Portrait of a Boy with a Miniature ThreeMaster
Pieter van der Werff(Kralingen 1665 – 1722 Rotterdam)1696
oil on canvas
48.2 x 39.2 cm
signed and dated in light paint, centeredalong lower edge: “P:v. weRff fec / 1696”
PW-101© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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How to cite
Jansen, Guido. “Portrait of a Boy with a Miniature Three-Master” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue,
2nd ed. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/portraitof-a-boy-with-a-miniature-threemaster/ (archived May 2020).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrativeoccurs.

Looking at us from his place in a decorative oval frame of palm branches

Comparative Figures

painted to imitate a relief in stone, a blond-haired boy, whose sumptuous
clothing includes a red velvet beret with three white feathers, is seen againsta parklike background. He wears a yellow-and-gray striped suit over a shirt
with lace cuffs and collar. A blue shawl trimmed with gold braid is draped
over his left shoulder. Floating in the rectangular stone basin next to him is asmall three-master with a reddish orange ribbon tied to it, which he holds in
his right hand. As far as is known, this portrait of a boy playing with aminiature three-master is unique in Dutch painting of the seventeenth
century. The miniature three-master flies the red, white and blue flag of theRepublic of the Seven United Netherlands atop the mainmast and themizzen, and a golden lion rampant adorns the taffrail (taffarel), the part of aship that rises above the stern and is often decorated with ornate
woodcarving. An arm holding a raised sword is discernible on the orange flag
flying above the taffrail.
The canvas was signed and dated 1696 by Pieter van der Werff. This date issignificant in the artist’s oeuvre, because in that year he embarked on themost important commission of his career: 30 oval portraits of the directors of
the Rotterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and theirillustrious predecessors, going all the way back to the chamber’s founding in
1602.[1] The series, intended as a gallery of honor, was meant to hang in thetrade hall of the new Oost-Indisch Huis, located on the Boompjes. The
cornerstone was laid in 1695 and the building was finished in 1698. Pieter© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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van der Werff painted the first portraits from existing works—including
originals by Frans Hals (1582/83–1666), Ludolf de Jongh (1616–79), andPieter’s elder brother, Adriaen van der Werff (1659–1722)—which is why hedid not sign them. He did, however, sign the portraits in this series he painted
from life after 1698.
Thanks to this commission, from 1696 onward Pieter van der Werff regularly
found himself in the company of the most prominent families of Rotterdam,
searching for portraits of deceased directors of the VOC that he could use asexamples. The boy portrayed here must therefore belong to a family with
VOC connections, as evidenced by both the portrait’s date and the sitter’s
toy ship. The three-master can in fact be identified as an East Indiaman.
Ships of this type, which averaged 40 meters in length, were generally usedby the VOC for trade with Asia.
In addition to obvious connections with the VOC, the boy’s family probably
also had ties to the Admiralty on the Maze (Meuse), which would not havebeen unusual in Rotterdam. This link is suggested by the golden lion on thestern. The most famous ship with the name and taffrail decoration of Gouden
Leeuw (Golden Lion) was the over 50-meter long, 82-gun three-master built
in 1666 by the Amsterdam Admiralty. It became the flagship of Admiral
Cornelis Tromp, the Rotterdam-born son of Admiral Maarten Harpertsz
Tromp. The Gouden Leeuw was one of the most famous Dutch men-of-warof its time, alongside De Zeven Provinciën (The Seven Provinces), theflagship of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter. Willem van de Velde the Elder(1611–93), his son Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633–1707), andLudolf Bakhuizen (1631–1708) portrayed the Gouden Leeuw on several
occasions, even after the vessel was retired from service in 1686.[2] In
contrast to the Rotterdam Chamber of the VOC, which played a lessinfluential role within the organization, the Admiralty on the Maze was second
in importance in Holland only to the Amsterdam Admiralty. The Maze
Admiralty was in fact the oldest and most venerable admiralty college in theDutch Republic. Serving as a representative of this admiralty was a greathonor, certainly in Rotterdam. We may therefore assume that Pieter van derWerff deliberately portrayed this boy with a toy three-master that refers to thelegendary Gouden Leeuw.[3]- Guido Jansen, 2017© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of a Boy with a Miniature Three-Master
Page 4 of 6Endnotes

1. Martine Fleurke, “‘. . . by meenigt’ aan de wanden en mueren . . .’: De portretten van debewindhebbers van de Kamer Rotterdam,” in Peter Grimm et al., Heeren in zaken: De Kamer
Rotterdam van de Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (Zutphen, 1994), 93–105, withillustrations of all the portraits in the series.

