Portrait of Pieter Pietersz Heijn (1577-1629)

Entry

This painting was donated to the Rijksmuseum in 1804 as a portrait of the Dutch naval hero Pieter Pietersz Heijn.² Opinions on this identification have differed ever since. For a long time it was agreed that the sitter was an admiral, because a sea battle was visible through the vista on the right. He was identified as Maerten Harpertsz Tromp (1598-1653) in the collection catalogues of 1880 and 1885, but in 1887 the name of Lieutenant-Admiral Hendrik Cornelis Loncq (1568-?) was put forward.³ Hofstede de Groot believed that the sea vista, breastplate and multi-stranded gold chain with a medal were later overpaints, and that the sitter was thus not necessarily an admiral.⁴ The naval battle and the medal were then removed, probably by J.A. Hesterman in 1901. The sitter has since been documented as an unknown officer. However, the initial identification as Piet Heijn is the most likely, because the painting was donated by the Council of the American Colonies together with Piet Heijn’s armour and a silver wash-basin and ewer from the Spanish silver fleet that Heijn captured in 1628.⁵ Comparison with authenticated portraits of Piet Heijn also confirm that this must be the famous admiral.⁶ The naval battle on the right, and the chain and medal, which Hofstede de Groot regarded as later additions, may therefore have been removed in error. The engraved portraits of Piet Heijn made in 1629 may have served as the prototype,⁷ so it is likely that the painting can be dated 1630-40, which is supported by the flat, broad collar extending over the shoulders.

The painting has been attributed to many artists. It entered the museum as a work by J. Verkolje the Elder,⁸ but in 1809 it was reassigned to Nicolaas Koedijk.⁹ Hofstede de Groot attributed it to Simon Kick,¹⁰ but in the 1903 catalogue it was given to Wybrand de Geest.¹¹ Finally, in 1976, it was ascribed to Harmen Willems Wieringa.¹² This was probably based on the fact that Wassenbergh had associated it with a group of portraits of Frisian stadholders and officers that was thought to have been painted in De Geest’s studio, supposedly with Wieringa’s participation.¹³ All the portraits in that group are small full-lengths with simple settings. Although the Rijksmuseum portrait fits well within the group as regards size and composition, the rather weak execution, which is particularly noticeable in the unconvincing table leg and the sitter’s hand, rules out an attribution to either artist. Moreover, it is unlikely that this portrait was ever part of the group, since Piet Heijn would not have qualified for inclusion in the company of Frisian stadholders and officers. No alternative attribution can be suggested at present.

Yvette Bruijnen, 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. 430.