But there’s a deeply troubling side to this couple’s wealth – and Rembrandt may have wanted us to register that there was something amiss. Soolmans was heir to one of Amsterdam’s biggest sugar refineries, and the production of sugar at its origin point depended on slaves.

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The Rijksmuseum is stuffed with the artistic riches of the 17th-century Netherlands. For it to draw attention to the links between art, wealth and inhumanity in that age is a bold move. But it is time “to come clean”, Valika Smeulders, the museum’s head of history, told me – in order to “connect the collection to that history”. Parallel to the show, the Rijksmuseum has added labels to 80 objects in its collections that have links to slavery. This goes way beyond culture war cliches, though. In fact, Smeulders doesn’t see it that way at all. Far from a denunciation of the past, she argues, revealing this side of Dutch art can only make it richer.

A little note regarding the article on the forthcoming slavery exhibition at the Rijks. I totally agree on including the 'two african men' in the exhibition, it would be such a nice and important nuance. However, unfortunately, this isn't possible: the picture is part of the Bredius bequest at the Mauritshuis, and can therefor never leave the museum. A construction comparable with the position of the pictures Henry Clay Frick aquired at the Frick. If only this was lifted, some wonderful pictures (some in storage) could complement ensembles and exhibitions elsewhere in the country....