Object data
oil on panel
support: height 74 cm × width 59 cm
depth 6 cm
Jan Gossart (copy after)
Portrait of Ruben Parduyn, knight of the Holy Sepulchre
Northern Netherlands, after c. 1644
Inscriptions
- coat of arms, on the reverse: a red chevron with three red six-pointed stars, two above one, on a gold field. Crest: a silver swan with its neck curved downward and its wings raised
- coat of arms, on the reverse: in chief, three red roses on a white ground, below that a silver lion rampant on a red field
- inscription, on the reverse: DHeer Rubijn Perduijns Ridder van Jerusalem, trouwde Anno 1320 Vrouwe Barbara Floris dogter Michiels Ende van Juffr. Magdalena Fossez (In 1320, Ruben Parduyn, Knight of Jerusalem, married Lady Barbara Floris, daughter of Michiel and Magdalena Fossez)
Technical notes
The support consists of three vertically grained oak planks (14.5, 29 and 14.5 cm), 0.5-0.8 cm thick. The panel is bevelled on all sides. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1627. The panel could have been ready for use by 1638, but a date in or after 1644 is more likely. The white ground and the paint layers were applied up to the edges of the panel. There may also be an orange-red 'imprimatura' or undermodelling. This layer can be seen mainly in the background through the paint layers, as well as along the edges. However, no underlying orange-red layer could be seen in the brown area in the lower left corner. An underdrawing could not be detected with infrared reflectography. The figure was reserved. The painting technique is smooth, with rather broad brushstrokes. The form of the headgear was changed slightly during the painting process.
Scientific examination and reports
- condition report: I. Verslype, RMA, 22 March 2006
- dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 17 August 2006
Condition
Fair. There is a long crack on the right side of the right join. There are discoloured retouchings which have become been matte, especially along the crack on the right side. The thick varnish is discoloured.
Provenance
...; ? collection Josina Parduyn (1642-1718), Middelburg, second wife of Aernout van Citters (1633-96);1 ? her son, Caspar van Citters (1674-1734), Middelburg;2 his son, Jacob van Citters (1708-92), Middelburg, no. 17 (‘Robbert Parduyn Ridder van Jerusalem door ...’);3 by descent to Jonkheer Jacob de Witte van Citters (1817-76), Middelburg; first recorded in the collection of the De Witte van Citters family in the portrait room of Kasteel Popkensburg, no. 27, early 19th century (‘Rubyn Parduyn A [date incomplete]);4 bequeathed to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague (inv. no. 3223) by Jonkheer Jacob de Witte van Citters, 1876; transferred to the museum, 1885
Object number: SK-A-894
Credit line: Jonkheer J. de Witte van Citters Bequest, The Hague
Copyright: Public domain
The artist
Jan Gossart (Maubeuge c. 1478 - Antwerp or Middelburg 1532), copy after
Jan (Jennin) Gossart was probably born in Maubeuge, Hainaut, in 1478. He married Margaretha Molders before 1515, and died shortly before 13 October 1532, when his widow received his annuity from Marquise Mencia de Mendoza.
Gossart enrolled as a free master in the Antwerp Guild of St Luke in 1503 under the name ‘Jennyn van Henegouwe’. The guild registers record the names of two pupils in 1505 and 1507: Hennin Mertens and Machiel int Swaenken. Between 1508 and 1524 he was in the service of Philip of Burgundy, the youngest bastard son of Philip the Good. The former’s biography of 1529 by Gerardus Geldenhauer contains information about the artist. In 1508-09, Gossart accompanied his patron on a diplomatic mission for Emperor Maximilian to Pope Julius II, who commissioned him to make drawings of Roman antiquities. After his return in July 1509, Gossart settled in Middelburg, where he is listed in the rolls of the local Brotherhood of Our Lady as ‘Janin de Waele’.
All that remains of the Gossart’s decorations for Philip’s castle of Souburg on Walcheren is the Neptune and Amphitrite of 1516.5 On 19 May 1517, Philip of Burgundy was appointed Bishop of Utrecht, and moved to his castle at Wijk bij Duurstede, where Gossart also worked. He was also in touch with the court of Margaret of Austria (1480-1530) in Mechelen, and received commissions from Jean Carondelet, Chancellor of Flanders,6 and Antonio Siciliano.7 He also painted an altarpiece with The Adoration of the Magi for the Benedictine abbey at Geraardsbergen.8 His most famous work was the altarpiece for the abbey church in Middelburg described by Van Mander, which was destroyed by fire in 1568.
