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Early portrait of circumnavigator Jacques Le Maire, holding a map showing the region which would become known as Le Maire's Straits, which he navigated in 1615.
Le Maire's portrait, embellished with his coat of arms, encapsulates the spirit of the Dutch Golden Age, reflecting both his status and his maritime ambitions. Working on behalf of investors disenchanted with the monopolistic practices of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), Le Maire sought freedom to navigate new trading routes to the Pacific, bypassing Magellan's Strait, and the VOC's route via the Indian Ocean. His quest led to the establishment of the Australian Company, chartered to trade in the vast and largely unexplored regions of the Pacific and beyond. The portrait likely commemorates his initiative in forming this enterprise, as well as his partnership with navigator Willem Schouten, which culminated in the discovery of a new maritime passage.
The map in his hands shows the new route around the bottom of South America discovered by Schouten and Le Maire around the Barnevelt Islands, and past Cape Horn.
