Rijksmuseum

Object data

oil on canvas

support: height 95.5 cm × width 84.4 cm
outer size: depth 6.5 cm (support incl. frame)

Inscriptions

inscription, upper right: O, LIVT: HANEKROOT

Technical notes

The support is a double-lined canvas, with cusping vaguely visible at the left. The top is probably original, because there is an unpainted tacking edge. The right, left and bottom sides are cut. The ground layer, visible at the edge, seems to be reddish. The paint layers were smoothly applied, with visible brushstrokes in the costume, and impasto as highlights.

Scientific examination and reports

technical report: M. van de Laar, RMA, 5 October 2004

Condition

Poor. There are some three-cornered restored tears. The painting is badly abraded and there are discoloured areas of retouching. The discoloured varnish has its own craquelure.

Conservation

D. van der Kellen, 1883: canvas lined

Provenance

? Commissioned by or for Ernst Casimir I (1573-1632); ? estate inventory, Frisian Stadholder’s Court, Leeuwarden, 16 October 1633, large blue room (‘Veertien stuck schildereien van capiteinen’), and the room next to the large room (‘Seeventien schildereien van capiteinen en ritmeisters.’);¹ inventory of paintings Frisian Stadholder’s Court, Leeuwarden, c. 1800, Garde du Corps Hall (‘6. O. LIVT Hanekroot’);²...; Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1876; transferred to the museum, 1885; on loan to the Nederlands Legermuseum, Delft, 1953-2000

Object number: SK-A-875

Entry

It is thanks to the inscription at top right that it is known that this is the portrait of a member of the Hanekrodt family, very probably Eberhardt Hanekrodt.³ He captained a company in the regiment of Count Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Dietz, and was stationed in Moers from 1609 on.⁴ This fortified town on the Rhine had been captured by Prince Maurits in 1601, and was further reinforced from then on. Eberhardt was in charge of the fortification works from 1611 to 1613, for which he was richly rewarded.⁵ In 1615 he was passed over for the desirable post of governor of Moers, but was appointed sergeant-major instead. The governorship may have been withheld because of complaints about his behaviour. In 1613 he had brewed beer for his own use and refused to pay duty on it. Burgomaster Henrich Simons even complained to The Hague about this misconduct. In 1629 Eberhardt was promoted lieutenant-colonel,⁶ the rank given in abbreviated form on the painting (‘overste luitenant’). It cannot be concluded from this that the portrait dates from after 1629, for the inscription is very probably a later addition.⁷ Eberhardt Hanekrodt died in Moers on 7 July 1637.

The mediocre execution of this portrait currently precludes an attribution to a known master. The ruff suggests a date of around 1610-20.⁸

Along with four other officers’ portraits, those of Karel van der Hoeven (SK-A-877), Otto Brahe (SK-A-876), Bartholomeus Andrio Walsdorffer (SK-A-1230) and Ripperda (SK-A-576), this one once adorned the Stadholder’s Court in Leeuwarden.⁹ It is listed as number 6,‘O LIVT Hanekroot’, in an inventory of works in the Garde du Corps Hall.¹⁰ For a discussion of this provenance and the relationship between the five portraits see the entry on the portrait of Karel van der Hoeven (SK-A-877).

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. 408.

Literature

Mulder-Radetzky 1997, pp. 197, 203; Zandvliet in Amsterdam 2000a, p. 243, no. 91

Collection catalogues

1903, p. 19, no. 191; 1976, p. 656, no. A 875; 2007, no. 408

Citation

Y. Bruijnen, 2007, 'anonymous, Portrait of Eberhardt Hanekrodt (?-1637), c. 1610 - c. 1620', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.7039

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