© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Woman Holding a Sunflower
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Young Woman Holding a Sunflower
Bartholomeus van der Helst(Haarlem 1613 – Amsterdam 1670)

1670
oil on canvas
99.9 x 74.9 cm
signed and dated in light paint, upper center: “B .
vander . helst . f . / 1670”
BH-100How to cite
Nogrady, Elizabeth. “Young Woman Holding a Sunflower” (2024). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 4th ed. Edited by
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. and Elizabeth Nogrady with Caroline Van Cauwenberge. New York, 2023–.
https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/young-woman-holding-a-sunflower/ (accessed February 2024).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed by apermanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

An emphatic display of love and fidelity is at the heart of this three-quarter-length

Comparative Figures

portrait by Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613–70). In his arresting painting, Van derHelst situated a young woman with soft, golden curls and slightly parted lips against adark background defined only by the hint of a curtain at upper left. With hershoulders subtly turned, as though in motion, her large eyes look outward to meet thegaze of the viewer. The young woman wears a shimmering white corset, blousy
sleeves trimmed with lace, a full skirt, and a shawl of sky-blue drapery encircling herform. Her extravagant wardrobe is further adorned with expensive jewelry: tearshaped pearl earrings, a diamond ring on her little finger, and a red-jeweled broochaffixing an energetic white feather to her hair. She points purposefully toward herheart with her right hand, while with her left she holds the substantial stem of asunflower, its imposing blossom raised slightly above her head. The flower’s yellow
ray florets curl around a circle of disc florets, angled downward as though eyeing theFig 1. Flos Solis maior, hand-coloredetching in Basilius Besler, Hortus
Eystettensis sive diligens et accurata
omnium plantarum, florum, stirpium ex
variis orbis terrae partibus singulari
studio collectarum, quae in celeberrimis
viridiariis arcem episcopalem ibidem
cingentibus hoc tempore conspiciuntur,
delineatio et ad vivum repraesentatio,
vol. 2 (Nuremberg, 1613), Teylers
Museum, Haarlem, inv. no. 149b
439-2.

viewer. Water droplets on the leaves and spiky hairs on the thick stalk suggest that theflower is freshly picked.
© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Woman Holding a Sunflower
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While the young woman’s identity is unknown, she likely belonged to Amsterdam’ssocial elite, the wealthy regents and other city leaders who frequently patronized Van
der Helst because of his ability to create engaging and dignified portraits.[1] A key
innovator in Dutch portraiture of the mid to late 1600s, Van der Helst createdlikenesses featuring bright and diffuse light, often paired with vibrant color.[2] These
characteristics can be seen in one of his early masterpieces, Militia Company ofDistrict VII under the Command of Captain Roelof Bicker, ca. 1640–43, which hung in
the banquet hall of the Kloveniersdoelen near The Night Watch of 1642 by
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69).[3] In notable contrast to Rembrandt’s darker paletteand broad tonal range, Van der Helst presented his militia subject in an even light thatFig 2. Quo pergis, eodem vergo,
engraving, emblem no. 38 in Otto
Vaenius, Emblemata aliquot selectiora
amatoria (Antwerp, 1608), Utrecht
University, inv. no. LB-KUN: RAR
LMY VEEN O1.

reveals the varied fabrics of their costumes, some with pastel hues, as well as theirindividualized faces. In the following decades, wealthy Dutch patrons wereincreasingly attracted to Van der Helst’s dynamic and persuasive style of portraiture,and he became a major force in the Amsterdam portrait market, his popularity
exceeding that of Govaert Flinck (1615–60) and Ferdinand Bol (1616–80).
Young Woman with a Sunflower, which Van der Helst painted in 1670, the last yearof his life, reveals many of the finest qualities of the masterful portraits he createdthroughout his long and productive career. Evident here is his remarkable ability torender lifelike flesh tones by delicately layering his paints to create the illusion oftranslucent skin. He also could convincingly portray a wide range of materials andtextures, from silky garments and smooth pearls to the prickly stem of a sunflower.
As in this striking painting, Van der Helst was renowned for his skillful manner ofFig 3. Ferdinand Bol, Couple on a
Balustrade, 1654, oil on canvas, 171 x
148.5 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris,
inv. no. RF 2127.

