Ludolf de Jongh

[5] The early Dutch biographer Arnold Houbraken who is the main source on de Jongh's life claims that the young artist was a pupil of the versatile genre and landscape painter Cornelis Saftleven.

[2] He was the master of Johannes van der Meer and the more famous genre and portrait painter Jacob Ochtervelt.

[1] De Jongh was a very versatile painter who practised most genres popular in the Dutch Republic except still life painting.

This versatility is possibly explained by the fact that he was of independent means due to his inheritance and did not need to cater to the varying tastes of his patrons or specialise in a specific genre such as landscapes in order to ensure a steady income.

[6] His genre scenes from the early 1640 typically depict peasants or soldiers in dark and monochromatic interiors with some bright color accents.

This shows a similarity with the genre paintings of his presumed master Cornelis Saftleven and the Delft painter Anthonie Palamedesz.

[9] His genre subjects and hunting scenes of the late 1640s show an indebtedness to the Dutch followers of Caravaggio, the so-called Utrecht Caravaggisti, especially Jacob Duck.

The principal exponents in this genre were Pieter Codde, Willem Duyster and Simon Kick in Amsterdam, Jacob Duck in Utrecht and Anthonie Palamedesz.

[10][11] Examples of paintings of de Jongh broadly falling into this genre are the Tavern scene (1650, National Gallery Prague) and the Soldiers at reveille (1653, North Carolina Museum of Art).

[8] De Jongh's later works reflect a development in the mid-17th-century Dutch Republic towards a more opulent style and a greater plasticity of handling of which the Amsterdam painter Bartholomeus van der Helst was the principal proponent.

He experimented with various innovations in portraiture in this period, both in his use of space and light effects as well as by paying more attention to the psychological expression of his sitters.

The portrait shows three typical elements of his portraiture: the restricted palette used for the sitter, the careful delineation and representation of the features and the inclusion of a dog.