Postcard
- In a gallery, Daan tells Jacob to open his eyes; he's blindfolded him up until this point because he wants to show Jacob something special.
- When Jacob opens up, he sees himself—but painted in a portrait in the museum. How can this be?
- Daan tells him that it's actually a portrait of Titus van Rijn. Wait, isn't that Daan's last name too?
- Fun fact: we bet you've heard of another van Rijn too—he goes by the name of Rembrandt, and he painted the portrait of his son, Titus, back in 1660 when Titus was nineteen.
- Jacob is mesmerized by the painting, not because it's particularly noteworthy or anything—in fact, most people haven't even stopped to notice it—but because there's something magical and special about the portrait that Jacob can't quite put his finger on. It looks so much like him.
- There's another portrait of Titus when he's a little older, and then another one older than that. It's like looking in a mirror for Jacob—you know, if mirrors could show you what you'd look like when you're older. (Um… that would be really cool.)
- While the pair take a look at these paintings, Daan tells Jacob about Rembrandt's relationship with his father and son. Titus tried painting but didn't have his dad's mad skills, but he loved sitting for him anyway.
- Daan thinks about how Geertrui says love is observing another person and being observed by that person with complete attention—this makes Daan think Rembrandt and his kid loved each other very much.
- Titus eventually died of the plague, and a year later Rembrandt died too, probably from a broken heart.
- As the boys are talking, Jacob gets closer and closer to the painting, until the guard comes over and tells him to back up. Daan thinks this is because someone kissed Titus recently. Yep, you read that right: someone walked up and planted a big old smacker on the portrait. Now everyone's a little touchy over people getting too close.
- They turn to leave, and Daan starts singing a poem by a Dutch poet named Bram Vermeulen. It goes like this: "Mijn hele leven zocht ik jou, om—eindelijk gevonden—te weten wat eenzaam is." Not sure what that means? We've got you covered. Here's how it goes in English: "I've spent my life looking for you, only to learn, now I have found you at last, the meaning of solitude."