incorporating bold accouterments and gestures to give dramatic focus to his portraits.
For his clientele, these elements of self-presentation would have been fully
understood as indications of social class and civility.[4]The sunflower had a wealth of associations for contemporary Dutch viewers. This
plant, which was not native to Europe but to the Americas, was first introduced to a
Northern European audience in 1568 by the famed Flemish botanist Rembert
Dodoens (1517–85), who illustrated the sunflower, which he called Chrysanthemum
perunianum, in his important florilegium, Florum, etcoronarium odoratarumquenonnudllarum herbarum historia.[5] In the accompanying text, Doedens explained thename given to this flower: “They call this plant the ‘Sun of India’ because it soresembles a sun surrounded by rays.” He went on to emphasize its rarity: “We saw
this plant in the delightful garden abundant with any variety of plants belonging to theexcellent and worthy Johannes Brancio. . . . You may seek it in vain elsewhere, only

Fig 4. Ferdinand Bol, Self-Portrait, ca.
1669, oil on canvas, 127 x 102 cm,
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no.
SK-A-42.

to find it in his garden.”[6]By the early seventeenth century, the craving for sunflowers had spread throughout
the Netherlands. In his 1614 publication Hortus Floridus, Crispijn de Passe© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Woman Holding a Sunflower
Page 4 of 11(1565–1637) included both a page devoted to sunflowers and a depiction of an
idealized garden in which they are featured prominently at center.[7] While thisperfectly manicured plot appears to be an idealized site rather than a specific one, De
Passe did indeed examine specimens firsthand, beginning his publication with a wordof thanks to those lovers of flowers and herbs in Utrecht, Leiden, Haarlem, andAmsterdam who opened their gardens to him in preparation for the text. Among themost spectacular depictions of the sunflower in a seventeenth-century botanicaltreatise was that rendered by Basilius Besler (1561–1629), whose sumptuouscompendium, published in 1613 and more widely distributed in 1640, recorded plantsfrom the garden of Prince-Bishop Johann Konrad von Gemmingen of Eichstätt in
Bavaria (fig 1).[8] By 1670, when Van der Helst painted his portrait of a young
woman, he may have known images of sunflowers from such botanical treatises. He
also could have seen sunflowers firsthand, which seems likely given the painting’s
naturalistic details, such as the finely rendered dewdrops and bristles on the plant’s
stem.
Many botanical texts highlight the sunflower’s heliotropism: when young, the plant
faces east in the morning and, over the course of the day, tracks the sun across the sky
until it faces west in the evening.[9] The belief that sunflowers faithfully followed thesun led to a myriad of mythological, literary, and poetic uses soon after the plantarrived in Europe. The sunflower was frequently connected to the story of the water
nymph Clytie from Greek mythology. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Clytie was spurnedby her beloved, the sun god Helios, but nevertheless remained devoted to him andevery day followed his movements across the sky. After she died of a broken heart,
Helios transformed her into a heliotrope, a small plant with purple flowers that tracks
the sun as it traverses the sky.[10] After the spectacular sunflower was introduced toWestern Europe, it began to supplant the heliotrope in depictions and descriptions of
Ovid’s story.[11]In seventeenth-century emblem books, the sunflower took on broader meanings, mostimportantly fidelity in love, as in Otto Vaenius’s Emblemata aliquot selectiora
amatoria, 1618, with the emblem “Quo pergis, eodem vergo” (I incline where you go)(fig 2).[12] Because of the sunflower’s association with the sun, it also embodied theconcept of “day.” In 1643, Joachim von Sandrart (1606–88) painted for Maximilian I,
Elector of Bavaria a series depicting the Months of the Year and Day and Night, inwhich the allegorical figure of Day includes a sunflower.[13] In 1645, Joost van
