Portrait of the painter's daughter Anna Catharina Jordaens

This portrait of the painter's daughter Anna Catharina, around 1635, reveals Jordaens's tender approach to family subjects. The private commission demonstrates how the robust painter of mythological and genre scenes could also produce works of gentle domesticity. Jordaens, who outlived both Rubens and Van Dyck to become the dominant figure in Flemish Baroque painting for the second half of the seventeenth century, was particularly celebrated for his exuberant genre subjects, especially his series on the Flemish proverb about the King of the Bean.

The young girl is rendered with soft, careful modeling that contrasts with the bold, physical style of Jordaens's larger compositions. The warm palette and intimate scale create a portrait of genuine parental affection.