From the start of his career Nour-Eddine Jarram has admired the old masters . He once made a variation on Rembrandt's Anatomy Lesson from Doctor Tulp, in which he replaced the heads of the doctors with tulips. In later works he mixed the images of the Dutch masters with Islamic patterns.
In this portrait of a regent of the Oudemanshuis in Haarlem by Frans Hals, the regent's face is covered with calligraphy. The Arabic text is the first sentence of the Muslims' prayer in which the Prophet is honored.