Vondel (1587–1679) published verses describing Sandrart’s series, in which Day is abeautiful youth with “blonde locks” and “snow-white robes,” holding a sunflower.[14]Yet, even as the sunflower infuses Van der Helst’s portrait with multiple allusions likethese, its predominant meaning in the Leiden Collection work is not ambiguous.[15] By
pairing the sunflower with a finger aimed to the chest, the artist clearly indicates that© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Woman Holding a Sunflower
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Young Woman with a Sunflower overwhelmingly concerns matters of the heart.[16]The sunflower’s association with faithful, marital love in portraiture would have beena familiar trope for Van der Helst’s patrons in Amsterdam.[17] Ferdinand Bol, Van derHelst’s near contemporary, included a sunflower (along with a thistle, also associatedwith fidelity) in Couple on a Balustrade of 1654 (fig 3), to underscore the bond of the
man and woman depicted in his painting. Later, around 1669, Bol used—and
presumably designed—an ornately carved frame in gilt wood with a sunflower at its
apex for his self-portrait, today in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (fig 4).[18] In thisinstance, Bol presented himself as an elegant gentleman in a silk dressing gown,
standing beside a small statue of cupid sleeping and, notably, lacking the tools of his
trade. Bol likely painted this work at the time of his wedding to his second wife, Annavan Erkel (1624–80), and incorporated the sunflower into the narrative to indicate his
love for her. Van der Helst may have similarly painted Young Woman Holding a
Sunflower to celebrate the young woman’s engagement or marriage. Such an occasion
would have been fitting for this assertive display of luxurious clothing, the large
diamond ring, and the sitter’s gesture toward her heart; the import of the flower
symbolizing fidelity is underscored by the young woman’s unwavering gaze.[19]Together, these elements forcefully declare: my love is true.
Despite this painting’s distinctive character, the precise circumstances surrounding its
conception have been lost over the course of time. The portrait’s provenance can only
be traced to the late nineteenth century; in 1887, it was sold in Amsterdam at the
posthumous sale of Jan Hendrik Cremer (1813–85), the Dutch consul general in
Switzerland. By 1921, it was in Basel, Switzerland, in the collection of Adolf Peter
Vischer-d’Assonleville (1852–1929).[20] Vischer-d’Assonleville, who was acquainted
with Dutch art historian Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (1863–1930), was a collector of
Dutch seventeenth-century art and owned paintings by, among others, Salomon van
Ruysdael (ca. 1602–70), Rembrandt (1606–69), and Willem van Mieris (1662–1747).[21] Van der Helst’s painting remained in Switzerland after World War II. According
to an annotation found in the image files in the Netherlands Institute of Art History(RKD), it was then in the possession of “L. Lichtenhain,” presumably Lucas
Lichtenhan (1898–1969), the Swiss dealer and curator at the Kunsthalle Basel.[22]Young Woman Holding a Sunflower was acquired by The Leiden Collection in 2006.

- Elizabeth Nogrady, 2024
© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Woman Holding a Sunflower
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Endnotes
1. [1] Judith van Gent carefully documented these patrons in Judith van Gent, Bartholomeus van der Helst(ca. 1613–1670): Een studie naar zijn leven en werk (Zwolle, 2011), 36–57. Some of Van der Helst’s
notable sitters include Gerard Andriesz Bicker (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam); Mary Henrietta Stuart,
Princess of Orange (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam); and Vice Admiral Aert van Nes (Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam). A recurring theme in early biographies of Van der Helst is the high prices he received forhis works, with Joachim Sandrart noting of his portraiture that Van der Helst “gewanne damit viel Geld”(made a lot of money with it) (T. Kirchner et al., eds., Joachim von Sandrart: Teutsche Academie der
Bau-,

