Jacob Cats

Around this bust of Jacob Cats are various classical poets: medallions with portraits of Homer, Virgil, Ovid and Horace- their names stand in black letters at the top, decorating the corners of the frame. It is the frame that attracts the most attention. At the top is the Cats family coat of arms, flanked by two winged puttiPuttoPutto (plural: putti) comes from the Latin 'putus', 'lad'. Putti are nude, sometimes winged boys found in both painting and sculpture. Putti are often employed simply to liven up a composition, but sometimes - with bow and arrow - they represent earthly love. The Greek god of love Eros - or Cupid - is often depicted as a putto., each with an open book in its lap. The book, a symbol of wisdom, is apt for the subject of this portrait: Jacob Cats was a poet. A sample of the work of this seventeenth-century poet can be read on the medallion on the frame - the lines read: 'Als ick dit beelt aensie en van mijn eerste jaren. Soo leer ick dat de tijt verloopt gelyck de haren' (When I see this image of former years, I see how time recedes, just like my hair).