public language of credit, kinship, and reliability.
Provenance: From Family Heirlooms to a Franco-Dutch Partnership
Few Dutch Golden Age portraits have provenance chains as continuous and scrutinized as these pendants:
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1634–18th century: The portraits remained with the sitters’ descendants. For more than a century they were misidentified as a different couple because Oopjen later remarried; archival work in the 20th century restored the correct identities.
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1798: Documented sale in Alkmaar from Hendrik Daey’s estate—hammered for 4,000 florins (with the pendant), then resold to the Amsterdam collector Van Winter. This is a crucial early auction milestone anchoring the paintings in the Dutch market.
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19th century: The pair entered the Van Loon collection in Amsterdam and were praised by writers such as Eugène Fromentin. In 1877 the entire Van Loon collection—these Rembrandts included—was sold en bloc to Baron Gustave de Rothschild and moved to France, where the portraits remained in Rothschild hands and were rarely publicly exhibited.
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20th century: A notable public appearance took place at the Rijksmuseum in 1956 for Rembrandt’s 350th anniversary. Otherwise, the pair remained largely out of public view in a private collection.
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2015–2016: After reports that the works might be sold, a cross-border solution emerged. In February 2016, the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) and the Musée du Louvre (Paris) jointly acquired the pair for €160 million, splitting the cost and formal ownership 50/50. The intergovernmental agreement—frequently dubbed the “Rembrandt Treaty”—stipulates that the paintings must always stay together and will alternate between the two museums for extended multi-year periods; they are not to be lent elsewhere.
This shared stewardship is one of the most innovative museum partnerships of the 21st century, and it secured public access to two works that had spent generations in private rooms.
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| Pendant portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit Rembrandt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
Auction History and Market Landmarks
The pair’s 1798 Alkmaar sale marks their earliest securely recorded auction event, before moving to Van Winter and then Van Loon.
Later transfers were private sales, notably the 1877 purchase of the Van Loon collection by the Rothschilds. When the works reentered the market in the 2010s, a bidding war was avoided through the joint public acquisition at €160 million—a sum that set a record for Rembrandt and ranks among the largest amounts paid for Old Master paintings. The agreement also established a no-loan rule and alternating display schedule, unusual features reflecting both market value and cultural diplomacy.
How the Joint Ownership Works
Under the agreement, the portraits debut at one museum, then travel to the other for equivalent periods. A Franco-Dutch committee oversaw technical study and treatment, pooling expertise and data. The alternating schedule now structures their public life for the foreseeable future, ensuring both the Netherlands and France regularly display one of the Dutch Republic’s defining artistic statements.
Close Reading: What You See When You Stand in Front of Them
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Mise-en-scène: Each figure commands a shallow stage defined by stone floor tiles, a riser, and a hanging curtain. The sober setting throws the drama onto the people and their dress.
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Gesture: Maerten’s outstretched left hand, glove in palm, offers practiced gallantry; his other hand rests at the hip, a pose equal parts courtly and confident. Oopjen’s feather fan, pendant pearls, and glance orchestrate a rhythm of highlights that move from face to hands to hem.
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Paint Handling: Look for micro-accents: dazzling, knife-edge touches across the lace; feathery, broken strokes in the fan; and nearly matte passages in deep costume blacks that spring to life only when you shift position.
Critical Comparison 1: Rembrandt vs. Frans Hals
In 1630s Holland, Frans Hals dominated fashionable portraiture with a dazzlingly loose brush that made faces appear to breathe and live. Rembrandt, by contrast, pursued tighter control over light and mood, channeling the sitters’ psychology through chiaroscuro and narrative nuance.
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Brushwork and Tempo: Hals’s portraits—standing or seated—are painted with a quick, calligraphic touch. Forms coalesce from energetic strokes, giving a sense of immediacy. Rembrandt slows the tempo; the brush is laboring for effect in lace and fabric, while the faces are meditative and still.
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Light and Palette: Hals favors even, cool illumination; Rembrandt uses directed light, deepening shadows and heightening drama.
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Character: Hals conveys conviviality and social ease; Rembrandt conveys gravitas and inner composure.
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Format: Both absorb aristocratic models from Van Dyck, but Hals emphasizes elegance while Rembrandt emphasizes presence.
Critical Comparison 2: Rembrandt vs. Bartholomeus van der Helst
By the 1640s and 1650s, Bartholomeus van der Helst was a powerhouse of Amsterdam portraiture. His style—cool, evenly lit, and meticulously finished—appealed to regents who wanted clarity, polish, and civic optimism.
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Illumination and Finish: Van der Helst’s portraits are bathed in daylight clarity, with meticulous fabrics and accessories. Rembrandt prefers drama and atmosphere, spotlighting faces and props against shadow.
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Mood: Van der Helst projects civic triumph and serenity; Rembrandt projects personal dignity and presence.
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Effect: Van der Helst prioritizes visibility and polish; Rembrandt prioritizes depth and atmosphere.
The Dutch Golden Age Portrait Market
The Dutch Republic’s portrait boom coincided with urban prosperity, social mobility, and a taste for status anchored in restraint. Full-length pendants were a luxury tier, echoing court portrait conventions while translating them for mercantile elites. In that competitive environment:
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Rembrandt offered psychological gravity and atmospheric depth.
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Hals offered immediacy and stylistic charisma.
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Van der Helst offered polish and clarity.
The pendant portraits distill Rembrandt’s proposition at its most ambitious: they look courtly, feel intimate, and read as timeless signatures of character.
Conservation, Research, and Discoveries
The Franco-Dutch acquisition triggered collaborative conservation and technical study. Researchers examined ground layers, paint stratigraphy, and condition to plan treatment. Results clarified how Rembrandt staged blacks against blacks and used pinpoint highlights to choreograph attention. The project underscores how international co-ownership can also be co-knowledge, leveraging expertise across borders.
Visiting the Paintings: What to Look For
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The Eyes First: Let your vision adjust to the dark backgrounds; the faces bloom into view.
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Lace Logic: Trace the lace from collar to cuffs to shoe rosettes—Rembrandt uses bright accents to pace the viewing.
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Black Isn’t One Color: Observe how satin, silk, and velvet shift as you move.
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Gesture as Voice: Maerten’s glove and Oopjen’s fan act as props of conversation.
Key Takeaways
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These are the only full-length standing couple portraits by Rembrandt.
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Their provenance charts the evolution of the art market, from 18th-century Dutch sales to 21st-century museum diplomacy.
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Compared with Hals and van der Helst, they reveal Rembrandt’s unique strengths: atmosphere, psychology, and light.
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Their acquisition by the Louvre and Rijksmuseum demonstrates cultural cooperation at the highest level.
Conclusion
Rembrandt’s Pendant portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit compress everything that made him the era’s definitive portraitist into two towering canvases: the authority of scale, the alchemy of black fabrics, the psychology of light, and the speaking presence of individuals stepping out of their moment to meet ours. Their unbroken pairing across nearly four centuries—capped by an unprecedented joint acquisition—turns them into case studies in art, identity, market history, and museum collaboration.
Seen alongside the achievements of Frans Hals and Bartholomeus van der Helst, they confirm that Dutch portraiture was not one style but a vibrant ecosystem of solutions to a single problem: how to make a human being look like themselves and feel alive on canvas. Rembrandt’s solution remains the most profoundly theatrical and psychologically durable—a near-miracle of presence staged in black, lace, light, and air.