Bild-

und

Mahlerey-Künste,

Nuremberg

1675–1680[Wolfenbüttel,

2008–12],3:

317, http://ta.sandrart.net/en/text/543); and Arnold Houbraken saying that he “won veel geld” (made alot of money) (Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en
schilderessen [Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed. The Hague, 1753; repr. Amsterdam, 1976], 1: 10). For
specific instances of well-paid commissions, including one that paid 1,400 guilders for a portrait of thefamily of admiral Rijcklof van Goens, later Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company, see
Judith van Gent, “Bartholomeus van der Helst (ca. 1613–1670): Een studie naar zijn leven en zijn werk”(PhD diss., Utrecht University, 2011), 42, 172 (doc. 1656).
2. For the evolution of Van der Helst’s career, reputation, and innovations in portraiture, see Judith vanGent, Bartholomeus van der Helst (ca. 1613–1670): Een studie naar zijn leven en werk (Zwolle, 2011),
8–10, 60–108.
3. Both of these paintings are today in the Rijksmuseum. For a discussion of their differences in style, see
Stephanie S. Dickey, “Becoming Rembrandt,” in Rembrandt in Amsterdam: Creativity and Competition,ed. Stephanie S. Dickey and Jochen Sander (Exh. cat. Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada; Frankfurt am
Main, Städel Museum) (New Haven, 2021), 37–38.
4. Examples include Van der Helst’s 1665 portrait of an unidentified woman (Schloss Weissenstein der
Grafen von Schönborn, Pommersfelden), in which the sitter, who holds a large falcon, wears
shimmering garments and elegant jewelry similar to the present work. In Van der Helst’s 1661 portraitof Margaretha Trip (private collection; RKD image no. IB00021227), the sitter wears a similar
wardrobe and also has a white feather in her hair. For the importance of gesture in Van der Helst’s workand milieu, see Thijs Weststeijn, review of Bartholomeus van der Helst (ca. 1613–1670): Een studie naarzijn leven en werk by Judith van Gent, Historians of Netherlandish Art Reviews, November 2012,https://hnanews.org/hnar/reviews/bartholomeus-van-der-helst-ca-1613-1670-een-studie-naar-zijn-levenen-werk/. See also Herman Roodenburg, The Eloquence of the Body: Perspectives on Gesture in the Dutch
Republic (Zwolle, 2004).
5. On the origins of the domesticated sunflower in the Americas, and images of the flower created in both
the Americas and Europe, see Jules Janick, “Iconography of Domesticated Sunflower,” Notulae
Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca 48, no. 2 (2020): 1116–29. Pierandrea Mattioli mentioned the© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Woman Holding a Sunflower
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sunflower in his commentaries on the antique botanical source De Materia Medica by Discorides(Venice, 1568, 3v). Much of his text was reiterated several years later by Juan Fragaso in his Discursosde las cosas aromaticas, arboles y frutales, y de otras muchas medicinas simples, que se traen de la India
oriental y sirven al uso de medicin (Madrid, 1572), 25–27. See also Nicolás Monardes, Primera y segunda
y tercera partes de la Historia medicinal, de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales, quesiruen en Medicina (Seville, 1574), 109v, whose text was translated by Carolus Clusius in Simplicium
medicamentorum ex novo orbe delatorum, quorum in medicina usus est, historiae liber tertius (Antwerp,
1582), 347. For an overview of early sources of the “Imperial Sunflower” in Europe and its role in thecolonial enterprise, see John Peacock, The Look of Van Dyck: The Self-Portrait with a Sunflower and the
Vision of the Painter (Aldershot, 2006), 107–34; and Kristan M. Hanson, “Sunflower: Knowledge, Myth,and Meaning,” Plant Humanities Lab, Dumbarton Oaks, 2022, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/51721079.
6. See Rembert Dodoens, Florum et coronariarum odoratarumque nonnullarum herbarum historia(Antwerp, 1568), 295–96. This translation is from Francine de Nave and Dirk Imhof, eds., Botany in the
Low Countries (End of the 15th Century–ca. 1650) (Exh. cat. Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp)(Antwerp, 1993), 144. For this text and its role in the emergence of the florilegium, see Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr., From Botany to Bouquets: Flowers in Northern Art (Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C.) (Washington, D.C., 1999), 25–30. See also Adriaen Collaert, Sunflower and Other
