Portrait of a Priest, Possibly the Curate Johannes Van Baesrode (c. 1702-1759)

Entry

This unpretentious and serene terracotta portrait probably represents a priest, given the customary collar and tonsure. The maker, Antwerp-born Jan-Baptist Xavery (1697-1724) from The Hague, was the foremost sculptor in the Republic during the second quarter of the eighteenth century. He worked for the court of the stadholder, for the aristocracy and the diplomatic corps, among others (cf. BK-1997-12; BK-1994-3). His clientele also included various (Old-)Catholic churches in The Hague and this portrait might conceivably depict one of his ecclesiastical patrons. In that respect, it has been suggested that it could be a portrait of the curate Johannes Van Baesrode (c. 1702-1759), who was attached to the Old-Catholic parish church in Juffrouw Idastraat in The Hague.³ This clandestine church was established between 1720 and 1730 under Father Van Dalenoort, and Xavery took an active part in the sculptural decoration of its interior. In the period when this bust was made, 1732, Van Baesrode was actually associated with the church in The Hague, as Van Dalenoort’s close assistant. He was the curate of the Hague parish between 1728 and 1740, after which he left to become the priest of the parish of St Theresia on the North German island of Nordstrand. By then Van Dalenoort was an elderly man and was not eligible, but Van Baesrode’s age in 1732 (about 30) corresponds with that of the priest portrayed by Xavery. Incidentally, it cannot be ruled out that the portrait is of a foreign priest, affiliated with one of the embassy chapels in The Hague.⁴

The simple, informal style of this bust makes it improbable that it was intended to be executed in marble. Freestanding terracotta sculptures, with their lower costs for materials and labour, were a cheaper alternative for marble variants. If this was indeed the portrait of Van Baesrode it might even have been a gift from the sculptor to the curate.

We are well informed about the production of a Xavery terracotta portrait of this type from a diary entry of Adam van Broeckhuysen, an army captain, who sat for the sculptor in 1738. The modelling of his portrait took four sessions in all, each lasting several hours and divided over several days. In the first stage Xavery developed a rough shape, which he refined in the second stage. At the third sitting a recognizable, finished likeness came about. The sculptor completed the wig, armour and scarf during the fourth and last stage. The final touches were completed without the patron being present.⁵ The dried clay was then fired and a coat of clay slip or runny plaster pap, known as ‘colour-washing’, was added to give the orange-red terracotta a more natural appearance.

Frits Scholten, 2025