Portrait of Jacob Trip

In 1660 builders in Amsterdam began the Trippenhuis, a palatial house on a canal for two brothers of the Trip family. Their money came largely from arms dealing, and the man who had built that fortune was their father, Jacob Trip of Dordrecht, then about 85. This portrait and its companion of his wife were probably made to hang in the new house. Jacob died in 1661, around the time Rembrandt painted him. He sits in a loose robe, a white wrap round his neck, painted quickly and broadly. The National Gallery observes that the old arms dealer looks more like a priest than a warmonger. The stick in his hand is picked out with white highlights, and it has no handle to lean on, so it would have been little use for walking.