Don Juan and Constance
Jacob Adriaensz. Backer
(Dutch, 1608 or 1609–1651)
Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas
Dimensions70.5 x 59.4 cm (27 3/4 x 23 3/8 in.)
Credit LineBequest of Charles Sumner
Accession number74.9
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This is probably a portrait of a husband and wife dressed up as characters from a Dutch adaptation of La Gitanilla by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes. The story tells of the romance between Don Juan, a Spanish nobleman, and Constance, a princess raised by gypsies. The painting represents their first encounter, arranged by Cupid. The unpicked rose in her hand symbolically serves as a happy allusion to love, courtship, and propriety. A combination of portrait and allegory, the scene would have been highly appropriate for an engaged or married couple.
InscriptionsLower left, on quiver: Illegible initials or monogram / 1673Provenance1841, with Harding's Gallery, Boston [see note 1]. Charles Sumner (b. 1811 - d. 1874), Boston and Washington, DC; 1874, bequeathed by Sumner to the MFA. (Accession Date: November 17, 1874)NOTES:
[1] Exhibited as a work by Terburg, "An Officer and Lady," Harding's Gallery, Boston (see catalogue "Ancient Armour and Arms...Also a Choice Collection of Pictures" 1841, cat. no. 32).
Jacob Adriaensz. Bellevois
Jacob Van Oost the Younger
Jacob de Heusch
