THE PROPERTY OF THE LATE F.J.W.M. DE NEREE TOT BABBERICH, VUGHT
Michiel Jansz. van Miereveldt (1567-1641)

Details
Michiel Jansz. van Miereveldt (1567-1641)

Portrait of Johan Camerlin (1567-1640), aged 59, standing three quarter length by a table, wearing black costume with lace collar and cuffs, his left hand resting on a book; and Portrait of his wife Catharina Camerlin, née Wielant (1592-1633), aged 59, standing three quarter length by a table, wearing a black dress with molenkraag, cuffs and a bonnet

The first signed, inscribed with the age of the sitter and dated centre left AE(linked)tatis 59./Ao.1626./M.Miereveld.(in red); the second signed, inscribed with the age of the sitter and dated centre right AE(linked)tatis.59./Ao.1631./M.Miereveld.(in red), both oil on panel
110.5 x 84 cm and 109.5 x 82 cm
a pair (2)
Provenance
by descent to the sitter's daughter Elisabeth della Faille;by descent to her son Johan della Faille (1628-1713);
his son Johan Bernard della Faille (1672-1729);
his son Abraham Nicolaas della Faille (1716-1793);
his daughter Maria Catharina Tellegen, née della Faille (1740-1823)
and to her daughter Catharina Elisa Odulpha de Neree, née Tellegen; thence by eventual descent to the present vendor's estate
Literature
Catalogus der Schilderijen in het Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 1903, no. 1594
E.J. Wolleswinkel, Het belang van kwartierstaatsonderzoek voor de identificatie van geportretteerden, in Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, VIII, 1989, pp. 94/95, figs. 1 and 2
Exhibited
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 1899-1905, on loan

Lot Essay

The present pendants are unusual in that five years seperate Van Miereveldt's execution of Camerlin's portrait and that of his wife. Clearly Van Miereveldt didn't have Camerlin's portrait at hand, when he executed the portrait of his wife, as the level of the tables are not the same.

Miereveldt, the most succesful portrait painter of his time in the Northern Netherlands and famous for his portraits of William of Orange and members of the Stadholder's Court, here followed his established formula: three quarter length static poses, with the sitters facing each other. This formula, which Miereveldt made his speciality and which he and his studio would follow throughout his career, is evident in the portraits of Ewout van der Dussen and his wife Catharina van der Hoeff, both from 1626, at Kasteel Sypesteyn, Loosdrecht (see E. de Jongh, Portretten van Echt en Trouw, exhibition catalogue Haarlem, 1986, pp. 131/33, no. 21, with ill.).

Johan Camerlin, son of Nicolaas Cornelis Camerlin and Elisabeth Cornelisdr. van Assendelft, was Pensionary of the city of Delft and became curator of the University of Leyden in 1636. His political eminence and importance is demonstrated by his selection as a member of a delegation, sent as Ambassadeur Extraordinarus by the States General to Great Britain from January to May 1621, during the crucial period when the twelve year's Treuce between Spain and the United Provinces was to come to an end. The delegates' task was to obtain the support of King James I during the intermediate period before and after the scheduled end of the Treuce. He was to be knighted by the King. Camerlin married Cornelia Wiealnt, daughter of Cornelis Wielant and Basha van Egmond van Cranenbrouck on 15 August 1595

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