Abstract

This paper relies on object-based—i.e. starting from the concrete preserved works of art—research in art history. Its starting point is formed by a number of specific, too often overlooked, paintings of a particular subgenre of Flemish portraiture from before 1800. It focuses on artworks in which the commissioners had themselves portrayed in a setting of historical and allegorical motifs, or scenes that were appropriate to the group’s judicial authority or legal privileges. This contribution’s principal aim is to bring some of these paintings, together with their interpretive challenges, back into the limelight, and present a multifaceted understanding of their functions and their commissioners’ intentions.