© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Naleke Craeyvanger (1655–1676)
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Portrait of Naleke Craeyvanger(1655–1676)
Caspar Netscher(Prague or Heidelberg ca. 1639 – 1684 The
Hague)

ca. 1658
oil on canvas
56.5 x 41 cm
CN-110.d

How to cite
Van Suchtelen, Ariane. “Craeyvanger Children” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 2nd ed. Edited by
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/portrait-of-nalekecraeyvanger-1655-1676/ (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 narrative
occurs.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Naleke Craeyvanger (1655–1676)
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This entry is about the children of the Craeyvanger family. Click here to readComparative Figures

about their parents, Willem Craeyvanger (1615/1616–after 1666) andChristine van der Wart (1620–1666).
The portraits of the Craeyvanger family of Arnhem were practically unknown
when they appeared at a sale in Amsterdam in May 2009.[1] The 10 portraits
caused an immediate stir, not only because it is unusual for such a group to
survive, but also because of their exceptionally high quality, particularly thelikenesses of the four oldest children by Gerard ter Borch (1617–1681). The
series of eight children’s portraits were offered for sale in two separate lots,
the four oldest children as autograph works by Ter Borch, the four youngest
as by “Gerard ter Borch and studio.”[2] The portraits of the four oldest children
betray the hand of a more experienced master, evident in the more subtle
execution of the faces, hands, and clothing, and the more convincing spatial
rendering of the figures.

Fig 1. Gerard ter Borch, Portrait ofCharles de Liedekercke, His Wife,
Willemina van Braeckel, and Their
Son Samuel (1638–d. before1655), ca. 1654/55, oil on panel,
45 x 39 cm, Frans Hals Museum,
Haarlem, inv. no. OS1-28

After the sale, the portraits of the four youngest children were attributed
specifically to Ter Borch’s pupil Caspar Netscher (ca. 1639–1684), who had
also painted the portrait of their mother, Christine van der Wart, in ca.
1655–56 (see CN-110.e). Netscher’s barely visible signature, which wasapplied in light beige paint, was found not only on the portrait of their mother,
but also on the portraits of the three youngest children.[3] The portrait ofGerrit, the youngest son, is the only one of the children’s portraits that bears
a date, 1658. No inscription is visible on the portrait of Peter, the second
youngest son, but there are remnants of a number or letter, applied in thesame light-colored paint as are Netscher’s other inscriptions.[4] This portrait,
too, can be assigned to Netscher on the basis of its execution, which is very
close to that of the other Netschers. Annotations with the names of thechildren portrayed and the date 1658—possibly applied in the eighteenth
century—are still legible on the back of the eight unlined paintings. There is noFig 2. Attributed to Caspar
Netscher, Portrait of Wilhelmina
Everwijn (1649–1737), ca. 1658,
oil on copper, 28 x 23 cm, present
whereabouts unknown (art dealer
A. Brod, London 1958)

other known example in seventeenth-century Dutch painting of such an
extensive series of portraits of the members of one family, in which theindividual portraits of the children (here, eight) form an entity.[5]The children’s portraits were painted in the elegant, small-figure style ofportraiture that was Ter Borch’s trademark. They were conceived as a groupof pendants, with each pair of sitters inclined toward each other; in the lefthand portraits the light falls from the upper left, and in the right-hand portraits
from the upper right. The unity of style that characterizes these portraits
makes clear that they originated in close collaboration between Ter Borch© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Naleke Craeyvanger (1655–1676)
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and Netscher, who are known to have shared painting materials.
The children are portrayed three-quarter length, standing in front of a grayish
background on which they cast shadows. The dark oval borders around theportraits, which were painted rapidly with broad brushstrokes, function like
trompe l’oeil frames that seem to cast a narrow band of shadow along theedges of the ovals.[6] These borders were not originally covered by the oval
inlays of the lost frames, as evidenced by the lack of minimal damage to thepaint surface that one would then expect to find in these areas, and by thefact that the craquelure covers the entire surface of the rectangular canvases
evenly.[7]The two oldest boys—Jan and Willem, 17 and 15 years old, respectively—are
nearly grown up.[8] Both of these self-assured youths are shown resting ahand on a hip below a light gray cape and demonstratively holding a hat in
the

other

hand.

