Portrait of Jan Baptist Houwaert

Half-length portrait in an oval of the Brussels writer, scholar, and politician Jan Baptist Houwaert (1533-1599): a man with a beard and mustache, seen from the left, in armor. Next to his head a small coat of arms. At the bottom of the oval the year of death of the sitter (1586 - incorrect, should be 1599) and the motto 'Hout Middel Mate'. Around the oval an ornamental border with an inscription (the name of the sitter) and a woman with a lyre (Musica), a woman with a book (Retorica), a woman with a compass (Geometria), and a woman noting numbers (Arithmetica).