Jan Jansz. de Stomme Franeker 1615 - before 1657 Groningen

Born in Franeker in 1615, Jan Jansz. was a deaf-mute (hence his byname 'De Stomme') who settled in Groningen in 1643. It is not known with whom he trained but he must have been familiar with the work of the two other Frisian portrait painters Wybrand de Geest (1592-after 1667) and Harmen Wieringa (active 1632-1650). Jan Jansz. de Stomme received many commissions to paint portraits of the families and children of the Groningen elite and nobility, of which the present portrait is a good example. A known portrait by the painter, showing Three children of the Tjarda van Starckenborgh family, signed and dated 1654, is in the Groninger Museum, Groningen (inv. 1940-199).