Their

somewhatelongated

faces

are

delicately

Fig 3. Attributed to Caspar
Netscher, Portrait of Suzanna
Everwijn (1654–1733), ca. 1658,
oil on copper, 28 x 22.5 cm,
present whereabouts unknown (D.
J. G. Duurman Collection, Arnhem,1971)

characterized. These unsigned portraits display the refined, unerring style ofpainting and soft brushwork of Ter Borch, who—unlike Netscher—did notusually sign his work. The meticulous rendering of the boys’ fashionableclothing was a specialism of Ter Borch and one that was highly valued by hisclientele.[9] The gray doublets are unbuttoned at the bottom, allowing their
white shirts to blouse out and exposing their tablier de galants, an apronlike
skirt of ribbon loops. Like the four younger brothers, they wear flat collars,
tied with tasseled band-strings. The use of subtle highlights—on theirfingernails, for example—is also characteristic of Ter Borch. Such details lend
his figures an almost palpable realism.
The portraits of Jan and Willem Craeyvanger are closely related to thelikeness of the Haarlem youth Samuel de Liedekercke, whom Ter Borch
portrayed around 1654/1655 at approximately the age of 16, together withhis parents (fig 1).[10] As far as attire, pose, and characterization are

Fig 4. Gerard ter Borch, Portrait ofWillem Everwijn (1613–1673),
1653, oil on panel, 28.2 x 22 cm,
Brantsen van de Zyp Stichting,Arnhemconcerned, Jan and Willem are depicted in clothing almost identical to that of
Samuel. They are also depicted three-quarter-length, with each holding a hat
in one hand. The next two Craeyvanger brothers, whose portraits are
executed in the same unerring technique and with similar refinement, canalso be attributed to Ter Borch. Reijnder and Engel, 13 and 11 years old,wear the same clothes as their elder brothers, but made of darker fabric.
They each hold a pair of leather gloves (Engel’s have a red lining), which
Ter Borch suggested with masterly efficiency with only a few longbrushstrokes.
Netscher completed the series by painting the portraits of the younger© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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children—Peter, Gerrit, Lijsbeth, and Naleke—at the ages of eight, seven, five,and three, respectively. Each child stands next to a table covered with acloth. Although Netscher sought to connect these portraits to those of theolder children by faithfully following the style of his teacher, his execution isFig 5. Gerard ter Borch, Portrait ofJohanna Kelffken (ca.
1619–1701), 1653, signed at lower
left: “GtB 1653”, oil on panel, 28.2
x 22 cm, Brantsen van de ZypStichting, Arnhem

