Object data
oil on panel
support: height 53.3 cm × width 36.5 cm
outer size: depth 5.7 cm (support incl. frame)
Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt (workshop of)
Portrait of Corvina Hezenbroek van Hofdijck (1602-67)
1618
Inscriptions
- inscription and date, left and upper right: Ætat. 16. 1618
- coat of arms, top right: a rearing black unicorn with a green cloverleaf on a gold field. The lozenge is set in a green wreath studded with four red rosettes and hangs from a mask
- inscription, on the reverse: Corvina van Hesenbroeck van Hofdijck. Naderhant getrout met de Heer Cornelis van Beresteyn. Burgemeester der Stad Delft. (Corvina van Hesenbroeck van Hofdijck. Later married to Mr Cornelis van Beresteyn, burgomaster of the town of Delft.)
Technical notes
The vertically grained oak panel is bevelled on all sides. The bevel on the left side is thinner than the others, and taking into consideration the lack of space on the right side of the composition, the panel was most likely cut down here. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1600. The panel could have been ready for use by 1611, but a date in or after 1617 is more likely. The ground is light in colour and was applied thinly, allowing the wood to show through in the thinly painted passages. The paint layers were applied smoothly with only minimal brushmarking in the face, and impasto in the gold brocade of the figure’s sleeves.
Scientific examination and reports
- technical report: W. de Ridder, RMA, 27 July 2004
- dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 27 September 2005
Condition
Fair. The grain of the panel has become very apparent as vertical black lines throughout the painting. The discoloured varnish has matte streaks.
Conservation
- conservator unknown, 1903: treatment unknown
Provenance
? Commissioned by or for the sitter; ? her son, Cornelis van Beresteyn IV (1629-1716), Delft; ? his niece, Catharina Maria Vallensis (1676-1745), Delft; ? her son, Nicolaes van der Dussen (1718-70), Lord of Oost-Barendrecht, The Hague; ? his son, Jonkheer Jacob van der Dussen (1760-1839), Lord of Zouteveen, Amsterdam and Dordrecht; his sale, Amsterdam (C.F. Roos), 16 February 1858, no. 145, to Roos;1...; sale, S.B. Bos (Harlingen), Amsterdam (F. Muller and Van Pappelendam & Schouten), 21 February 1888, no. 183, as Mich. Jansz. Mierevelt, fl. 145, to the museum2
Object number: SK-A-1450
Copyright: Public domain
The artist
Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt (Delft 1567 - Delft 1641)
According to Van Mander, Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt or Miereveld (he used both forms) was born in Delft on 1 May 1567. He was the son of the successful goldsmith Jan Michielsz van Mierevelt, and received his early training in Delft from two otherwise unknown artists, Willem Willemsz and a pupil of Antonie Blocklandt whom Van Mander simply calls Augustijn. Van Mierevelt became a pupil of Blocklandt’s in Utrecht, presumably in 1581 at the age of 14, for a period of two years and three months. From Blocklandt he learned to handle paint and became accomplished in the art of history painting. After his master’s death, Van Mierevelt returned to his native town, where he joined the painters’ guild in 1587 and served as warden in 1589-90 and 1611-12. He married twice, in 1589 and 1633.
Much to the regret of his father, Van Mierevelt abandoned history painting in favour of the more lucrative genre of portraiture, first adhering to the style of his fellow townsman Jacob Willemsz Delff. However, few of his early portraits have survived, even fewer of his history paintings, and none at all of the kitchen pieces reported by Van Mander. In general, Van Mierevelt’s portraits show great attention to detail and little compositional adventure. His later paintings, however, are more animated, loosely painted productions.
Van Mierevelt’s enormous output (Houbraken says 5,000 portraits, Von Sandrart 10,000) began in earnest with the 1607 commission from the Delft authorities to portray the stadholder, Prince Maurits.3 In the same year, he became the official painter to the Stadholder’s Court in The Hague, a position he enjoyed for about a quarter of a century until Honthorst usurped it. In addition to his base clientele in The Hague and Delft, his workshop was regularly frequented by aristocrats and patricians from other Dutch and foreign cities. The large demand was met in part by Van Mierevelt’s assistants, who included his sons Pieter (1596-1623) and Jan (1604-33). The inventory of his shop reveals that he kept a supply of replicas of his most famous sitters on hand. His inventions were also disseminated through the reproductive engravings made by his son-in-law, Willem Jacobsz Delff (1580-1638). Van Mierevelt’s most important pupils were Paulus Moreelse (c. 1571-1638), Willem van der Vliet (c. 1584-1642), Daniel Mijtens (c. 1590-1647) and Anthonie Palamedesz (1601-73). Van Mierevelt died a wealthy man in 1641. His lucrative workshop was taken over by his grandson, Jacob Willemsz Delff (1619-61).
Jonathan Bikker, 2007
References
Van Mander 1604, fols. 281-82; Von Sandrart 1675 (1925), pp. 124, 171-72; Houbraken I, 1718, pp. 46-49; Obreen I, 1877-78, p. 4; Havard I, 1879, pp. 11-82; Obreen III, 1880-81, p. 263; Havard 1894; Bredius 1908 (documents); Gerson in Thieme/Becker XXIV, 1930, p. 539; Montias 1982, pp. 38, 370; Ekkart in Amsterdam 1993, pp. 310-11; Ekkart in Turner 1996, pp. 485-86
Entry
The coat of arms in the upper right corner showing a unicorn above a clover on a gold ground is that of the Hezenbroek van Hofdijck family, and the sitter’s age and the date inscribed on the painting correspond to Corvina’s age of 16 years in 1618. Although added to the portrait after the painting had dried, the lettering of the inscriptions is in a 17th-century hand, and old crack lines run through both the inscriptions and the coat of arms. Born in Sommelsdijk on 22 August 1602, Corvina Hezenbroek van Hofdijck was a daughter of Zacharias Corvinusz Hezenbroek van Hofdijck and Agatha Breman. In 1619, one year after the present portrait was executed, she became the second wife of the lawyer Cornelis van Beresteyn II (1586-1638). The extremely well-off couple lived in Delft, where Cornelis van Beresteyn was, among other things, member of the Council of Forty (from 1625), civic magistrate (1626-28) and burgomaster (1631, 1632, 1635 and 1636). Corvina Hezenbroek van Hofdijck died on 21 October 1667 and was buried in the Oude Kerk in Delft.4
Corvina Hezenbroek van Hofdijck’s portrait is representative of Van Mierevelt’s meticulously detailed style. The cramped placement of the sitter within the picture, which originally would have been a little roomier on the right, suggests that this is a studio replica. The prototype, however, is no longer known.
Jonathan Bikker, 2007
See Bibliography and Rijksmuseum painting catalogues
See Key to abbreviations and Acknowledgements
This entry was published in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, I: Artists Born between 1570 and 1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2007, no. 196.
Literature
Van Beresteyn/Del Campo Hartman I, 1954, pp. 165-70, II, 1941, p. 48, no. 94
Collection catalogues
1903, p. 176, no. 1595 (as Van Mierevelt); 1934, p. 188, no. 1595 (as Van Mierevelt); 1960, p. 206, no. 1595 (as Van Mierevelt); 1976, p. 386, no. A 1450; 2007, no. 196
Citation
J. Bikker, 2007, 'workshop of Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, Portrait of Corvina Hezenbroek van Hofdijck (1602-67), 1618', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.9104
(accessed 10 November 2024 13:52:49).