Equestrian Portrait of Cornelis (1639–1680) and Michiel Pompe van Meerdervoort (1638–1653) with Their Tutor and Coachman ("Starting for the Hunt")

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 painting shows two young men, brothers Cornelis Pompe van Meerdervoort (left) and Michiel Pompe van Meerdervoort, with their tutor, Caulier, their coachman, Willem, and dogs. In the background of the image, there is a ruined castle, likely intended to indicate the ancient lineage of those pictured. The castle does not look like the Huis te Meerdervoort, the family home of the Pompe van Meerdervoort, located across the Oude Maas from Dordrecht and to the south of Zwijndrecht. The castle was originally painted in the left middleground, before it was repainted on the right. In the left of the background, sailboats can be seen on the river Rhine and the churches and associated buildings of Hoog-Elten, Rindern, and Laag-Elten.

Subject
equestrianism, portrait, hunting, man, child, horse, dog