slightly less subtle and the interaction between the pairs less convincing.
Peter rests his hand on his hat, which lies on the table. Gerrit, the youngestof the brothers and still wearing a skirt, points to a birdcage. The girls’
portraits feature flowers—Lijsbeth’s are on the table, Naleke’s in her
apron—perhaps as symbols of youth and growth. They both wear remarkably
large pearl pendants, which seem very heavy indeed for girls of their tenderage. Although their faces are well captured, the four children painted by
Netscher look somehow doll-like, as though standing less firmly on their feet.
The four oldest boys, who are depicted without tables, form stronger, more
coherent pairs owing to their complementary poses, gestures, and attributes;
by contrast, the four youngest children stand rather stiffly and have little
contact with one another. The difficulty Netscher had in depicting the hands,
which display almost no detail, and the foreshortening of the arms alsosuggests a lack of experience. Compared with Ter Borch, Netscher madegreater use of dark contours in the rendering of the clothing, as evidenced
most clearly by the portrait of Peter.
Characteristic of the entire series of children’s portraits is the swift andstreamlined efficiency with which they were executed in a similar technique.
The paint was applied thinly with rapid brushstrokes over a cursory
underpainting, letting the underlayer shimmer through in places or leaving itcompletely open. The flesh color of the faces and hands was applied to agray underlayer, which serves as the basic tone found, for instance, in theshaded passages around the eyes. The general lack of fine, finishing layersof glaze also indicates a direct and rapid working method. The series ofpaintings was completed with apparent speed by both masters in a well-oiled
collaboration. Among the striking details are the lace tassels on the collars of
the youngest boys, Peter and Gerrit, which are painted exactly like those of
their elder brothers: the pastose white paint was “pounded” onto the canvas
with perpendicular movements of the brush, thus creating a nearly relieflike
structure in those places. Such a detail reveals the extent to which Netscher
observed Ter Borch at work, imitating his teacher’s painting technique asmuch as he could, while sharing his studio.
Unity of style and technique was naturally an important requirement. Ter
Borch and Netscher no doubt carried out this commission for the
Craeyvanger family side by side, sharing their materials. This is apparent© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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from the fact that the children’s portraits were painted on canvases cut fromone large piece of primed linen: three paintings next to one another over theentire width of the roll.[11] The remarkable fact that all eight of these unlined
paintings have retained their original dimensions and that their tacking edges
have been preserved has enabled a precise reconstruction of the original
position of each painting in the large piece of primed linen.[12] For thisreconstruction, an examination was carried out of the tacking edges(sometimes including the selvedge), of the irregularities in the weave of thecanvases, and of the presence in places of cusping (deformations caused by
the stretching of the canvas at fixed positions). In addition, manual threadcounts were carried out on the backs of the paintings.[13] The original piece oflinen was, in fact, not quite wide enough for all eight paintings, so an extra
strip (of finer linen) measuring about 20 cm wide had to be sewn on to it.[14]This added piece is evident in the vertical seams in the portraits of Lijsbeth
and Naleke. The reluctance to use a new piece of canvas for the girls’
portraits seems rather stingy and suggests that there was pressure to finish
the commission on time.
The fact that all eight supports were prepared from the same piece of primed
linen is further confirmation that Ter Borch and Netscher were working in thesame studio. It is likely that Netscher had not yet set up as an independent
painter before leaving for France in 1659. That Netscher was allowed to sign
his work in these years, even though he was still working under his teacher’s
supervision, was possibly due to the lack of a painter’s guild in Deventer. As
a result, rules relating to the signing of work by painters’ pupils were
presumably less stringent than elsewhere.
It is difficult to say whether all the Craeyvanger children traveled from
Arnhem to Deventer to pose for Ter Borch and Netscher. Both painters were
no doubt used to painting portraits “from life”; the details of the clothing andhands, for example, could be worked out without the model present.
Nevertheless, it is also possible that in painting these portraits they relied on
sketches (which have not survived); Ter Borch frequently used drawn studies
and sketches to compose his paintings, as emerges from the drawings
preserved in the Ter Borch family’s extensive studio estate, which haslargely remained intact.[15] He undoubtedly taught his pupils drawing skills
too.[16]
The discovery of the series of portraits of the Craeyvanger family has added
no fewer than five paintings to the early oeuvre of Caspar Netscher.[17] Some
20 works by his hand are now known before he departed for France in 1659:© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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not only portraits but also genre pieces after compositions by Ter Borch.[18] It
is likely that in the same year in which Netscher portrayed the youngest
Craeyvanger children he also painted the portraits of the young girls
Wilhelmina and Suzanna Everwijn, who also lived in Arnhem (fig 2) (fig 3).
[19]

