Portrait of Hugo de Groot (1583-1645)

1631

Object data

oil on panel

support: height 63 cm × width 55 cm
outer size: depth 6.6 cm (support incl. frame)

Inscriptions

inscription and date, centre left: Ætatis 48 / Aº 1631

Technical notes

The support is made up of three vertically grained oak planks and is bevelled on all sides. The ground layer is beige. The paint layers were applied smoothly, with impasto highlights.

Scientific examination and reports

technical report: M. van de Laar, RMA, 8 September 2004

Condition

Fair. There are three cracks in the support at the top. The painting is abraded throughout, especially along the grain of the wood in the face and collar. The many retouchings and the varnish are discoloured.

Conservation

H.H. Mertens, 1967: complete restoration
H.H. Mertens, 1968: revarnished

Provenance

...; purchased by the museum with Portrait of Maria van Utrecht by Paul Moreelse (SK-A-275), fl. 1,946, 22 June 1803¹

Object number: SK-A-581

The artist

Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt (Delft 1567 - Delft 1641)

According to Van Mander, Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt or Miereveld (he used both forms) was born in Delft on 1 May 1567. He was the son of the successful goldsmith Jan Michielsz van Mierevelt, and received his early training in Delft from two otherwise unknown artists, Willem Willemsz and a pupil of Antonie Blocklandt whom Van Mander simply calls Augustijn. Van Mierevelt became a pupil of Blocklandt’s in Utrecht, presumably in 1581 at the age of 14, for a period of two years and three months. From Blocklandt he learned to handle paint and became accomplished in the art of history painting. After his master’s death, Van Mierevelt returned to his native town, where he joined the painters’ guild in 1587 and served as warden in 1589-90 and 1611-12. He married twice, in 1589 and 1633.

Much to the regret of his father, Van Mierevelt abandoned history painting in favour of the more lucrative genre of portraiture, first adhering to the style of his fellow townsman Jacob Willemsz Delff. However, few of his early portraits have survived, even fewer of his history paintings, and none at all of the kitchen pieces reported by Van Mander. In general, Van Mierevelt’s portraits show great attention to detail and little compositional adventure. His later paintings, however, are more animated, loosely painted productions.

Van Mierevelt’s enormous output (Houbraken says 5,000 portraits, Von Sandrart 10,000) began in earnest with the 1607 commission from the Delft authorities to portray the stadholder, Prince Maurits.² In the same year, he became the official painter to the Stadholder’s Court in The Hague, a position he enjoyed for about a quarter of a century until Honthorst usurped it. In addition to his base clientele in The Hague and Delft, his workshop was regularly frequented by aristocrats and patricians from other Dutch and foreign cities. The large demand was met in part by Van Mierevelt’s assistants, who included his sons Pieter (1596-1623) and Jan (1604-33). The inventory of his shop reveals that he kept a supply of replicas of his most famous sitters on hand. His inventions were also disseminated through the reproductive engravings made by his son-in-law, Willem Jacobsz Delff (1580-1638). Van Mierevelt’s most important pupils were Paulus Moreelse (c. 1571-1638), Willem van der Vliet (c. 1584-1642), Daniel Mijtens (c. 1590-1647) and Anthonie Palamedesz (1601-73). Van Mierevelt died a wealthy man in 1641. His lucrative workshop was taken over by his grandson, Jacob Willemsz Delff (1619-61).

Jonathan Bikker, 2007

References
Van Mander 1604, fols. 281-82; Von Sandrart 1675 (1925), pp. 124, 171-72; Houbraken I, 1718, pp. 46-49; Obreen I, 1877-78, p. 4; Havard I, 1879, pp. 11-82; Obreen III, 1880-81, p. 263; Havard 1894; Bredius 1908 (documents); Gerson in Thieme/Becker XXIV, 1930, p. 539; Montias 1982, pp. 38, 370; Ekkart in Amsterdam 1993, pp. 310-11; Ekkart in Turner 1996, pp. 485-86

Entry

Hugo de Groot, or Hugo Grotius, was a child prodigy who graduated from Leiden University in 1597 at the age of 14 and received a doctorate in Roman law in Orléans two years later. After his studies, he worked first in The Hague as a lawyer and later as fiscal advocate at the Court of Holland. In 1613, he became Pensionary of Rotterdam and in 1617 a member of the Gecommitteerde Raden of Holland. His involvement with Johan van Oldenbarnevelt on the side of the Arminians led to his imprisonment in 1618 on the orders of Prince Maurits. In 1623, he escaped from prison and fled to Paris, where he first lived from a pension he received from Louis XIII and later served as Swedish ambassador. Grotius returned briefly to the northern Netherlands in 1631 in the belief that he might be pardoned, which, however, did not occur. On the return journey from a trip to Sweden in 1645, his ship sank and he died in Rostock. Grotius was a poet, translator of classical texts from Greek into Latin, and author of numerous legal, theological and historical writings.³

This is one of many studio replicas of a lost portrait executed by Van Mierevelt in 1631.⁴ Grotius himself refers to the 1631 sitting in his correspondence.⁵ The 1631 portrait is also known by way of a 1632 engraving by Willem Jacobsz Delff.⁶ Grotius apparently sat for Van Mierevelt a second time, as there are a number of bust-length replicas and one knee-length replica dated 1632 that show him differently, with a narrow goatee instead of a full chin beard and a fastened cloak instead of an open one revealing his doublet.⁷ A number of the replicas of Grotius’s portraits remained with members of his extended family, for whom they were undoubtedly executed. It is known of two others that Grotius himself ordered them in 1637 for acquaintances in Paris.⁸

Jonathan Bikker, 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. 197.

Literature

Van Beresteyn 1929, pp. 49-50, no. 18

Collection catalogues

1809, p. 45, no. 192 (as Van Mierevelt); 1843, p. 40, no. 198 (as Van Mierevelt; ‘very poor, not by Van Mierevelt’); 1853, p. 35, no. 373 (as Anonymous; fl. 200); 1858, p. 187, no. 419 (as Anonymous); 1880, pp. 384-85, no. 447 (as Anonymous); 1887, p. 71, no. 570 (as Anonymous); 1903, p. 176, no. 1604; 1934, p. 189, no. 1604 (as Van Mierevelt); 1960, p. 207, no. 1604 (as Van Mierevelt); 1976, p. 385, no. A 581; 2007, no. 197

Citation

J. Bikker, 2007, 'workshop of Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, Portrait of Hugo de Groot (1583-1645), 1631', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.6942

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