Portrait of Sara de Bie  1638

Sara de Bie, daughter of an Amsterdam goldsmith, was Johannes Lutma’s second wife. As in his portrait of Lutma, here Backer employed loose flowing brushstrokes. The organically curved scrolls at the bottom of the portrait – in so-called auricular style – were characteristic of Lutma’s silver. He used it in a similar fashion to surround captions on shields, medals and medal...