Flowers, ca. 1587–89, plate 8 from a set of 24, published by Theodoor Galle and Philips Galle. Mostoften described in these publications were domesticated specimens, which can be distinguished fromwild plants by their single large head on a long stalk and their height. The common sunflower(Helianthus annuus), like the one seen in Van der Helst’s portrait, typically ranges from three to eightfeet.
7. The production of Crispijn de Passe’s Hortus Floridus (titled Den Blom-hof in the Dutch edition) was
varied and complex, with printings in multiple cities and multiple languages over several years, from
1614 to 1617. For images of the garden and sunflower, see the copy with Dutch texts in the Universityof Utrecht Special Collections, Den Blom-hof, inhoudende de rare oft ongemeene blommen die op ten
tegenwoordighen tijdt by lief-hebbers in estimatie ghehouden werden (Utrecht, 1615/16), 175, 181,https://www.uu.nl/en/special-collections/collections/early-printed-books/scientific-works/den-blom-hofby-crispijn-van-den-passe. See also Sam Segal and Klara Alen, Dutch and Flemish Flower Pieces:
Paintings, Drawings and Prints up to the Nineteenth Century (Leiden, 2020), 1: 17.
8. See Basilius Besler, Hortus Eystettensis, sive, Diligens et accurata omnium plantarum, florum, stirpium: exvariis orbis terrae partibus, singulari studio collectarum, quae in celeberrimis viridariis arcem episcopalem
ibidem cingentibus, olim conspiciebantur delineatio et ad vivum repraesentati (Nürnberg, 1640), part 2,
folio 70, 71.
9. Historically, this quality was thought (incorrectly) to be true of adult plants as well. See Hagop S.
Atamian et al., “Circadian Regulation of Sunflower Heliotropism, Floral Orientation, and Pollinator
Visits,” Science 353 (2016): 587–90.
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10. According to Ovid, “Fixed in that spot, she gazed up at the god / as he went by, bending her face toward
his / Her limbs, they say, embedded in the ground / The sallow paleness in her skin was changed / tobloodless leaves. The blush became a flower / much like a violet and hid her face / Though gripped byroots, it turns itself to watch / the Sun and, now transformed, preserves its love.” Ovid, Metamorphoses,
trans. Stephanie McCarter (New York, 2022), 4: 284, 104.
11. Giacomo Antonio Cortuso, a sixteenth-century curator at the botanic garden in Padua, made a close
study of the sunflower in which he alluded to Clytie, as recounted in a letter published by Pierandrea
Mattioli (Pierandrea Mattioli, De Materia Medica by Discorides [Venice, 1568, 3r]). See John Peacock,
The Look of Van Dyck: The Self-Portrait with a Sunflower and the Vision of the Painter (Aldershot,2006), 111. For a seventeenth-century rendering of Clytie as a sunflower, see Cornelis van Bloemaert
and Theodor Matham, after Abraham van Diepenbeeck, Clytie, ca. 1635–38, from Michel de Marolles,
Tableaux du temple des muses tirez du cabinet de feu Mr. Favereau (Paris, 1655), 107.
12. For more on sunflower emblems, see Eddy de Jongh, “Bol vincit amorem,” Simiolus: Netherlands
Quarterly for the History of Art 12, no. 2/3 (1981): 158–59. In emblems, the sunflower could also
reference Christian faith specifically, as in the case of “Ego dilecto meo” (I, my beloved) from Justus deHarduwijn, Goddelycke wenschen (1629). For further discussion of use of the sunflower in a religious
context, see John Peacock, The Look of Van Dyck: The Self-Portrait with a Sunflower and the Vision of
the Painter (Aldershot, 2006), 135–75.
13. Joachim von Sandrart, Day, 1643 (Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Schloss Schleißheim,
Oberschleißheim). In 1645, Jeremias Falck (1610–77) made engravings after Sandrart’s painted series.
See F.W.H. Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, ca. 1450–1700(Amsterdam, 1954), 6: 212, no. 81. This print includes a Latin verse written by Caspar van Baerle.
14. The verse “De Dagh” reads: “O Schoonste jongelingk, uw blonde locken zwaien / Om ’t hooft, en in denhals, en geven eenen glans. / U voeght het sneeuwit kleet, uw hooft die blijde krans; / Uw eene hant detorts. de zonnebloemen draeien / In d’andre hant zich om, en volgen ’t lieve licht. / Ghy zijt de Dagh, ofvoert den Dagh in uw gezicht” (O lovely youth, your golden locks flowing / O’er your head and throat,with radiance glowing. / You wear a snow-white robe, upon your head a crown / And in your hand atorch. The Sunflowers turn around / In your other hand to follow the light apace. / You are Day, or carry
daytime in your face). This was published in Van Vondel’s Verscheide Gedichten of 1644; see De werken
van Vondel, part 4, 1640–1645 (Amsterdam, 1930), 568; for translation, see Sam Segal and Klara Alen,