These portraits joined the likenesses that Ter Borch had painted in 1653

of their parents, Willem Craeyvanger’s cousin Willem Everwijn and his wife,
Johanna Kelffken (fig 4) and (fig 5).[20] The ensemble of portraits of theEverwijn family was later dispersed. The fact that Netscher painted portraitsof the Everwijn children to go with the parents’ portraits, completed several
years earlier by Ter Borch, suggests that Ter Borch commonly called on his
most talented pupil to assist him in carrying out portrait commissions. Finally,
three small signed portraits, which Netscher painted in 1656—also
presumably for Arnhem patrons—likewise give an impression of the extent towhich he had succeeded in these years in mastering his teacher’s style.[21]The rapid completion in 1658 of the portraits of the Craeyvanger children put
their parents in the possession of an exceptional ensemble of paintings,
which no doubt impressed visitors to their house on Arnhem’s Grote Oord.
The overall effect of the series must have been enhanced by the originalframes surrounding the portraits. If these were carved gilt frames, as wasoften the case with Ter Borch’s portraits, they would certainly havecontributed to the sumptuous impact of the whole.[22]Archival documents provide information about the lives of the sons anddaughters of Willem Craeyvanger, particularly about the second son, also
called Willem, who inherited the family portraits.[23] All the sons attended theLatin school in Arnhem, although probably not all of them completed theirstudies. The eldest son, Jan, presumably died not long after 1668, when heis recorded for the last time in connection with the winding up of his father’sbankruptcy proceedings. Willem must have finished his studies at the Latin
school, because in 1661 he enrolled as a student of medicine at the
University of Leiden—the only one of the boys to attend university. He left
Leiden after only two months, however, and continued his studies inDuisburg. The following year he went to the Academy in Nijmegen, where hegained his doctorate in law in April 1663.[24] In 1670 in The Hague, Willem
married Maria van Ommen, with whom he had seven children. In 1679, andlater again between 1705 and 1712, Willem is recorded as a clerk ofGelderland at the States General in The Hague.[25]The legal proceedings between lawyers and creditors, instigated in 1666
because of the bankruptcy of Craeyvanger père, reveals that Reijnder had© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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worked for several years as his father’s bookkeeper. A cloth merchant,
Reijnder had evidently followed in his father’s footsteps, as emerges fromthe small payments he received until 1669 from the parish for deliveries ofcloth. He was last recorded in 1675, as far as is known. The fourth son,Engel, served as a standard-bearer in Nijmegen in 1671. In the same year
he married Justina van Oorschot in Loosduinen, after which he left for
Cheribon on Java. Peter and Gerrit both died as young men. Gerrit was killedin action in 1674, when Stadholder Willem III recaptured the fortified town ofGrave from the French. Lijsbeth married Arnold d’Everdinge van der
Nijpoort, a lawyer from Utrecht, in Arnhem in August 1673. Naleke died at
the age of 21; an old label on the back of her portrait says that she had been
“put in a convent,” which is surprising for the descendant of a Protestantfamily.[26] It is possible that after the death of her mother, Naleke, then only
11 years old, was taken into the home of a Catholic aunt and uncle. One
branch of the Craeyvanger family—the descendants of Engel, Willem’s
uncle—had probably remained Catholic.
If their extraordinary portraits had not survived the ravages of time, no one
would have been interested in the rather unremarkable lives of these people
who lived so long ago. Fortunately, the present owner has prevented thebreak-up—even now, 350 years after they were portrayed—of this family from
Arnhem.

- Ariane van Suchtelen, 2017

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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Endnotes

