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Portrait of the Mennonite minister Jan Nieuwenhuyzen (1724-1806). On the pedestal various attributes, including an inkwell with quills, a laurel wreath, a torch, the bible and ouroboros (snake that bites its own tail). Nieuwenhuijzen was a strongly socially committed man, struck by the ideals of the Enlightenment. This caused him to propose in a discussion group a plan to found a society for popular development. His son Martinus Nieuwenhuijzen, physician in Edam, worked out this plan in concrete terms and so on 16 November 1784 the "Genoodschap van Konsten en Wetenschappen", under the slogan: Tot Nut van 't Algemeen" was founded in his home. Etching and engraving by Ludwig Gottlieb Portman (1772-1828), after the painting by Adriaan de Lelie (1755-1820). Signed in print. Made in Amsterdam, ca. 1794. Source: Rijksmuseum, 2015.
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