Portrait of Anna Blocken

Aelbert Cuyp

1649

Oil on panel

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A portrait depicts a woman with dark hair pulled back, wearing a large, pleated white ruff and a dark, textured garment. She is framed by an ornate oval gold frame. This painting was the pendant, or partner, to a male portrait in the National Gallery, London, so we can conclude that it was originally an octagon. According to an inscription on the paintings, they were both created in 1649, when the woman was 49 years old and the man was 56. The only upper-crust couple from the city of Dordrecht whose birth years are known to correspond is Anna Blocken and her husband, Cornelis van Someren, a prominent physician. This identification is supported by the fact that the couple had connections to several of the artist’s other patrons. Cornelis died the same year that his portrait was made. Anna lived