Paulus Moreelse is acknowledged as one of the leading portrait painters of his generation. The majority of his clients hailed from the upper class, to which Moreelse belonged as well. Though not of noble descent, he was part of the wealthiest and most influential citizenry, just like Philips Ram (1585-1632). Moreelse and Ram knew each other as members of the city administration. Moreelse and Ram both held various governance positions in the period 1618 to 1632. Ram married Anneken Vossen in 1605. After she died he remarried on 23 May 1619. Ram and his second wife Anna Strick (1591-1637) had their portraits painted in 1625, when Moreelse made his most accomplished works. (see also 30549) The quality of these portraits is indeed exceptional.

They are two knee-length pieces. In conformity with heraldic convention, the wife stands to the left of the husband. Both strike an elegant pose, and their dress is distinguished. Both are wearing black, clearly offsetting the white linen collar en white batiste cuffs. 'Austere' black might seem typical of seventeenth-century Protestantism – aimed to disguise affluence, but in fact it was the Spanish court that led the fashion for black among wealthy Europeans. Black fabrics were more expensive because they had to be dyed twice: first with red, then blue. A white 'millstone collar' provides optimal contrast. He is wearing a silk gambeson, baggy breeches and a cape around his shoulders. She is dressed in a silk dress with a black and gold brocade corset. The background is painted a neutral grey-green.

Over a hundred portraits by Moreelse have been preserved, and the most beautiful ones date from after 1615. The majority consists of individual portraits with corresponding counterpart, as in this case. During his finest period, Moreelse developed a basic concept that he also applied for the portraits of Philips Ram and Anna Strick. The bearing of many of the portrayed people is therefore similar, but the details differ. The quality of rendered textiles is high in this period, and the corporeality of the figures only increases over subsequent years. This is achieved in part by a more refined contrast between light and shadow. [text 2023]