Children Portraits

With Koen Fillet and Katrijn Van Bragt, Collection Consultant of The Phoebus Foundation

Within portraiture, children portraits are a special genre. The representations of boys and girls, dressed in lavish attire and in a stately and serious pose, don’t immediately catch the eye and even look odd at first glance. But in fact, they contain a particularly interesting, often emotional story. In this episode of Phoebus Focus, you can discover, together with Katrijn Van Bragt, all about the history and evolution of this special portrait genre.

Dirk Bouts (studio), *The Virgin with Child in an enclosed garden,* 1468

Anthony Van Dyck, *Portrait of Willem II of Orange,* c.1631

Jacob Jordaens, *As the Old Sing, So the Young Pipe, c.*1640-45

Want to know more about children’s portraits? Discover the essay Forever Young. Children of Paint and Varnish in the book The Bold and the Beautiful in Flemish Portraits.

Read The Bold and the Beautiful in Flemish Portraits