Lot 49
  • 49

Cornelis van der Voort Antwerp 1576 - 1624 Amsterdam

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Description

  • Cornelis van der Voort
  • a portrait of Pieter Merchijs (1582-before 1628), aged 39, standing three-quarter length, wearing an elaborate black suit with white lace cuffs and a mill-stone collar, holding a hat;a portrait of his wife, Maria Florianus (born 1600), aged 22, standing three-quarter length, wearing an elaborate black dress with white lace cuffs, a mill-stone collar and a bonnet, a golden chain with a pomander around her waist, next to a chair
  • a pair, both inscribed with the age of the sitter and dated, the former upper right: Ætatis. Sua. 39./ Ano. i622., the latter upper left: Ætatis. Sua. 22./ Ano. i622.
  • both oil on panel, both in the original frames

Provenance

Pieter Merchijs (1583-1628), directly commissioned from the artist, 1622;
His son, Johannes Merchijs (dates unknown);
His son Andries Rijkaert (1636-1716), who remained unmarried;
His sister Suzanna Rijkaert-van Wisselt (1635-?);
By descent to Cornelia Roëll-Bailli;
Douaire Roëll-Collot d'Escury, The Hague, by 1905;
Roëll-Bierens de Haan, Utrecht (both the above according to labels on the reverse);
Collection De Geer-Roëll;
Thence by descent.

Exhibited

Utrecht, Centraal Museum, Tentoonstelling van oude kunst uit particulier bezit in stad en provincie, 2 July - 15 September 1938, no. 51.

Condition

The actual paintings are warmer and more yellow in tone than the catalogue illustrations suggest. Both panels consist of three vertical planks, which have been reinforced with battons to the reverse. The panels are flat and stable. In both paintings the joins have been slightly retouched. In the portrait of the man there are some very minimal paint losses along the left join, and a small vertical crack of approximately 4 cm. can be seen to the lower edge. In the portrait of the woman a very thin vertical scratch of approximately 10 cm. can be observed along the left join. Otherwise, both paintings are in excellent condition. Particularly the impasto in the costumes and the jewellery is wonderfully preserved. The paintings are under a dirty layer of varnish. Inspection under ultra violet light confirms the retouchings along the joins and reveals a few, very minimal retouchings relating tiny paint losses, e.g. in the upper left corner in the portrait of the man, and in the woman's eye. Offered in the original black and gold painted wood frames with a few chips in the upper corners. (MW/ML)
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

Pieter Merchijs, a merchant and grocer from Amsterdam, married his second wife Maria Florianus in 1621 and the following year husband and wife sat to Cornelis van der Voort for the present portraits. Although it is not known when or how Merchijs died, Maria Florianus is recorded as re-marrying in October 1628, providing a terminus ante quem for his date of passing. He had one child with Maria, a son, Florianus Merchijs, who was born in 1623, but died as a child.

With his first wife, Sara Berrewijns, who has previously been wrongly identified with the sitter in this work (as a label on the reverse attests), Merchijs had a daughter, Cornelia Merchijs (1614-1694). Cornelia married Johannes Rijckaert (1609-1679) in 1634 and had two children by him, Susanna Rijckaert (born 1635) and Andries Rijckaert (1636-1716), both of whom sat to Isaack Luttichuys whose subsequent portraits of them are offered as lot 57 in this sale.

This beautifully preserved pair of portraits were almost certainly painted to commemorate the marriage of Pieter Merchijs and Maria Florianus which had taken place the previous year in 1621. Their poses follow the traditional lines of formal portraiture of the first quarter of the 17th century, the wife to the right of the husband, each turned inwards but looking self-conciously out to the spectator and holding an unmoving, statuesque pose. In the following decade formal portraiture would undergo a distinct change, principally due to the genius of Rembrandt, when emphasis would be placed more on facial expression and a more human, less formulaic, pose.

Van der Voort was one of the most important portrait painters in Amsterdam until his untimely death at the age of 48 in 1624, just two years after executing these works. It is only relatively recently, towards the end of the 19th Century, that he was firmly identified as a portrait painter, much of his work having previously been attributed to, amongst others, Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy and Thomas de Keyser; indeed, this pair of portraits was formerly attributed to the former. It seems Van der Voort belonged to a family of painters, as attested by a document recording the visit of an Utrecht lawyer, Arnold Buchelius, to the Amsterdam studio of Cornelis and Abraham van der Voort in 1620. In this studio he taught a number of students, including David Bailly, Pieter Luyx and Dirk Harmensz., while he himself appears to have made his studies under the Amsterdam painter Cornelis Ketel (1548-1616).