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Lot Essay
The sitter is identified by an inscription on the reverse of the original canvas, recorded at the time of the picture's lining as reading 'Hermanna van der Cruis Weduwe van Abraham van Suchtelen'. Hermanna van der Cruis was the widow of Abraham van Suchtelen (1600-1661), burgomaster of Deventer, and was one of the richest citizens of that city with assets estimated in 1683 at 90,000 florins; in the same year her son (see below) was ranked third, with 45,000 florins (see H. Kronenburg, in Verslagen en Meded. Vereeniging tot Beoefening van Overijsselsch Regt en Geschiedenis, 1927, pp.l 73ff.).
Two other autograph versions of this portrait are known: that in the National Gallery, London, and that in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; the London picture is regarded as the prime version. They are all dated by Gudlaugsson to the second half of the 1660s, with slight differences on the costume (for example the slightly narrower collar in the present picture in comparison with that in London) suggesting a tentative date of 1667-9 for the Vienna picture and 1669-70 for the present work. All three employ some studio assistance in the background details, whilst the Vienna picture also adds a still life on the table, painted by a different hand.
The present picture is slightly larger than the London and Vienna paintings (which measure 69.7 x 57.2 cm. and 62 x 50.5 cm. respectively). It is the companion picture to Ter Borch's Portrait of Neeltje van der Cruysse (fig. a; formerly J.P. Warburg Collection, New York; Gudlaugsson, op. cit, no. 211), who was Hermanna's elder (b. 1612) sister. In addition, both pictures correspond in size and date with Ter Borch's pair of portraits of Gerhard van Suchtelen (1640-1722) and Maria Wedeus (figs. b and c; 1642-1730; both Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art; ibid., nos. 212-3), Hermanna's son and daughter-in-law, suggesting that Ter Borch was commissioned to return towards the end of the decade to paint Hermanna's family. Similar inscriptions to that recorded on the reverse of the present work are on the reverse of the two Van Suchtelen portraits.
Two other autograph versions of this portrait are known: that in the National Gallery, London, and that in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; the London picture is regarded as the prime version. They are all dated by Gudlaugsson to the second half of the 1660s, with slight differences on the costume (for example the slightly narrower collar in the present picture in comparison with that in London) suggesting a tentative date of 1667-9 for the Vienna picture and 1669-70 for the present work. All three employ some studio assistance in the background details, whilst the Vienna picture also adds a still life on the table, painted by a different hand.
The present picture is slightly larger than the London and Vienna paintings (which measure 69.7 x 57.2 cm. and 62 x 50.5 cm. respectively). It is the companion picture to Ter Borch's Portrait of Neeltje van der Cruysse (fig. a; formerly J.P. Warburg Collection, New York; Gudlaugsson, op. cit, no. 211), who was Hermanna's elder (b. 1612) sister. In addition, both pictures correspond in size and date with Ter Borch's pair of portraits of Gerhard van Suchtelen (1640-1722) and Maria Wedeus (figs. b and c; 1642-1730; both Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art; ibid., nos. 212-3), Hermanna's son and daughter-in-law, suggesting that Ter Borch was commissioned to return towards the end of the decade to paint Hermanna's family. Similar inscriptions to that recorded on the reverse of the present work are on the reverse of the two Van Suchtelen portraits.