Lot 121
Property from the Collection of J.E. Safra
Michiel van Mierevelt
Delft 1566 - 1641
Portrait of Johan Camerlin (1567-1640), aged 59, standing three quarter length by a table, wearing a black costume with lace collar and cuffs, his left hand resting on a book;
Portrait of Catharina Camerlin, née Wielant (1572-1633), aged 59, standing three quarter length by a table, wearing a black dress with a millstone ruff, cuffs and a bonnet
the former inscribed, dated and signed center left: AEtatis 59, / A.o 1626. / M. Miereveld.;
the latter inscribed, dated and signed upper right: AEtatis, 59. / A.o 1631. / M. Miereveld
a pair, both oil on panel
each panel: 44¼ by 34 in.; 112.4 by 86.4 cm.
each framed: 52 by 41½ in.; 132.1 by 105.4 cm.
(2)
Condition Report
Provenance
The sitters;
Thence by descent to their daughter, Elisabeth della Faille, née Camerlin;
Thence by descent to her son, Johan della Faille (1628-1713);
Thence by descent to his son, Johan Bernard della Faille (1672-1729);
Thence by descent to his son, Abraham Nicolaas della Faille (1716-1793);
Thence by descent to his daughter, Maria Catharina Francesca Tellegen, née della Faille (1740-1823);
Thence by descent to her daughter, Catharina Elisa Odulpha de Neree, née Tellegen (1782-1860);
Thence by descent to her grandson, Jean Philippe Rudolphe Marie de Nerée tot Babberich (1850-1916), The Hague;
Thence by descent to his son, Frans Joseph Willem Marie de Nerée tot Babberich (1897-1959), Vught;
By whose estate sold ("Property of the Late F.J.W.M. de Neree tot Babberich, Vught"), Amsterdam, Christie's, 13 November 1995, lot 132;
There acquired by the present collector.
Literature
Verslagen omtrent 's Rijks Verzamelingen van geschiedenis en kunst, vol. XXII, 1899, p. 19, cat. nos. 618 and 619;
Catalogus der Schilderijen in het Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1903, cat. nos. 1593 and 1594;
Catalogue des tableaux, miniatures, pastels, dessins encadres, etc.du Musée de l'État à Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1904, p. 208, cat. nos. 1593 and 1594;
Catalogue of the pictures miniatures, pastels, framed water colour drawings, etc, in the Rijks-Museum at Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1905, p. 221, cat. nos. 1593 and 1594;
Verslagen omtrent 's Rijks Verzamelingen van geschiedenis en kunst, vol. XXIX, 1906, p. 27, cat. nos. 618 and 619;
E.J. Wolleswinkel, "Het belang van Kwartierstaatsonderzoek voor de identificatie van geportretteerden," in Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, VIII, 1989, pp. 94-95, reproduced figs. 1 and 2;
M. Senenko, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts: Collection of Dutch Paintings XVII-XIX Centuries, Moscow 2009, p. 246, under cat. no. 1929 (only Catharina Camerlin discussed).
Exhibited
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, on loan, 1899-1905, inv. no. C618 (lent by Jean Philippe Rudolphe Marie de Nerée tot Babberich).
Catalogue note
Michiel van Mierevelt painted these life-size portraits of Johan Camerlin (1567-1640) and his wife Catharina (1572-1633) in 1626 and 1631, respectively. Both sitters are recorded at the age of fifty-nine and have been captured here in three-quarter length poses facing one another, an established formula regularly employed by the Delft artist.1 Although five years separated the works’ completion, the imposing presence of each sitter is captured with Van Mierevelt’s distinctly confident and characteristic brush.
Van Mierevelt was one of the most accomplished Netherlandish portraitists in the early seventeenth century. In addition to serving as painter to the stadholder court and portraitist to members of the House of Orange, he specialized in portraits of prominent Delft figures, such as the present couple. Johan Camerlin, the son of Nicolaas Cornelis Camerlin and Elisabeth Cornelisdr. van Assendelft, served as the Pensionary of Delft and curator of the University of Leyden. His eminent position within the country’s political realm is affirmed by his selection as part of the Dutch Republic’s ambassadorial delegation to Great Britain from January – April 1621.2 During this crucial period, the delegation was tasked with garnering for their country the support of King James I before the end of the Twelve Year’s Truce between Spain and the United Provinces. On 9 April 1621, the day the Truce ended, Johan and his delegation were knighted by the King.
In 1595, Johan married Catharina Wielant, daughter of Cornelis Wielant and Basha van Egmond van Cranenbrouck. Together, the couple had two children, a daughter Elisabeth (b. 1595) and a son Cornelis who died in childhood. In 1618, Elisabeth married Bernard de la Faille, and it was through Elisabeth’s family that these portraits of her parents descended for generations until 1995, when they were acquired by the present collector.
1. For example, his 1626 portraits of the Burgermeister of Delft Ewout van der Dussen (1574 – 1653) and his wife Catharina van der Hoeff (1600-1666) in the Kasteel-Museum Sypesteyn, Loosdrecht.
2. The group of delegates lodged in a public tavern on Lombard street and included the following: Frederick van Vervou, Lord of The Hague; Jonkheer Jacobus Wyngaerdes, Lord of Bentusen; Jacob Jacobsz Schotte, Lord of Middleburg; Albert Bruyning, Lord of Enchuysen; and Albert Soncq, Lord of Horn. See Dr. R. Anderson in “Foreign Diplomatic Representatives to the Stuart Court during the seventeenth century, Pt. 1: 1603-1625,” in AHDS, 2007.