1. The portraits of the Craeyvanger children are not lined. The portraits of the boys were neverlined, but the portraits of the girls were lined at some point, though their linings were removed
during the restoration carried out by Patrick Corbett at the request of Johnny van Haeften,
who acquired the pictures at the sale of 6 May 2009. In 1939 the portraits were registered by
Dr. Hans Schneider for the Iconographic Bureau, The Hague (IB nos. 39677 [Jan], 39678[Willem], 39675 [Reijnder], 39676 [Engel], 39680 [Peter], 39674 [Gerrit], 39679 [Lijsbeth], and
39681 [Naleke]). Schneider incorrectly interpreted the poorly legible inscription “C. Netscher /1658” on the Portrait of Gerrit Craeyvanger as the monogram of Gerard ter Borch; he also
attributed the portraits of the other children to Ter Borch. Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter
Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), 2: 113 (as children’s portraits by a pupil of Ter Borch,
possibly Pieter van Anraadt), 2: 289 (under “Pieter van Anraadt,” as five portraits of childrenof the Craeyvanger family in the style of Ter Borch, possibly by Gesina ter Borch, one ofwhich was allegedly monogrammed “GTB”; this last assertion is based on Schneider’snotes).
2. See sale catalogue Christie’s, Amsterdam, 6 May 2009, nos. 78 and 80.
3. Netscher’s barely legible inscriptions were discovered during the restoration carried out by
Patrick Corbett at the request of Johnny van Haeften, who acquired the pictures at the sale of
6 May 2009.
4. With thanks to Petria Noble, Mauritshuis, The Hague.
5. A precedent had been created by the (no longer extant) portraits commissioned in 1615 byWillem’s uncle and aunt, Reinier Everwijn and Naleke Craeyvanger, of themselves and theirthree children (Everard, Reinier, and Lucretia). These portraits are recorded (without
attribution) in an inventory drawn up in 1803 by Johan Brantsen (1768–1826) of the Brantsen
collection, comprising some 120 portraits of, among others, the Everwijn, Kelffken, Brantsen,
and Tulleken families (Gelders Archief, Archief Brantsen, access 0452, inv. 9, Lijst van
Familie Pourtraiten, 1803, nos. 46–50. Nos. 55 and 56 on the list are copies painted on
copper of the portraits of Reinier Everwijn and Naleke Craeyvanger).
6. These borders are much less visible since the restoration carried out by Patrick Corbett at therequest of Johnny van Haeften, who acquired the pictures at the sale of 6 May 2009. They
can be seen more clearly in the photographs taken before the restoration (see sale catalogue
Christie’s, Amsterdam, 6 May 2009, nos. 78 and 80).
7. Ter Borch frequently painted portraits on oval supports of copper or wood, portraying his
sitters bust-length or three-quarter-length. There are only two oval portraits on canvas(Gemäldegalerie, Berlin; see Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. [The Hague,© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Naleke Craeyvanger (1655–1676)
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1959–60], nos. 203, 204; it can no longer be ascertained if these two portraits were originally
rectangular or oval in format [with thanks to Beatrix Graf, Berlin]). At least four portraits by Ter
Borch on rectangular copper supports are painted within oval borders (Sturla J. Gudlaugsson,
Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. [The Hague, 1959–60], nos. 5, 38, 150, and 151); the light color of
the borders suggests that they should be covered by inlays of the frames.
8. In 1658 the boys could also have been 16 and 14. For the sake of simplicity, this text sticks to
one set of ages. The Craeyvangers’ nine children (a daughter named Lijsbeth, baptized on 7
November 1647, must have died before the portraits were made) were baptized in the Grote
Kerk of Arnhem (Gelders Archief, Registers of Baptism, Marriages and Deaths: RBS
numbers): Jan was baptized on 7 September 1641 (RBS 105, fol. 108); Willem on 31 October
1643 (RBS 105, fol. 208); Reijnder on 24 July 1645 (RBS 105, fol. 282); Lijsbeth on 7
November 1647 (RBS 106, fol. 106); Engel on 16 May 1649 (RBS 106, fol. 176); Peter on 31
July 1650 (RBS 106, fol. 221); Gerrit on 4 December 1651 (RBS 106, fol. 273); Lijsbeth on 20
January 1653 (RBS 107, fol. 3); and Naleke on 4 April 1655 (RBS 107, fol. 71).
9. See Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., ed. Gerard ter Borch (Exh. cat. Washington, D.C., National
Gallery of Art; Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) (Zwolle, 2004),
passim.
10. See Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), no. 101; Pieter
Biesboer and Neeltje Köhler, eds., Painting in Haarlem 1500–1850: The Collection of theFrans Hals Museum (Ghent/Haarlem 2006), 402–403, no. 50.
11. See Petria Noble, “From One Piece of Canvas: The Supports of the Eight Craeyvanger
Children’s Portraits,” Oud Holland 127 (2014): 25–30, which is the source of the technicaldetails given.
12. Thus the tacking edges of the portraits that were cut from the middle of the roll still display thegray-brown ground layer, whereas the tacking edges that correspond to the outer edges ofthe large piece of linen are unprimed.
13. The primary cusping, which extends some 12–15 cm into the paintings, was caused bystretching the large piece of linen to apply the ground; the secondary, shallow cusping wascaused by mounting the portraits on their individual strainers. This reconstruction could be
confirmed by thread counts and by tracing the irregularities in the linen.
14. This extra strip increased the width of the canvas to approximately 140 cm (2 ells).
