Pieter Verdonck

Pieter Verdonck was a man in Haarlem best known today for his portrait that was painted by Frans Hals in 1636. Very little is known of him, though a Pieter Verdonck was recorded in the Reformed Church of Haarlem as coming from Ghent. He was probably a friend of Hals, who painted him in the guise of Samson holding the jawbone. Perhaps his friend was not amused, because the painting was later painted over to reflect a man holding a wine glass, and his wild hair was covered by a velvet beret. According to the RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History) the jawbone is from a cow. The jawbone was meant, however, to symbolize the jawbone of the ass that was used by Samson to slay 1,000 Philistines. The portrait has been identified "Verdonck" because of the engraving made by Jan van de Velde with a short poem describing the subject, which loosely translated, meant "This is Verdonck, the bold guest whose jawbone attacks everyone/ By not distinguishing between high or low born, he landed in the work house". The poem could be seen as moralistic warning to Rederijkers whose satiric discourses went too far.