After Philip of Burgundy’s death on 9 April 1524, Gossart returned to Middelburg where, according to Van Mander, he entered the service of Adolf of Burgundy (1489-1540), a half-brother of Philip’s, who was Admiral of Zeeland and later Marquis of Veere. Gossart also worked for the exiled King of Denmark, Christian II, whose children’s portraits he painted,9 as well as for Hendrik III of Nassau and his third wife, Mencia de Mendoza.
Ludovico Guicciardini described Jan Gossart as ‘the first Flemish artist to bring from Italy to the Netherlands the art of portraying historical and poetic subjects with nude figures’. He was one of the first northern artists to use classical and Renaissance models for his mythological scenes. So-called Antwerp Mannerism played a part in his early work, and he drew inspiration from earlier Netherlandish masters like Jan van Eyck. In addition to several religious and mythological paintings and drawings, he left a series of virtuoso portraits.
References
Geldenhauer 1529 (1901); Guicciardini 1567, p. 98; Van Mander 1604, fols. 225r-26r; Gossart 1902; Weiss 1913; Winkler in Thieme/Becker XIV, 1921, pp. 410-13; Friedländer VIII, 1930, pp. 9-77; Steppe 1965; Herzog 1968, pp. 1-17; ENP VIII, 1972, pp. 11-49; Miedema III, 1996, pp. 141-54; Folie in Turner 1996, XIII, pp. 22-29; Mensger 2002, pp. 17-21
(Vanessa Hoogland)
Entry
This half-length portrait of a man, who is holding a palm frond in his right hand, is identified in the inscription on the reverse of the panel as the 14th-century knight Ruben Parduyn, who was a member of a Jerusalem brotherhood. He is wearing a red garment with a dark fur-lined cloak on top, a white pleated undershirt and a black bonnet. He has a signet ring on his left index finger with his family coat of arms: a red chevron on a gold field, with three red stars grouped two above one.10 In the past the man was identified as a knight of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, but the palm he is holding and the insignia around his neck make it clear that he is a member of the Brotherhood of Jerusalem Pilgrims. The palm was a requisite which the pilgrims who made the long journey to Jerusalem on foot brought back with them from the Holy Land and carried through the streets in procession on Palm Sunday.11 Grete Ring suspected in 1913 that the Amsterdam painting is a later copy after a 16th-century original in the manner of Jan Gossart.12 Dendrochronology has now confirmed her suspicion, since the panel could not have been ready for use before 1638. There are two other versions of this portrait which probably do date from the 16th century (fig. a, fig. b).13 A fourth version probably dates from the 18th century.14 The 16th-century paintings are variously attributed to Jan Gossart and Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen.
The present painting entered the Rijksmuseum nearly 125 years ago as part of a large group of family portraits with the bequest of Jonkheer Jacob de Witte van Citters.15 One of the most important members of the Van Citters family was Aernout van Citters (1633-96), who in 1663 married Josina Parduyn (1642-1718). She came from a family that was represented on the city council of Bruges until the 18th century.16 This means that the Amsterdam portrait of Ruben Parduyn can probably be dated after the couple’s marriage in 1663. In order to complete the series of portraits of forebears it must then have been copied from the 16th-century version, which at the time undoubtedly belonged to the Parduyn family. A total of six portraits of members of that family entered the Van Citters collection through Josina Parduyn or her daughter Maria van Citters (1684-1754).17 Nothing more is known about the sitter, but given Josina’s Bruges background he was probably a member of the Jerusalem brotherhood in the city.
Another difficulty is presented by the inscription and coats of arms on the back of the panel, which are suspected to date from the 18th century. Similar inscriptions are found on many portraits from the Van Citters collection.18 On the back of all the portraits of Ruben Parduyn it is stated that he married one Barbara Floris in 1320, whereas a more plausible date would be 1520, given the assumed date of the prototype.
(Daantje Meuwissen)
Literature
Ring 1913, p. 95
Collection catalogues
1887, p. 74, no. 597 (as Dutch school, first half 17th century); 1903, p. 15, no. 150 (as Dutch school, 17th-century copy); 1976, p. 653, no. A 894 (as northern Netherlands school, c. 1530), no. A 894; 1992, p. 55, no. A 894 (as copy after Jan Gossaert van Mabuse ?)
Citation
D. Meuwissen, 2010, 'copy after Jan Gossart, Portrait of Ruben Parduyn, knight of the Holy Sepulchre, after c. 1644', in J.P. Filedt Kok (ed.), Early Netherlandish Paintings, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.4784
(accessed 23 November 2024 20:34:22).