2. Margarita Russell, Willem van de Velde de Jonge: Het IJ voor Amsterdam met de Gouden
Leeuw (Bloemendaal, 1992).
3. Johan Hendrik Willem Unger, De regeering van Rotterdam, 1328–1892: Naamlijst vanpersonen die in of van wege de regeering ambten hebben bekleed, voorafgegaan door eenegeschiedkundige inleiding over den regeeringsvorm van Rotterdam (Rotterdam, 1892), 536,
538–39. Unger’s Naamlijst shows that only a limited number of Rotterdam families can beconnected with this portrait. The directors of the Rotterdam Chamber of the VOC in thisperiod (1696–98) were Josua van Belle (a well-known art collector), Dirck de Raedt, JacobDane (who remained a bachelor), Willem van Hogendorp, and Marinus Groeninx. In thoseyears the representatives of the Admiralty on the Maze were Jean Beyer and Marinus
Groeninx.

Provenance(Sale, Frederick Muller, Amsterdam, 1 June 1926, no. 1073).
Private collection, The Netherlands [Noortman Master Paintings, Maastricht; Salomon Lilian
B. V., Amsterdam, 2004].
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2004.

Exhibition History
Norfolk, Va., Chrysler Museum of Art, on loan with the permanent collection, 2005 [lent by thepresent owner].
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, “Water, Wind, and Waves: Marine Paintings fromthe Dutch Golden Age,” 1 July – 25 November, 2018 [lent by the present owner].
© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age.
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre,” 14 February–18 May
2019 [lent by the present owner].

References
Ducos, Blaise. “The Dutch Miracle.” In Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age.
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre. Edited by Blaise Ducosand Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 34. Exh. cat. Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi. London, 2019.
[Exhibition catalogue also published in French and Arabic.]
Ducos, Blaise, and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, eds. Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch GoldenAge. Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre. Exh. cat. Abu
Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi. London, 2019, 56, no. 1. [Exhibition catalogue also published inFrench and Arabic.]

Technical Summary
The support, a fine, plain-weave, rectangular fabric, has been lined. All four tacking margins havebeen removed and paper tape extends into the face of the painting. Pronounced cusping along
the left edge and slight cusping along the remaining edges suggests the composition’sdimensions have not been significantly altered, however, the feigned oval is narrower along theupper left quadrant than along the upper right and the elements along the midpoint of the upperedge appear compressed, which suggests these edges may have been trimmed slightly. There is
one numerical inscription, but no wax seals, canvas stamps, paper labels, or stencils on thereverse.
A thin, smooth, light ground layer was applied overall. The feigned oval image was constructedwith layers of opaque paint followed by thin glazes and delicate dabs that create the illusion ofwhite lace along the cuffs and collar, gold trim along the blue robe, and the richly decorated sternof the three-mast sailing ship.
No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers. The
images reveal a compositional change along the rectangular stone basin in which the miniature
three-mast ship sails. Originally, the left edge of the basin was similar in width to the front andback edges and the left rear corner of the basin remained exposed. During the paint stage, thewidth of the left edge was increased by a third and the blue drapery was shifted so it cascades
diagonally over and obscures the left rear corner of the basin. In addition, a slight shift was madeto the figure’s proper left hand and adjacent drapery fold.
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Portrait of a Boy with a Miniature Three-Master
Page 6 of 6The painting is signed and dated in light-colored paint along the center of the lower edge.
The painting has not undergone conservation treatment since its acquisition in 2004 and remains
in a good state of preservation despite drying cracks and a few small areas of loss confined to ahorizontal band across the width of the lower edge.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection