Object data
oil on panel
support: height 70.5 cm × width 60.3 cm
outer size: depth 6.3 cm (support incl. frame)
Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt (copy after)
Portrait of Cornelia Tedingh van Berckhout (1614-80)
1648
Inscriptions
- inscription and date, centre right: Ætatis 36 / Anno 1648.
Technical notes
The support consists of two vertically grained oak planks and is bevelled on all sides. The white ground layer was thinly applied, allowing the panel to show through. The paint layers were applied smoothly with some brushmarking in the face, and impasto highlights.
Scientific examination and reports
- technical report: W. de Ridder, RMA, 12 October 2004
Condition
Fair. There are cracks along the join at the top and bottom. The paint there is flaking. The hair is very abraded, and there are a number of discoloured retouchings in the face, hair, neck and pearl necklace. The varnish is somewhat discoloured.
Conservation
- conservator unknown, 1964: treatment unknown
Provenance
...; from the dealer P.C. Huybrechts, fl. 2,400, with three other paintings, to the museum, 11 May 18031
Object number: SK-A-260
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.2 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
Cornelia Tedingh van Berckhout was a daughter of Adriaen Tedingh van Berckhout, Lord of Sliedrecht, and his second wife, Margaretha van Beresteyn. She became Maerten Harpertsz Tromp’s third wife on 1 February 1640 in The Hague.
The present painting is one of four copies after a lost prototype by Van Mierevelt. Another of the copies, in a private collection, bears a Van Mierevelt signature and is dated 163(.).3 Like the present portrait, the other two replicas are dated after Cornelia Tedingh van Berckhout’s wedding – 1641 and 1648.4 The age inscribed on the present painting does not correspond to the sitter’s actual age in 1648. All four replicas differ slightly from one another as regards the sitter’s dress and hairstyle. The clothing in the Rijksmuseum painting is closest to that in the earliest replica, while the hairstyle is quite different. The replicas made after Cornelia Tedingh van Berckhout’s wedding in 1640 were probably executed as pendants to the replicas after Van Mierevelt’s portrait of Maerten Harpertsz Tromp. The present portrait was purchased in 1803 by the Rijksmuseum with a portrait of Tromp by Van Mierevelt, a portrait of Tromp’s eldest son by his first wife, Cornelis Tromp (1629-91) and his wife Margaretha van Raephorst (?-1690) by Jan Mijtens.5 The Portrait of Maerten Harpertsz Tromp that was purchased in 1803 was not transferred with the collection from The Hague to Amsterdam in 1808.6 The Portrait of Maerten Harpertsz Tromp, now in the Rijksmuseum, was purchased at a much later date (SK-A-1418). Although two of the replicas, including this one, are dated seven years after Van Mierevelt’s death in 1641, they were most likely executed in his studio, which was taken over by his grandson, Jacob Willemsz Delff.
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. 208.
Collection catalogues
1809, p. 46, no. 198 (as Van Mierevelt); 1843, p. 40, no. 204 (as Van Mierevelt; ‘in good condition’); 1853, p. 18, no. 179 (as Van Mierevelt; fl. 400); 1858, p. 90, no. 199 (as Van Mierevelt); 1880, pp. 210-11, no. 227; 1887, p. 112, no. 939; 1903, p. 177, no. 1605; 1976, p. 386, no. A 260; 2007, no. 208
Citation
J. Bikker, 2007, 'copy after Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, Portrait of Cornelia Tedingh van Berckhout (1614-80), 1648', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.6741
(accessed 26 November 2024 09:42:56).