15. Alison McNeil Kettering, Drawings from the Ter Borch Studio Estate, 2 vols. (The Hague,1989). For several drawn portrait studies from the late 1640s, which were possibly madepreparatory to painted portraits, see Alison McNeil Kettering, Drawings from the Ter Borch
Studio Estate, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1989), 1: nos. GJr72–77.
16. On Netscher as a draughtsman, see Marjorie E. Wieseman, “Paper Trails: Drawings in theWork of Caspar Netscher and His Studio,” Collected Opinions (2004): 248–61. No drawings© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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by Netscher were found in Ter Borch’s studio estate (cf. Alison McNeil Kettering, Drawings
from the Ter Borch Studio Estate, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1989).
17. See Marjorie E. Wieseman, “The Craeyvanger Portraits in Context–Shedding Light on
Caspar Netscher’s Early Career,” Oud Holland 127 (2014): 31–47.
18. Marjorie E. Wieseman, Caspar Netscher and Late Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting(Doornspijk, 2002), nos. 1–9, 11, B1–B4 (see also Marjorie E. Wieseman, “The Craeyvanger
Portraits in Context–Shedding Light on Caspar Netscher’s Early Career,” Oud Holland 127[2014]: 31–47.
19. Inventory drawn up in 1803 by Johan Brantsen (1768–1826) of the Brantsen collection(Gelders Archief, Archief Brantsen, access 0452, inv. 9, Lijst van Familie Pourtraiten, 1803),
nos. 61 and 62. The Portrait of Wilhelmina Everwijn was to be found in 1958/1959 with the art
dealer A. Brod, London (see Connoisseur 143 [February 1959]); the Portrait of Suzanna
Everwijn was in the D. J. G. Duurman Collection, Arnhem, in 1971 (Marjorie E. Wieseman,Caspar Netscher and Late Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting [Doornspijk, 2002], no. C
136). It cannot be determined from the reproductions if these were copies or original paintings
by Netscher. The dating is based on, among other things, the inscription “Aet su […] 4” on the
portrait of Suzanna Everwijn, who was born in 1654.
20. Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), nos. 103 and 104;inventory drawn up in 1803 by Johan Brantsen (1768–1826) of the Brantsen Collection(Gelders Archief, Archief Brantsen, access 0452, inv. 9, Lijst van Familie Pourtraiten, 1803),
nos. 59 and 60. These portraits are now the property of the Brantsen van de Zyp Stichting,Arnhem.
21. See Marjorie E. Wieseman, “The Craeyvanger Portraits in Context–Shedding Light on
Caspar Netscher’s Early Career,” Oud Holland 127 (2014): 34–36, nos. 3–5.
22. Cf. Pieter J. J. van Thiel and C. J. de Bruyn Kops, Prijst de lijst: De Hollandse schilderijlijst inde zeventiende eeuw (Amsterdam and The Hague, 1984), no. 70; Alison McNeil Kettering,“Gerard ter Borch’s Portraits for the Deventer Elite,” Simiolus 27, nos. 1–2 (1999): 63–64.
23. The archival information on the Craeyvanger children that is given below was taken from
Menno Potjer, “Het geheim van Wilhelm Craeyvanger: De loopbaan van een Arnhemse
regent in de zeventiende eeuw,” Arnhems Historisch Tijdschrift 2 (2012): 137–60, and Ariane
van Suchtelen and Menno Potjer, “De Arnhemse familie Craeyvanger: Een bijzondere groep
portretten door Paulus Lesire, Gerard ter Borch en Caspar Netscher,” Oud Holland 127(2014): 7–24. For the history of the Craeyvanger family, see Ariane van Suchtelen and Menno
Potjer, “De Arnhemse familie Craeyvanger: Een bijzondere groep portretten door Paulus
Lesire, Gerard ter Borch en Caspar Netscher,” Oud Holland 127 (2014): 7–24. The mostimportant sources of the information presented in this entry are to be found in the Gelders
Archief, namely the Doop-, Trouw- en Overlijdensregisters (Registers of Baptism, Marriages,
and Deaths), the registers of members of the Reformed Church, the documents of the© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Naleke Craeyvanger (1655–1676)
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Arnhem church council and of the provincial synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in
Gelderland (Guelders), the raadsignaten (formal records of the decisions taken by the local
council), the records of decisions taken by the magistrates and their summaries in the
protocols of conveyances and mortgages, the court records (Low Court and High Court), theaccounts of the town treasurers, the ledger of the decisions taken by the deacons andaccounts of the parish, idem of the Brotherhood of St. Nicholas, idem of the guilds, idem of
the Orphanage, the armorials of the St. Joost civic guard and the Brotherhood of St. Luke, allin Arnhem, and the records of sentences issued by the courts of private law (contract law)and civil law (conflicts between private persons) of the Overbetuwe (Gelders Archief). On
Arnhem in the seventeenth century, see, among others, Menno Potjer and R. R. A. van
Gruting, De Velperweg in kaart gebracht, 1600–1795: Eigenaren en eigenaardigheden(Utrecht, 2008), and Jeroen Benders and F. Keverling Buisman, Arnhem tot 1700 (Utrecht,2008).
24. Menno Potjer, “Het geheim van Wilhelm Craeyvanger: De loopbaan van een Arnhemse
regent in de zeventiende eeuw,” Arnhems Historisch Tijdschrift 2 (2012): 158 n. 28.
25. Menno Potjer, “Het geheim van Wilhelm Craeyvanger: De loopbaan van een Arnhemse
regent in de zeventiende eeuw,” Arnhems Historisch Tijdschrift 2 (2012): 146, 158 nn. 29 and30.
26. Also recorded in Johan Brantsen’s genealogical notes dated 1803 (Gelders Archief, Archief
Brantsen, inv. 8), adopted by Jacobus Anspach, DeVeluwsche familie Tulleken en hare
aanverwanten: Een genealogische-historische proeve (The Hague, 1881), 110–13.

