After the defeat of Napoleon, the director of the Rijks-museum, Apostool, was responsible for retrieving the art that had been stolen from the Netherlands and taken to France. In 1816 he returned triumphantly with most of it. This portrait was probably made on that occasion. Apostool wears the order of the knighthood that he received. The catalogue in his hand, from the Musée Français in Paris, is open to the Dutch school.