These two paintings were first shown in Amsterdam in 1858. On that occasion the sitters were identified as Lambert Witsen and his wife Sara Nuyts owing to the woman`s purported similarity to the portrait of the latter (Amsterdam Historisch Museum, inv. SA 989) dated 1684 and included thus by Jan de Baen (1633-1702) in his work, Portrait of the Regents of the Spinhuis in Amsterdam.

Moes (1897-1905) maintains this identification, although in 1900 the alleged portrait of Lambert Witsen was exhibited at The Hague as a portrait of Gillis de Wildts. In 1893 both works underwent cleaning which revealed the coat of arms in the upper part of the male portrait, enabling Van Krestchmar (1985) to correctly identify the sitters as Johan Rammelman and his wife Alida Lange (1651-1694). Even so, Van Haeften returns to the original identification with which they entered the Museum and with which they have been classified in the catalogue until now.

Both portraits belong to the type established by Netscher after settling permanently in The Hague in 1662, in which he successfully combined the decorative trends of French portraiture of the day, the technique of the so-called fijnschilders or fine painters of the Leiden school, and the small format of the portraits executed by his master Gerard ter Borch (1617-1681), which was better suited to the homes of the Dutch haute bourgeoisie than the large formats commonly employed by Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) and his followers as well as by the French painters in vogue in Holland at the time.

Alida de Lange is portrayed seated in a landscape setting, as is often the case in Netscher`s female portraits. Behind her is a rosebush, an attribute of Venus and symbol of love. Her left hand, which rests on her lap, gathers the lower edge of the mantle, while her right hand clutches the pearls that adorn the neckline of her dress. Her hair is styled in the French manner then in vogue. She is attired in the typical rich clothing and luxurious adornments found in Netscher`s works, which were worn only when sitting for these portraits. The gesture of the hand that grasps the pearls repeats that found in the Portrait of Catharina de Witte, dated 1678 (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) (Posada Kubissa, T.: Pintura holandesa en el Museo Nacional del Prado. Catálogo razonado, 2009, p. 307).