Model for the Escutcheon of Burgomaster Banningh Cocq (1605-1655), Lord of Purmerland and Ilpendam, in the Vierschaar of the Amsterdam Town Hall (now Royal Palace) at Dam Square

Entry

The Antwerp sculptor Artus Quellinus I (1609-1668) worked from circa 1650 to 1665 on the sculptural decoration of the former Amsterdam town hall (the present-day Royal Palace at Dam Square), then under construction. A large number of the many terracotta studies and models that he and his assistants made for this monumental structure have been preserved,³ among them the present terracotta middle section of the present escutcheon. This terracotta relief functioned as the scale model for the marble coat of arms of Frans Banningh Cocq (1605-1655) (fig. a) in the upper zone of the walls of the building’s tribunal, the Vierschaar.⁴ In addition to Banningh Cocq’s coat of arms, this room houses the marble coats of arms of those who held the office of burgomaster in the period 1650 to 1652, the years encompassing most of the Vierschaar’s construction and interior decoration.⁵ Represented in this imposing hall are the coats of arms of a total of eight burgomasters: Banningh Cocq, Anthony Oetgens van Waveren, Franc van der Meer, Cornelis de Graeff, Gerard Schaep, Nicolaas Corver, Cornelis Bicker and Johan Huydecoper.⁶ Each escutcheon is mounted on a tree trunk with foliate work. Besides the present model for Frans Banningh Cocq’s coat of arms, two additional terracotta models survive intact, both representing the coat of arms of his brother-in-law, burgomaster Cornelis de Graeff (1599-1664) (figs. b and c). The model showing the coat of arms supported by two putti as opposed to resting on a tree trunk is probably a previously considered design.⁷ The other model corresponds to the ultimate marble version in the Vierschaar. These escutcheons are also encased in frames comparable to that of the present terracotta.⁸

Frans Banningh Cocq, Knight in the Order of St Michael, Lord of Purmerland and Ilpendam, is forever preserved in Rembrandt’s Night Watch in his capacity as a captain of the civil guard (SK-C-5).⁹ Banningh Cocq served as burgomaster of Amsterdam in the years 1650, 1651, 1653 and 1654. His coat of arms is surmounted by a crowned helmet, from which emerges a silver swan with wings in flight. As depicted on the relief, the coat of arms rests on a tree trunk with oak foliage. Around its perimeter hangs the chain of the Order of St Michael.¹⁰ The fasces on either side are a sign of officiating authority.

The wooden frame of later date bears the various coats of arms of Banningh Cocq’s ancestors: (dexter) Cocq, Frijtagh, Van Campen and Den Otter; (sinister) Banninck, Haeck, Van der Hem and Hooft. The identification of the armorial devices is based on Banningh Cocq’s self-compiled Genealogy of the Lords and Ladies of Purmerlandt and Ilpendam on the basis of Consanguinity as well as Affinity, a manuscript held in the possession of the De Graeff family and on long-term loan to the Rijksmuseum (SK-C-1102). The coat of arms of the Lord van Purmerland and Ilpendam is also found in a drawing by Pieter Jansz, made on the occasion of Banningh Cocq’s admittance into the Order of St Michael in 1648 (RP-T-1894-A-2971).

Initially, the presence of the Hooft coat of arms could not be conclusively linked to any specific branch of the family.¹¹ Nonetheless, the link was eventually established via the paternal side.¹² Oddly, this coat of arms erroneously appears on the female side (sinister), whereas the maternal coats of arms of Van Campen and Den Otter have been placed on the paternal side (dexter). Dudok van Heel suggests this switch was intentional, designed to veil the missing quarter on the paternal side.¹³

Following his death in 1655, Frans Banningh Cocq’s estate and the heerlijkheid (lordship) of Purmerland and Ilpendam were transferred to the De Graeff family via his wife, Maria Overlander (1655-1678). At this time, the family was already in possession of the two terracotta models with Cornelis de Graeff’s coat of arms. It was likely around this time that the three escutcheons came together at Ilpenstein Castle in Ilpendam, where Banningh Cocq’s escutcheon¹⁴ and presumably those of De Graeff ultimately remained until the castle’s demolition in 1872. The frames today encasing the three terracottas are similar and might have been commissioned by Pieter de Graeff (1638-1707), castle lord of Ilpenstein from 1690 on, who was greatly concerned with his family lineage. Evidence of this fascination is the ancestors’ gallery De Graeff had installed in the great hall at Ilpenstein around 1700, which he filled with both new and previously existing full-length portraits of Frans Banningh Cocq, Cornelis de Graeff and others.¹⁵

In 2013, a painted escutcheon from 1650 surfaced on the art market, which bears the alliance coat of arms of Banningh Cocq-Overlander. This piece had come directly from the possession of family descendants.¹⁶ Furthermore, a heavily overpainted escutcheon or funerary hatchment of Frans Banningh Cocq (NG-87) is today preserved in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, a work said to have come from the Dutch Reformed church in Ilpendam.¹⁷

Bieke van der Mark, 2024