Equestrian Portrait of Cornelis (1639–1680) and Michiel Pompe van Meerdervoort (1638–1653) with Their Tutor and Coachman ("Starting for the Hunt")

Aelbert Cuyp painted Equestrian Portrait of Cornelis and Michiel Pompe van Meerdervoort around 1652, a formal double equestrian portrait of two brothers from one of Dordrecht's most prominent families. The equestrian portrait was the most prestigious format in Western portraiture, derived from the ancient tradition of the Roman emperor on horseback and continued through Titian, Rubens, and Velázquez. Cuyp's equestrian portraits combine the formal dignity of the tradition with his characteristic warm, atmospheric landscape setting, giving the sitters both social distinction and the visual pleasure of his golden Dutch light. The Pompe brothers' portraits demonstrate his ability to satisfy the highest social aspirations of the Dutch regent class.

The golden afternoon light bathes the equestrian group in Cuyp's characteristic warm luminosity, with the carefully rendered horses and the distant landscape demonstrating his skill at combining portrait, animal, and landscape painting.