Portrait of Lysbeth van Duvenvoirde (?-1472)

Entry

Lysbeth van Duvenvoorde was a daughter of Dirck van Duvenvoorde van Duivenstein, who was related to the more distinguished Van Wassenaar family. He was the bailiff and dike reeve of Rijnland from 1407 to 1411, and was enfeoffed with Huis Duivenstein in Voorburg by his brother Arent IV, bailiff of Delfland and Schieland. On 19 March 1430, Lysbeth married Simon van Adrichem (d. 1482) of Kennemerland, who was probably the bailiff and dike reeve of Beverwijk and Noordwijk, among other places.⁷ The couple had three sons, the second of whom, Nicolaas (d. 1481), became abbot of the monastery in Egmond. Lysbeth died in 1472 and was buried by the Altar of the Holy Cross in the Regulars’ Convent of Our Lady of Sion in Beverwijk, which her husband had erected. Lysbeth could be identified from the Van Adrichem-Van Duvenvoorde arms of alliance at the top left and from the inscription on the back of the support giving her brief biography, which was probably written at a later date, possibly in the sixteenth or seventeenth century.⁸

Portrayed almost full length, Lysbeth is wearing a long red houppelande with cut, wide sleeves. Underneath she wears a gold brocaded gown with golden letters attached to the sleeves. Whether these letters are embroidered or pinned to the dress is impossible to ascertain.⁹ The houppelande is cinched above her waist with a gold belt inlaid with sapphires from which bells hang on at least five gold chains. The skirt is tied together with two pins. Most of her red hair, put up in a roll around her head, is covered by a chaperon with a long liripipe decorated with golden buttons. From the back of her head hangs a transparent veil down her shoulders. Around her neck she wears a heavy golden chain. With her high waistline, the bells on the belt and the round shoulders, she is dressed in Franco-Burgundian fashion of around 1415.¹⁰ She is holding a banderole with the text ‘Mi verdriet lange te hopen, Wie is hi di sijn hert hout open’ (It saddens me to yearn so long. Who is it that will open up his heart?) Nahuys reported the existence of a second version of this portrait that was in the Belgian collection of M. della Faille de Leverghem.¹¹ It was on panel and measured 54 x 40 cm, and in addition to the Van Adrichem-Van Duvenvoorde arms it had the coats of Cornelis (d. 1504) and Mathilde De Jonge-van der Merwede (d. 1507) in each corner.

The painting originally had a pendant with the portrait of Simon van Adrichem, which must have been separated from Lysbeth already before 1875-78. The mention that it was sold by Frederik Muller in the beginning of the twentieth century sometime before 1915 might be a confusion with the only recently rediscovered auction of Lysbeth’s portrait in 1906.¹² century is very likely to be faulty. Tóth-Ubbens mentions that the portrait is lost since 1906 but there is nothing to be found on how she came to that date. She must have mixed up the sale of Lysbeth’s portrait in 1906.] That portrait, too, had an inscription: ‘Mi banget seret wie is hi die mi met minne eeret’ (I have been afeared. Who is it that would honour me with love?).¹³ Hoogewerff mentioned a partial copy of this pendant in bust-length on panel which was then in the Italian collection of P. Paolini in Rome.¹⁴ Although he did not mention any dimensions he stated the portrait being life-size which would be in accordance with the dimensions of the copy after Lysbeth’s portrait Nahuys mentioned. The interrogative nature of both texts in the banderols led several authors to suggest that this is a pair of betrothal portraits.¹⁵ However, given the coat of alliance at the top left, which appears to be contemporary with the painting, it can be taken that the portraits were painted on the occasion of the couple’s marriage.¹⁶ Lysbeth’s attire and jewellery could be a reference to the wedding.¹⁷ The inscriptions on both portraits may have been part of a tradition, the meaning of which has not come down to us, leaving us in the dark as to its precise function. Although both Nahuys and Hoogewerff suggested that the S shape of Lysbeth’s banderole could be a reference to Simon’s name, thus answering the question as to ‘who is it that will open up his heart?’, that theory is difficult to substantiate without the companion piece.¹⁸ It is interesting to mention that Lysbeth is portrayed on the dexter side which generally is given to the male sitter or a religious scene. There are, however, exceptions to this rule, for example as the female sitter is of a higher standing as the male. In this particular case it might be connected to Lysbeth’s descend from the more distinguished Wassenaar family.

In any event, the portrait must have been painted around the time of Lysbeth’s marriage in 1430, making it one of the earliest surviving portrait paintings with a northern Netherlandish sitter. Although full-length portraits must have been produced on a large scale, among other things for wall and tomb paintings, it is unusual for such an early, autonomous portrait of an almost full-length figure to have survived. Most of the extant portraits from this early period consist of heads and busts.¹⁹ It is possible that there was a tradition of full-length marriage portraits in European painting. Other examples include Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini portrait of 1434, and the marriage portrait of a couple painted by an anonymous south German artist around 1470.²⁰ Full-length figures, however, are more frequently found in miniatures, such as the portrait of Mary of Guelders in the prayer book of Mary of Guelders of circa 1415 (fig. a). Although the Rijksmuseum portrait was painted in oils, the parchment stimulated the idea that the artist had his roots in miniature painting.²¹ However, this is not necessary, as there are other known oil paintings on parchment (laid down on wood) that certainly are not to be associated with book illumination, as for example a Head of Christ by Petrus Christus of circa 1445.²² Whether Lysbeth’s portrait was ever laid down on panel cannot be detected any more. Already in 1875-78 no traces of a wooden panel could be found.²³

Regarding the somewhat lesser quality of painting, the painter has for a long time been associated with an anonymous local artist from Holland. Indeed, the manner of painting does not show any affinity to the new way of painting we know from the Van Eycks with its emphasis on a realistic and true-to-life rendering of materiality and verisimilitude. Also miniature painting from the time for instance in Utrecht, such as by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg or the Master of Catherine of Cleves, is not comparable.²⁴

Kemperdick rather convincingly put forward another possibility for the artist’s likely origin. He stated very interesting affinities with Cologne painting from the circle of the Master of St Veronica alias Master Wilhelm around 1400-30.²⁵ Convincing similarities are for example to be found with Lysbeth and the Infant Jesus from the Madonna of the Sweet Pea (fig. b)²⁶ or the Veronica from a Large Mount Calvary (fig. c).²⁷ Especially the faces of Lysbeth and the Infant Jesus share many common details. The eyes are formed alike while the proper left eye in both cases somewhat slopes. Also the dark rims above the eyelids and the white reflections in the corner of the eyes are the same. Furthermore, the round foreheads, the drawing of the lips and the noses show striking resemblances. Also the hair dress follows a scheme often seen in Cologne painting. It is obvious that the face of the Infant Jesus and Lysbeth must stem from the same model. As Kemperdick correctly pointed out the portrait of Lysbeth probably only partly resembles her lifelike appearance.

The circumstances of the production of the portrait cannot be determined precisely. Whether it was a Cologne painter, trained in the workshop of the Veronica Master working in Holland or the portrait had been ordered in Cologne, remains uncertain.²⁸

M. Ubl, 2021
(A previous version of this entry written by J. Niessen in 2009 can be downloaded below)