Trip also commissioned the imposing Trippenhuis, over two of whose fireplaces this painting and Portrait of Johanna de Geer and her Children as Charity originally hung.

[2] On the left two putti carry a large book, possibly in an allusion to the love of knowledge.

In the background there is see a balustrade with a park-like area behind, and a fountain in the shape of a putto (or Cupid) on a dolphin.

A painting in which the sitter is depicted in, for example, a mythological role is referred to by the term portrait historié.

It originally hung in the corner room on the first floor of the Trippenhuis's southern wing - Hendrik Trip occupied the north wing[3] The Rijksmuseum was housed in the Trippenhuis from 1816 to 1885 and the main hall was divided into two in 1858 to place Rembrandt's The Night Watch and Bartholomeus van der Helst's Meal of the Schutters opposite each other,[4] which may have been the occasion when both the chimney-piece works were added to the Rijksmuseum collection.