Friendship books of students

For the sake of friendship, several students had themselves immortalized in an album amicorum. Their portraits give us a rare image of the sixteenth-century student. These young men were lucky. Their noble origins gave them the opportunity to develop their intellect and spend money on a hand-painted portrait.

In alba amicorum we regularly find representations of student life, such as drinking men around a table or drop-dead gorgeous women. Moralistic representations hold up a mirror to the students about virtue and immoral behavior. The most important message is timeless: the diligent student is praised and the lazy student is condemned.