Provenance
Willem Craeyvanger (1615/1616–after 1666) and Christine van der Wart (1620–1666),
Arnhem; by descent to their second son, Willem Craeyvanger (1643–after 1712) and Mariavan Ommen; by descent to their second son, Gijsbert Craeyvanger (born ca. 1700), andGeertruida Margaretha Bongers (born ca. 1705); by descent to their second son, Gijsbert
Craeyvanger (born ca. 1730), and Geertruida Klingen (1737–1817), Utrecht; by descent totheir third son, Willem Craeyvanger (born ca. 1762), and Sophia Florentina Hovij(1751–1830); by descent to their second son, Lodewijk Craeyvanger (1788–1859), and Maria
Alexandrina Kennedy (1793–1871), Utrecht; by descent to their son Willem Craeyvanger(1820–1873) and Jacoba Theodra Steijn Parvé (born 1827), Deventer; by descent to theireldest daughter, Louise Maria Craeyvanger (1854–1924), Naumburg a/d Saale; by descent toher sister Jacoba Theodora Craeyvanger (1856–1938), Naumburg a/d Saale; by descent toMaria Louise van Limburg Stirum-Luden (1886–1962), and Samuel John van Limburg Stirum(1879–1963), Olst; by descent to the family members (sale, Christie’s, Amsterdam, 6 May© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Naleke Craeyvanger (1655–1676)
Page 13 of 152009, no. 78, as by Gerard ter Borch II; no. 79, as by Paulus Lesire; and no. 80, as by Gerard
ter Borch II and studio [Johnny van Haeften, Ltd., London, 2009]).
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2009.

Exhibition History
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, December 2009–January 2010, on loan with the permanentcollection [lent by the present owner].
The Hague, Mauritshuis, 10 February 2010–16 January 2011, on loan with the permanentcollection [lent by the present owner].
Nijmegen, Museum het Valkhof, March–December 2011, on loan with the permanentcollection [lent by the present owner].
Istanbul, Sak?p Sabanc? Museum, “Rembrandt and His Contemporaries: The Golden Age ofDutch Art,” 21 February–10 June 2012, nos. 9–18 [lent by the present owner].
Aachen, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, October 2012–February 2013 [lent by the present
owner].
Maastricht, