Self-Portrait as a Hunter

A hunter and his dog are sitting at the foot of a tree. The man is nonchalantly holding a dead partridge and a hunting rifle. Though it may appear an innocent scene, for Dutch seventeenth-century viewers it had erotic connotations. The words ‘jagen’ (to hunt) and ‘vogelen’ (to catch birds) also referred to courting and making love.

The hunter – in imaginary clothing – is a self-portrait of the Leiden ‘fijnschilder’, or fine painter, Arie de Vois. His paintings are distinguished from the work of the other Leiden fijnschilders by their velvety appearance.