Dutch and Flemish Flower Pieces: Paintings, Drawings and Prints up to the Nineteenth Century (Leiden,2020), 1: 63. Joost van Vondel also linked fidelity and the sunflower to the making of art in Inwyjinge
der Schilderkunste, Op Sint Lukas Feest (1654), writing “Gelyk de zonneblom haar oogen / Uit minne
draeit naer ’s hemels bogen, / En volght met haer gezicht / Het alverquickend licht, / De zon, die ’t al zyn
verwe geeft, / En daer geboomte en plant by left / Zoo volght de Schilderkunst / Uit aengebore gunst /Ontsteecken van een heilig vuur / De schoonheit van Natuur” (Just as the Sunflower’s eyes / Turn in loveto the skies, / And follows with her sight / The lively quickening light, / The sun, which gives it all its
colours / That tree and plant live by; / So turns the Painter’s Art, / Naturally on its part, / Kindled by an© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Woman Holding a Sunflower
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holy fire / Nature’s beauty to desire). See De werken van Vondel, Part 5, 1645–1656 (Amsterdam,
1931), 820; Sam Segal and Klara Alen, Dutch and Flemish Flower Pieces: Paintings, Drawings and Prints
up to the Nineteenth Century (Leiden, 2020), 1: 63–64; and J. Bruyn and J.A. Emmens, “De zonnebloem
als embleem in een schilderijlijst,” Bulletin van Het Rijksmuseum 4, no. 1 (1956): 3–9.
15. Perhaps the most well-known sunflower in Netherlandish painting was painted in 1632–33 by Anthonyvan Dyck, in his Self-Portrait with a Sunflower (collection of Duke of Westminster, Eaton Hall,
Cheshire). The image of the sunflower from this painting, which Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–77)
engraved in 1644, has garnered a variety of interpretations as a visual declaration of Van Dyck’s loyalty
to his patron Charles I, to his Christian faith, and to his own artistry. See J. Bruyn and J.A. Emmens,“The Sunflower Again,” Burlington Magazine 99, no. 648 (1957): 96–97.
16. See J. Bruyn and J.A. Emmens, “De zonnebloem als embleem in een schilderijlijst,” Bulletin van Het
Rijksmuseum 4, no. 1 (1956): 3–9; Eddy de Jongh, Portretten van echt en trouw: Huwelijk en gezin in de
Nederlandse kunst van de zeventiende eeuw (Exh. cat. Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum) (Waanders, 1986),
92, no. 9i; and Eddy de Jongh, Questions of Meaning: Theme and Motif in Dutch Seventeenth-Century
Painting, ed. and trans. Michael Hoyle (Leiden, 2000), 126.
17. The popularity of sunflowers in Dutch and Flemish still-life painting grew in the second half of the
1600s. See Sam Segal and Klara Alen, Dutch and Flemish Flower Pieces: Paintings, Drawings and Prints
up to the Nineteenth Century (Leiden, 2020), 1: 365.
18. Van der Helst’s painting currently hangs in a reproduction of the frame on Bol’s self-portrait in the
Rijksmuseum. Though the circumstances of this choice are unknown, the sunflower on frame for the
Van der Helst serves the same function as the one found on Bol’s picture, namely to underscore thecontent of the imagery. For discussions of Bol’s frame, see Eddy de Jongh, “Bol vincit amorem,”
Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art 12, no. 2/3 (1981): 147–61; and P.J.J. van Thieland C.J. de Bruyn Kops, Framing in the Golden Age: Picture and Frame in 17th-Century Holland(Amsterdam, 1995), 280–81, no. 61.
19. In seventeenth-century Dutch inventories, the type of ring on the woman’s finger, which includes a stone(in this case, a diamond in a bezel setting), was often described as a ringh. At this time, “wedding rings”
could be exchanged at weddings or engagements and could be worn on a variety of fingers. For theterminology of rings in the early modern Netherlands, see Suzanne van Leeuwen, “‘Met Diamanten
Omset’: Hoop Rings in the Northern Netherlands (1600–1700),” Rijksmuseum Bulletin 71, no. 1 (2023):
46–47. The combination of a young woman gesturing to her heart and a large sunflower persisted into
the eighteenth century, including in Carel de Moor’s Woman with Sunflowers, ca. 1678–79 (Royal
Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp). Thanks go to Pamela Fowler and Piet Bakker for providing this date.
20. According to a notation in Basler Jahrbuch (Basel, 1930), 371, Vischer-d’Assonleville was amanufacturer with a large art collection.
21. See Jan Jacob de Gelder, Bartholomeus van der Helst (Rotterdam, 1921), 206, no. 531. For other works
in this collection, see Salomon van Ruysdael, Landscape with the Ruins of Egmond Abbey Beyond, ca.
1655–59 (Koller, Zurich, 19 June 2020, lot 345); and Willem van Mieris, Portrait of a Young Lady with© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Woman Holding a Sunflower
Page 10 of 11

