Rijksmuseum

Object data

oil on panel

support: height 71.5 cm × width 60.7 cm × thickness 1.7 cm
outer size: depth 7.0 cm (support incl. frame)

Inscriptions

signature, centre left: mierevelt

Technical notes

The support consists of three vertically grained oak planks and is bevelled on all sides except the right. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1551. The panel could have been ready for use by 1562, but a date in or after 1568 is more likely. The present portrait of an elderly man was painted over an existing portrait of a woman, which is clearly visible in the X-radiographs. An inscription belonging to the underlying portrait is visible with the naked eye and reads: ‘Ano sui 1589 / Æta: suæ 50’. The man’s head was first sketched in with thick, light coloured paint, and then worked up with thin, transparent layers. There is much visible brushmarking, especially in the man’s face.

Scientific examination and reports

X-radiography: A. Wallert, RMA, nos. 1747a-c, 12 October 2004
condition report: W. de Ridder, RMA, 27 November 2004
dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 17 June 2005

Condition

Fair. The right join, as seen from the front, has separated and is not entirely stable. There is a crack at the lower right.

Conservation

H.C. Coen, 1985: complete restoration; 10 cm crack at bottom left glued

Provenance

...; bequeathed to the City of Amsterdam by Jonkvrouw Jeanne Catherine Bicker (1799-1878), widow of Jonkheer Josua Jacob van Winter (1788-1840), Amsterdam, 1881; on loan to the museum from the City of Amsterdam since 2 October 1885

Object number: SK-C-12

Credit line: On loan from the City of Amsterdam

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.¹ 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

Since the 1903 catalogue of the Rijksmuseum’s permanent collection, the Van Mierevelt signature on this bust-length portrait of a man has been doubted.² Although this signature is painted wet in wet, the printed lower-case lettering does not conform to the two types of signature Van Mierevelt used: either printed capital letters or written upper and lower-case letters. The painting’s loose execution, especially the many lines in the face, and the use of grey paint here, which appears green, cannot be compared to Van Mierevelt’s style, not even that of his later, looser years. The painting is therefore probably a copy after a prototype by Van Mierevelt that is no longer extant. Based on the collar, that prototype would have been executed some time between 1625 and the artist’s death in 1641. There is at least one other copy, or studio replica of the same prototype.³

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. 204.

Collection catalogues

1885, p. 33, no. 227a (as Van Mierevelt, Portrait of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt); 1887, p. 111, no. 930 (as Van Mierevelt, Portrait of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt); 1903, p. 177, no. 1607 (as school of Van Mierevelt, so-called Portrait of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt); 1934, p. 189, no. 1607 (as Van Mierevelt, so-called Portrait of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt); 1960, p. 207, no. 1607 (as Van Mierevelt); 1976, p. 385, no. C 12 (as Van Mierevelt); 2007, no. 204

Citation

J. Bikker, 2007, 'copy after Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, Portrait of a Man, in or after c. 1625', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.9110

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