LUDOLF BACKHUYSEN | PORTRAIT OF JOAN VAN BROECKHUIZEN (1649-1707), THREE-QUARTER-LENGTH, HIS HAND RESTING ON A HELMET, A VIEW OF THE PORT OF UTRECHT, FROM THE INTERSECTION OF THE AMSTEL AND THE SINGELGRACHT, BEYOND

Joan van Broeckhuizen, the sitter (mentioned in his will of 1705);

By whom bequeathed to Pieter Burman the Elder (1668-1741), Utrecht, in 1707;

By descent to Pieter Burman the Younger (1713-78), Amsterdam;

His posthumous sale, Amsterdam, Luchtmans, 16 October 1779, for 42 Florins to Jan Ekels;

With Anthony Dallas & Sons, London;

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 15 December 1982, lot 137, where acquired by the late husband of the present owner.

J. van Broeckhuizen, Gedichten, Amsterdam 1712, p. 54;

E.W. Moes, Iconographia Batava, vol. I, Amsterdam 1897, p. 131, no. 1136, 1;

C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné..., vol. VII, London 1923, p. 226, cat. no. 53;

G. de Beer, Ludolf Backhuysen. Sein Leben und Werk, Zwolle 2002, pp. 26, 85 and 253, note 236 (with an erroneous sale reference).

Joan van Broeckhuizen (1649-1707), was a poet and later captain in the service of the States General, and a close friend of Backhuysen. He eulogised many of Backhuysen's pictures, and wrote a set of fourteen verses of Latin elegaics dedicated to the artist, who in turn praised Broeckhuizen in verse. This portrait was eulogised in verse by H. Angelot in Broeckhuizen's book of poetry published, after the latter's death, in Amsterdam in 1712 (see Literature), when it belonged to Pieter Burman in Utrecht (see Provenance). A drawn portrait by Backhuysen of Broeckhuizen is in the British Museum, London.¹ Manuscript verses by Backhuysen addressed to Broeckhuizen, signed and dated '1 Augusti 1692', are also kept in the British Museum.² 

In Jan van Broeckhuizen's will of 26 March 1705, this portrait is to be bequeathed to Pieter Burman ("Petrus Burmannus, Professor in Utrecht"); it is described as: "portrait door Bakhuis geschildert.", and as one of Backhuysen's smallest scale portraits.³ It was bought in the Burman sale in 1779 by Jan Ekels, one of the most talented Dutch painters and draughtsmen of the 18th century. Since the only recorded copy of Ekels' posthumous sale in Amsterdam (van der Schley), 25 July 1793, was destroyed in Darmstadt in 1944, it is not possible to ascertain if it was still in his possession then.

¹ Inv. no. 1836,0811.28; see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1836-0811-28 

² Inv. no. 1836,0811.8; see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1836-0811-8

³ See De Beer 2002, p. 26.