ABOVE: Jan de Bray’s Couple Represented as Ulysses and Penelope (1668), opening March 13 at the National Gallery of Art.

A small exhibit of 17th Century painter Jan de Bray opens on Sunday at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., showcasing his “portrait historié” works in which ordinary people, in several cases members of de Bray’s family, are represented as historical or literary figures. The press release doesn’t really follow the portrait-role-playing into its murkier psychological questions: the Gallery says that it is “juxtaposing” two of de Bray’s paintings of his parents, one in which they are portrayed as themselves, and one in which they are playing the parts of Antony and Cleopatra. Uh, paging Dr. Freud, guys. Perhaps it’s a little too 21st-century-postmodern-revisionism for the NGA, but it leaps off the screen from where we’re sitting.

The exhibit, which also features a Rubens and a Frans Hals, runs until August.

National Gallery of Art presents Rare Look at Portraits by Dutch Artist Jan de Bray