Willemsz van Coppenol (1599-1667) was the principal of the "French School" in Amsterdam until 1650 when he suffered a nervous breakdown, after which he was never the same. An important part of the school curriculum at that time was calligraphy, and schoolmasters such as he were among the most proficient practitioners of the art. After his breakdown, Coppenol devoted himself with an unhealthy passion to his calligraphy. He even became a sort of celebrity traveling through Holland with a box containing the most beautiful examples of his trade which he would show to amateurs and clients. Another of his odd habits was to commission portraits of himself from some of the most reputable artists of the time, including Rembrandt, the engraver Cornelis Visscher and the sculptor Arthur Quellinus, which he then would send out to poets and ask them to praise his work, paying them if necessary. This work belonged in the collection of H.P. Horne, who collected paintings and prints in the 1920's up until his death in 1926. Frita Lugt notes that many of the Rembrandt's bearing this stamp were kept by Dr. William Odling, of Paxford, Campden.