Portret van Joannes Henricus Scholten, hoogleraar Godgeleerdheid te Leiden

Johan Heinrich Neuman's portrait of Joannes Henricus Scholten, Professor of Theology at Leiden University, is a typical example of academic portraiture commissioned by Dutch universities to document their distinguished faculty. Scholten (1811-1885) was one of the most influential Dutch Reformed theologians of the nineteenth century, a major figure of liberal Protestantism whose modernist interpretation of Reformed doctrine both shaped and provoked intense controversy within Dutch religious life. A university portrait commissioned near the end of his career recorded his institutional status and provided the university with a visual memorial to a significant figure.

Dutch academic portraiture in this period maintained close connections to the seventeenth-century tradition: dark grounds, formal poses, careful attention to the sitter's face as the index of character and achievement. Neuman's technique is solid and respectful, serving the commemorative function of such commissions.