The sitter’s black silk cloak imparts an air of gravitas, its loose shape echoing the man’s wavy blond hair. The doublet is adorned with ribbon loops, which were at the height of fashion in the 1660s, and he proudly sports a hat, fitting of his position within the patrician class. This, and costume accessories, such the lace-trimmed collar, further suggests the portrait was painted in the late 1660s. Around this time Van Anraedt was a leading portrait painter in the eastern provinces of the Netherlands, second only to the celebrated Gerard ter Borch (1617 – 1681), who was once thought to be the author of the present portrait.

Although he was primarily based in Deventer, noble and patrician clients from neighbouring cities and even provinces called upon van Anraedt to have their portrait painted, as competent portraitists were scarce in their part of the country. Thus, while the sitter of our portrait may very well have been a respected member of the Deventer elite, we cannot exclude the possibility that he is from some other town in the eastern provinces. However, presuming our sitter was based there, it seems very likely, due to their chosen outfit, that they were a member of the town council, be it as a ‘gemeensman’ (a representative of one of the town’s council wards), a ‘schepenen’ (alderman), or a ‘raden’ (councillor). The costume worn in this portrait is intentionally serious and almost performative, suggesting that the subject preferred to show themselves as they would be seen in their public office, rather than a more informal, personal guise. In so doing they expected that their beholder treat them with respect in keeping with their considerable socio-political status as a regenten.

It is worth remarking the passing likeness shared between our sitter and that of Willem Nilant (1628 – 1701), a mayor of Deventer, who was also painted by van Anraedt; both men share a distinctive dimpled chin, jowly cheeks, and a strongly set brow. The Nilants were prominent councillors and Willem’s brother, Jellis (1625 - 1688), and cousin Andreas, all served together simultaneously, being collectively known as de drie Koninkjes van Deventer. It is tempting to associate our sitter with the Nilants but, apart from a slight resemblance, there is no other evidence to substantiate it.

Van Anraedt’s portraits are almost always life-size, though their compositions vary; in addition to busts, sometimes framed in a cartouche, and knee-length pieces he also, in his later Amsterdam years (1672 - 1675), painted group portraits. One such painting in the Rijksmuseum, Six Regents and the Housemaster of the Oudezijds Institute for the Outdoor Relief of the Poor, Amsterdam shows how the artist could successfully work on a large scale and maintain a powerful air of dignity and seriousness akin to that in the present portrait. Other portraits, such as that of Margaretha Barbara de Sandra, call to mind the fashionable portraits by Abraham van den Tempel and Nicolaes Maes, presenting the sitter in an idealised, pastoral setting and dressed à l’antique as opposed to wearing more sombre contemporary dress. The present work, however, belongs to the former format, following the more naturalistic, austere example of Ter Borch, in which the sitters are shown in realistic settings and wearing faithfully rendered attire. Whereas Ter Borch produced these on cabinet-size, Van Anraedt embraced the life-size scale to great effect.

Although it is assumed that Pieter van Anraedt was a pupil of Gerard ter Borch in Deventer, there is no evidence to support this. He probably trained in his native Utrecht rather than in Deventer, but certainly by 1658 he was working as an independent artist in Amsterdam, as his first dated painting – his only known still life – was painted in that year (Mauritshuis, The Hague). Van Anraedt is also known to have painted some landscapes, but he specialised in portraits. In 1663 he married Antonia van der Veen, a daughter of the apothecary and popular poet, Jan van der Veen (1578 – 1659). The couple maintained ties with Utrecht, and their first child, a daughter named Antonia, was born during a visit to this city in 1664. Otherwise, the Van Anraedts lived in Deventer, mainly on the Nieuwmarkt, near where Antonia's father's house, 'Het Suyckerhuis', at Groote Poot 19-21, until 1672, when the city was invaded by troops of the bishops of Cologne and Münster. Van Anraedt, like Ter Borch, chose to settle with his family in Amsterdam, where in November of that year another daughter was born. During his Amsterdam period, Van Anraedt received many portrait commissions, even from nearby Haarlem, such as the Four Regentesses of the Heilige Geesthuis (Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem). In 1675, the year of his return to Deventer, and one of his last portraits, he painted the portrait of Isaac Commelin (1598 – 1676), the town’s noted historian (Amsterdam Museum).