Portrait of a Dutch family,
oil on panel, 87 x 144 cm, framed

Provenance:
Matthias Ward Day (1802–1863), Newark, New Jersey, by circa 1840;
to his wife, Hannah Day, née Ward (died 1875);
bequeathed to the New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, New Jersey;
Private collection, England, until 2022

Literature:
New Jersey Historical Society, Semi-centennial Celebration of the Founding of the New Jersey Historical Society at Newark, N. J. May 16, 1895, Newark 1897, p. 138;
W. Nelson, Fifty Years of Historical Work in New Jersey, Paterson 1898, p. 324

The present, touching family portrait of a father and mother with their five sons, two daughters and an elderly matriarch, with inscriptions above each figure giving their age, is a striking example of Dutch painting in the early sixteenth century. A cross above the head of the younger blonde son suggests he may have died before this portrait was painted. The English explorer Henry Hudson lived in Amsterdam for a time, sailing in the service of the Dutch East India company in his ship Halve Maen. This portrait was traditionally identified as a portrait of the great mariner and his family from that period of his career. Hudson lends his name to several major geographical features in North America, where he died trying to find the North West Passage. This may explain why the panel was formerly in the collection of the New Jersey Historical Society, Newark.