a Spaniel (Christie’s, New York, 29 October 2019). Rembrandt’s drawing A Woman Sitting Up in Bed,
1635 (Groninger Museum, Groningen) was given by Vischer-d’Assonleville to Hofstede de Groot in
September 1921. See rembrandtcatalogue.net, Benesch 282, 20 August 2016.
22. The name “L. Lichtenhain” is listed on a cardboard mount in the image files of the RKD.

ProvenanceJan Hendrik Cremer (1813–85), Brussels (his sale, Frederik Muller & Co. and Van Pappelendam &Schouten, Amsterdam, 21 June 1887, no. 18).
(Sale, Van Pappelendam & Schouten, Amsterdam, 11 June 1889, no. 67 [possibly to C.F. Roos & Cie].)[Possibly C.F. Roos & Cie., Amsterdam, 1889.]
Adolf Peter Vischer(-Bölger) d’Assonleville (1852–1929), Basel, by 1921.
Lucas Lichtenhan (1898–1969), Basel, by 1950.
[Otto Naumann Ltd., New York.]
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2006.

References
De Gelder, Jan Jacob. Bartholomeus van der Helst: Een studie van zijn werk, zijn levensgeschiedenis, eenbeschrijvende catalogus van zijn œuvre, een register en 41 afbeeldingen naar schilderijen. Rotterdam,
1921, 40, fig. XL; 209, no. 531; 220, no. 687.
Bruyn, J., and J.A. Emmens. “De zonnebloem als embleem in een schilderijlijst.” Bulletin van het
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