Object data
oil on panel
support: height 143 cm × width 231.5 cm
Allaert van Loeninga
Portrait of the Regents of the House of Correction in Middelburg
1643
Inscriptions
- signature and date, upper right: A. Loening[.] / F. Aº : 164[.]
Technical notes
Support The panel consists of six horizontally grained oak planks (approx. 15.5, 22.6, 23.1, 26.2, 21.4 and 23.2 cm), approx. 1.5-1.8 cm thick, and one plank (approx. 11 cm) that was added to the bottom at a later date. The reverse is bevelled on the left and right, and has regularly spaced saw marks, plane or chisel marks and traces of three probably original, inserted vertical bars.
Preparatory layers The double ground extends over the edges of the support at the top and on the left and right. The bottom one could not be assessed due to the added (ungrounded) plank. The first layer consists of fine white pigment particles. The second, light grey layer is composed of white pigment particles with a small addition of black and earth pigments. The brushstrokes of the ground are visible throughout the paint surface.
Underdrawing No underdrawing could be detected with the naked eye or infrared photography.
Paint layers The paint extends up to the edges of the support. The figures were indicated with a greyish-brown undermodelling. The composition was built up from the back to the front and from dark to light. The background was applied with reserves for the figures. Their dress was modelled in a simple fashion: on top of a dark grey base, slightly lighter and darker paint was added to introduce light and shadowed areas. The collars were reserved and only slight adjustments to their contours were made on top of the dark clothes. The paint was applied smoothly, with brushwork visible only in the faces and collars.
Anna Krekeler, 2024
Scientific examination and reports
- infrared photography: A. Krekeler, RMA, 8 June 2010
- paint samples: A. Krekeler, RMA, nos. SK-A-3459/1-3, 8 June 2010
- technical report: A. Krekeler, RMA, 8 June 2010
Condition
Poor. In the past, all joins were reglued, and reinforced with wooden inserts at the edges and with dovetails (of which only a few remain). At some point, rectangular sections were removed (now restored) from the top corners (approx. 47.5 x 15 and 46.5 x 16 cm), presumably to make the panel fit a specific location. The paint layer is heavily abraded throughout and the grey ground has become visible in many places. The entire background was overpainted in dark brown, except for the area with the signature. Filling, extensive retouching and overpaint are clearly visible along all joins. The varnish is thick and has severely yellowed.
Provenance
? Commissioned by the sitters; first recorded in the chamber of the examining magistrate of the renovated House of Correction, Middelburg, 1873-74;1 made the property of the Dutch State at an unknown date, and transferred to the museum, with SK-A-3457 and SK-A-3458,2 July 1943; on loan to the DRVK since 1960;3 on loan to the directors of the Walcheren polder board, Middelburg, for the Polderhuis, 1963-964
Object number: SK-A-3459
Copyright: Public domain
The artist
Allaert van Loeninga (Middelburg before c. 1615 - Middelburg 1649/50)
The reference books are not very forthcoming about the life of the Zeeland painter Allaert van Loeninga. There is no mention of the year he was born or died. In 1639 he was a member of the Middelburg Guild of St Luke, of which he was dean in 1640, 1642 and 1647. His death is recorded in its register of 1649-50. He may be the same person as the Allart van Loninga who was deacon of the Reformed Congregation in Middelburg in 1646. The artist is known to have made a handful of portraits, of which that of the Regular Bargemasters’ Guild in his hometown of 1635 is the earliest.5
Gerdien Wuestman, 2024
References
A. Bredius, ‘De gildeboeken van St. Lucas te Middelburg’, in F.D.O. Obreen, Archief voor Nederlandsche kunstgeschiedenis: Verzameling van meerendeels onuitgegeven berichten en mededeelingen betreffende Nederlandsche schilders, plaatsnijders, beeldhouwers, bouwmeesters, juweliers, goud- en zilverdrijvers [enz.], VI, Rotterdam 1884-87, pp. 106-264, esp. pp. 170, 172, 174, 175, 178, 263; F. Schlie, ‘Ein Regentenstück von Allart van Loeninga’, Oud Holland 10 (1892), pp. 129-32; U. Thieme and F. Becker (eds.), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, XXIII, Leipzig 1929, p. 322
Entry
Five men, two of them wearing swords, are seated at a table. The one at the centre has opened a book to two blank pages and holds a quill pen in his hand, to the right of which is a stack of coins.6 They are the regents of the House of Correction in Middelburg: Cornelis Erckenbout, Sijmen van Trijst, Jacques van Neuleghem or Nulleghem, Matteus Molanus and Guillaume de Wolff.7 It is not clear which name belongs to whom, although it can be assumed that De Wolff, who is listed as a watch commander in the city’s financial accounts, is one of the men with a sword. The second or third regent from the left is probably Van Neuleghem or Nulleghem, who was the receiver of the House of Correction.8
The composition of the men around the table is very similar to that in Allaert van Loeninga’s only other known group portrait, of the Middelburg Regular Bargemasters’ Guild, which he painted eight years earlier.9 Although he had made some progress with the arrangement of figures in the interim, the rigid symmetry of the present 1643 picture looks rather archaic.10 His style has justifiably been compared to that of Michiel van Mierevelt,11 and he now shows himself to be a very accomplished portraitist.
It is remarkable that this large portrait is on panel. The two top corners are replacements.12 The original ones were removed at some stage, probably so that the painting could be recessed into a room’s panelling, which resulted in the last figure of the inscribed date being sawn off. Various sources unanimously state that it was a ‘3’, whereas the third digit has been read in different ways,13 but is quite obviously a ‘4’. A date of 1643 is eminently plausible.
Construction of the House of Correction began in 1641 and was completed in the year when the painting was made, so it would have been commissioned to mark the opening.14 Van Loeninga’s regent portrait and two other ones were removed from the Middelburg House of Detention and in 1943 transferred to the Rijksmuseum.15
Gerdien Wuestman, 2024
See Key to abbreviations, Rijksmuseum painting catalogues and Acknowledgements
Collection catalogues
1976, p. 352, no. A 3459
Citation
Gerdien Wuestman, 2024, 'Allaert van Loeninga, Portrait of the Regents of the House of Correction in Middelburg, 1643', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.9678
(accessed 23 November 2024 20:22:06).