science

Portrait of the Artist with his Family

Portrait of the Artist with his Family is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Portrait of the Artist with his Family rather than just read about it. In short: Portrait of the Artist with his Family, also known as Self-Portrait with Parents, Brothers and Sisters is a c. 1615 painting by the Flemish artist Jacob Jordaens of himself with his parents and siblings. With Group Portrait, The Apostles Paul and Barnabas at Lystra (c. 1618) and The Banquet of Cleopatra, it is one of four works by the artist in the Hermitage Museum.

Key takeaways

Portrait of the Artist with his Family belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Portrait of the Artist with his Family to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Portrait of the Artist with his Family from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Portrait of the Artist with his Family, also known as Self-Portrait with Parents, Brothers and Sisters is a c. 1615 painting by the Flemish artist Jacob Jordaens of himself with his parents and siblings. With Group Portrait, The Apostles Paul and Barnabas at Lystra (c. 1618) and The Banquet of Cleopatra, it is one of four works by the artist in the Hermitage Museum.

Description The painting shows 10 persons seated in a garden around a table. Jordaens himself is on the left playing the lute. Jordaens' father, a merchant in canvases, is to his left holding a glass of wine in his hand. Next to him are Jordaens' sisters Magdalena and Anna. Then follows his mother Barbara van Wolschaten holding her daughter Elisabeth on her knees. Jordaens' sisters Maria and Catherina are on the right-hand side of the painting. They are looking up at three putti fluttering above them among the foliage of the trees. In the foreground are the twins Abraham and Isaac. The family dog is in the bottom centre. On the left of the dog is a table holding bottles. Higher up on the right, a maidservant enters with a tray of fruit. A basket of bread is in the centre of the table.

Meaning It has been speculated that the painting depicts the family's celebration of Jordaens' admission as a master to the Antwerp Guild of St Luke in 1615. The painting is full of symbols of family harmony and bliss. Music represented by the lute is an embodiment of harmony and in the context of a family portrait it references a harmonious marriage. The dog and the grapevine twining round the pavilion symbolize conjugal fidelity. The painting contains various religious symbols such as the bread and wine which symbolize the Eucharist. The raising of a goblet of wine by the father is likely a warning against excess in idle pleasures and a reminder of the need for restraint. The three putti hovering over the family likely represent the souls of the three daughters who had died young. The composition of the painting was inspired by Peter Paul Rubens' altarpiece The Circumcision (Chiesa di S. Ambrogio, Genoa).

Provenance It is believed that the painting remained in the Jordaens family until the 18th century, when the work was acquired by the Duke of Portland. It then entered Robert Walpole's collection at Houghton Hall. There it was seen by George Vertue in 1722. He recorded this in his diary calling the painting correctly a painting by Jordaens of his father & mother and family. The painting was sold to the Hermitage Museum in 1779 during the reign of Catherine II of Russia. At that time, it was wrongly attributed to Jordaens' teacher and father-in-law Adam van Noort.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Portrait of the Artist with his Family

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Portrait of the Artist with his Family claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Portrait of the Artist with his Family before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Portrait of the Artist with his Family ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Portrait of the Artist with his Family

In research: Portrait of the Artist with his Family appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Portrait of the Artist with his Family in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Portrait of the Artist with his Family is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1610s paintings, 17th-century portraits, Angels in art, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Portrait of the Artist with his Family outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Portrait of the Artist with his Family in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Portrait of the Artist with his Family means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Portrait of the Artist with his Family out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Portrait of the Artist with his Family in simple terms?

Why does Portrait of the Artist with his Family matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Portrait of the Artist with his Family?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Portrait of the Artist with his Family.