Portrait of a 27-Year-Old Man

1643

Object data

oil on panel

support: height cm × width 57.3 cm
outer size: depth 6 cm (support incl. frame)

Inscriptions

signature, date and inscription, bottom right: Ætat[i]s. 27. / A° 1643. / JDelfiús.

Technical notes

Support The panel consists of three vertically grained, tongue-and-groove joined oak planks (approx. 14, 32.5 and 11 cm), approx. 0.8 cm thick. All edges have been slightly trimmed. The reverse is bevelled at the top and bottom, and has very regularly spaced saw marks. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1624. The panel could have been ready for use by 1635, but a date in or after 1641 is more likely.
Preparatory layers The single, thin, beige ground extends up to the edges of the support. It consists of what appears to be lead white and black pigment, and very fine umber and ochre-coloured pigment particles.
Underdrawing No underdrawing could be detected with the naked eye or infrared photography.
Paint layers The paint extends up to the edges of the support. The composition was built up from dark to light in one to three layers. The background was executed after the figure had been laid out. A single opaque layer of white mixed with some grey was used to model the collar. The lace was then added over a thin, grey underpaint. The black floral motif on the sleeve was applied wet in wet in the grey beneath it. The brushstrokes are clearly visible, varying from rough to smooth, with minimal impasto.
Luuk Hoogstede, 2022

Scientific examination and reports

infrared photography: L. Hoogstede, RMA (no image available), 2009
paint samples: L. Hoogstede, RMA, nos. SK-A-843/1-2, 5 January 2009
dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 17 November 2010

Condition

Fair. The front and reverse have old nail holes, now filled and retouched, which were used to attach two horizontal battens to the back of the panel to reinforce the three planks. There are some vertical cracks and a slight difference in level between the planks. A new, small piece of wood was inserted in the top right corner. The paint layers are slightly raised on the wood grain, causing minor losses, especially in the lace. Several deep scratches are visible in the top right corner and above the sitter’s right shoulder. Some old retouchings are slightly discoloured and have become matte. Residues of old varnish are visible in ultraviolet light. The varnish has slightly yellowed.

Conservation

M. Zeldenrust, 1980 - 1981: complete restoration

Provenance

…; from Sybrant Altmann (1822-1890), Amsterdam, fl. 100, to the museum, as Portrait of a Man,¹ November 1884²

Object number: SK-A-843

The artist

Jacob Willemsz Delff II (Delft 1619 - Delft 1661)

Jacob Willemsz Delff II was born into an artistic Delft family. His father was the engraver Willem Jacobsz Delff, and both his grandfathers were portraitists: the paternal one being Jacob Willemsz Delff I and the maternal one Michiel van Mierevelt. His uncles Cornelis Jacobsz and Rochus Jacobsz Delff were also painters. The young Jacob’s most important teacher was Michiel van Mierevelt, whose studio he took over when the old man died in 1641. His earliest dated and signed work is from 1639.³ He joined the local guild on 15 October 1641, and on 22 January the following year he married Anna van Hoogenhouck. He died on 12 June 1661 and was buried in the Oude Kerk in Delft five days later.

As far as is known Jacob was exclusively a portraitist. His most important pictures include the civic guard piece Officers of the White Banner of 1648.⁴ In 1654 he was commissioned to restore the civic guard painting made by his grandfather Jacob Willemsz Delff that had been damaged in the explosion of the town’s gunpowder magazine that year. In addition to being an artist, Jacob was a member of the Council of Forty and the harbourmaster of Delft.

Gerdien Wuestman, 2022

References
D. van Bleyswijck, Beschryvinge der stadt Delft, II, Delft 1667, pp. 845, 856-57; A. Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, II, Amsterdam 1719, pp. 56-57; F.D.O. Obreen, Archief voor Nederlandsche kunstgeschiedenis: Verzameling van meerendeels onuitgegeven berichten en mededeelingen betreffende Nederlandsche schilders, plaatsnijders, beeldhouwers, bouwmeesters, juweliers, goud- en zilverdrijvers [enz.], I, Rotterdam 1877-78, p. 36; ibid., VI, 1884-87, pp. 24, 25, 99; B.W.F. van Riemsdijk, ‘De portretten van Jacob Willemsz Delf en zijne drie zonen’, Oud-Holland 12 (1894), pp. 233-37; Burchard in U. Thieme and F. Becker (eds.), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, IX, Leipzig 1913, p. 15; J.W. Salomonson, ‘The Officers of the White Banner: A Civic Guard Portrait by Jacob Willemsz. Delff II’, Simiolus 18 (1988), pp. 13-62; Ekkart in Saur Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, XXV, Munich/Leipzig 2000, p. 441

Entry

This 1643 likeness of a 27-year-old man at half length is a representative example from the early career of the Delft portraitist Jacob Willemsz Delff II, who at first continued to paint in the manner of his grandfather and teacher Michiel van Mierevelt after the latter’s death in 1641.⁵ His pictures are characterized by their traditional approach and soft brushwork.⁶

There are no inscriptions, coat of arms or labels from which the sitter’s name could be inferred.⁷ In 1936 Mrs P. Beydals, the Delft city archivist, recognized the man as Salomon van Schoonhoven (1617-1653), Lord Lieutenant and Chief Dike Reeve of Putten in Gelderland,⁸ the son of an Amsterdam merchant who married Volckera van Beresteyn in Delft on 19 November 1642.⁹ Unfortunately it is not known on what evidence her identification is based,¹⁰ but there are serious reasons to doubt it.¹¹ There is a documented portrait of Van Schoonhoven that Delff made in 1646,¹² and the poor resemblance with the present likeness makes it implausible that the two works depict the same person. Even leaving that aside, the age on the Rijksmuseum’s panel would be incorrect. Salomon van Schoonhoven was born at the end of 1617,¹³ so in 1643 he was only 25 or 26. Lacking any further information, this 27-year-old sitter must remain anonymous.

Gerdien Wuestman, 2022

See Key to abbreviations, Rijksmuseum painting catalogues and Acknowledgements

Collection catalogues

1887, p. 34, no. 266; 1903, p. 81, no. 774; 1934, p. 81, no. 774; 1976, p. 191, no. A 843 (as Portrait of a Man, thought to be Salomon van Schoonhoven (1617-53))

Citation

Gerdien Wuestman, 2022, 'Jacob Willemsz. (II) Delff, Portrait of a 27-Year-Old Man, 1643', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.8276

(accessed 15 November 2024 04:39:00).