Equestrian Portrait of Cornelis (1639–1680) and Michiel Pompe van Meerdervoort (1638–1653) with Their Tutor and Coachman
Aelbert Cuyp
ca. 1652–53
Equestrian Portrait of Cornelis and Michiel Pompe van Meerdervoort with Their Tutor and Coachman, also known as Starting for the Hunt, is an oil-on-canvas painting executed ca. 1652–53 by Aelbert Cuyp, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Cuyp mainly painted landscapes, but these often included anonymous riders in compositions similar to this. By contrast, few of his paintings are portraits. This portrait is an early example of an equestrian portrait of someone who was not a member of court; previously, equestrian portraits had been restricted to only the high nobility and royalty, but in this period in the Netherlands, this was changing, and Cuyp and his father, Jacob Gerritszoon Cuyp, led this change, with the encouragement of Cornelis van Beveren.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York · Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0 · Text: Wikipedia (adapted), CC BY-SA 4.0