Object data
oil on panel
support: height 62.2 cm × width 50 cm
outer size: depth 6.8 cm (support incl. frame)
Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt (workshop of)
Portrait of Volckera Claesdr Knobbert (1554-1634)
1617
Inscriptions
- inscription and date, centre right: Ætatis 63 / Anno 1617
- inscription, on the reverse: Volkera Nicolai Knobber Huis Vrouw van P. v. Berestein. Geb.r 1554. Gest.r 1634. / 25 (Volckera Nicolai Knobbert, wife of P. v. Berestein. Born 1554. Died 1634. 25)
- coat of arms, on the reverse, centre: on a gold field a boar of a natural colour (brown) seated on a blue stone with its forelegs raised
- coat of arms, on the reverse, top left: idem
- coat of arms, on the reverse, bottom left: a plain white field
- coat of arms, on the reverse, top right: four red chevrons with a black label on a gold field
- coat of arms, on the reverse, bottom right: a silver lion rampant with red claws and tongue on a blue field
Technical notes
The support consists of three vertically grained oak planks and is bevelled on all sides. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1597. The panel could have been ready for use by 1608, but a date in or after 1614 is more likely. The light-coloured, semi-transparent ground layer allows the colour of the wood support to show through. The paint layers were applied smoothly with very little impasto. Some brushmarking is noticeable in the figure’s face and clothing.
Scientific examination and reports
- technical report: M. Chauvannes, RMA, 23 March 2003
- dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 22 September 2003
Condition
Fair. The joins of the panel are open but stable. There are cracks at the lower left and upper right. There are areas of cupping in the paint layers, which are not stable, and small losses throughout, especially at the joins. The varnish is moderately discoloured.
Conservation
- conservator unknown, 1914: revarnished
Provenance
? Commissioned by or for the sitters; by descent from their daughter, Caecilia van Beresteyn (1589-1661), through the families Briell, De Jonge van Ellemeet, Van Citters to Jonkheer Jacob de Witte van Citters (1817-76), The Hague; or ? from the sitters daughter, Caecilia van Beresteyn (1589-1661) through the families De Witte, Ockerse, Van Gelre, De Witte van Elkerzee to Jonkheer Jacob de Witte van Citters (1817-76), The Hague; first recorded in the collection of the De Witte van Citters family, in the library of Kasteel Popkensburg, in the early 19th century;1 bequeathed to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague (inv. nos. 3237, 3238), by Jonkheer Jacob de Witte van Citters, 1876; transferred to the museum, 1885
Object number: SK-A-909
Credit line: Jonkheer J. de Witte van Citters Bequest, The Hague
Copyright: Public domain
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
Born in Haarlem, Paulus Cornelisz van Beresteyn became an extremely wealthy merchant in Delft, and Lord of Overschie. In 1574 he married Volckera Claesdr Knobbert, the daughter of a Delft brewer, Claes Adriaensz Knobbert, and Maria Duyst. In 1596, Van Beresteyn became a member of the Council of Forty, the most important political organization in Delft, and subsequently held a number of civic posts: alderman (1597), burgomaster (1601), regent of the Orphan Chamber (1609) and municipal treasurer (1615). Van Beresteyn also served as delegate to the States of Holland (1602) and the States-General.3
The Rijksmuseum pendants (see SK-A-908 and the portrait shown here) are just two of a number of bust-length workshop replicas of Van Mierevelt’s portraits of Paulus Cornelisz van Beresteyn and Volckera Claesdr Knobbert in Kasteel De Keukenhof, Lisse. Dated 1612, the prototype for Van Beresteyn’s portrait shows him standing at three-quarter length and is inscribed ‘64’, his age in that year (fig. a).4 The pendant of Volckera Claesdr Knobbert to this 1612 portrait of Van Beresteyn (fig. b) is itself, perhaps, a replica, as it is dated 1618, while the bust-length replicas, including the one in the Rijksmuseum, bear earlier dates. Another possibility is that the date was added later.5 The 1618 painting shows Volckera Knobbert seated and at three-quarter length, and if not itself Van Mierevelt’s original portrait, is probably an exact replica of it. The dendrochronology of the Rijksmuseum’s Portrait of Paulus Cornelisz van Beresteyn indicates that it was executed in or after 1617.
The Rijksmuseum pair was probably owned by the sitters’ daughter, Caecilia van Beresteyn, and passed by inheritance to Jonkheer Jacob de Witte van Citters (1817-76). The numbers 24 and 25 painted on the backs of the panels correspond to the ground plan of the library of Kasteel Popkensburg drawn up in the early 19th century, which was owned by the De Witte van Citters family.
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. 195.
Literature
Van Beresteyn/Del Campo Hartman II, 1941, p. 18, no. 27 (as Van Mierevelt or workshop), p. 26, no. 47 (as Van Mierevelt or workshop)
Collection catalogues
1887, p. 111, nos. 931, 932 (as Van Mierevelt); 1903, p. 175, nos. 1588, 1589 (as Van Mierevelt); 1934, p. 187, nos. 1588, 1589 (as Van Mierevelt); 1960, p. 206, nos. 1588, 1589 (as Van Mierevelt); 1976, p. 383, nos. A 908, A 909 (as Van Mierevelt); 2007, no. 195
Citation
J. Bikker, 2007, 'workshop of Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, Portrait of Volckera Claesdr Knobbert (1554-1634), 1617', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.9098
(accessed 23 November 2024 22:32:05).Figures
fig. a Michiel van Mierevelt, Portrait of Paulus Cornelisz van Beresteyn (1548-1625), 1612. Oil on panel, 115 x 85 cm. Lisse, Kasteel De Keukenhof. Photo: René Gerritsen
fig. b Michiel van Mierevelt, Portrait of Volckera Claesdr Knobbert (1554-1634), 1618. Oil on panel, 114 x 90 cm. Lisse, Kasteel De Keukenhof. Photo: René Gerritsen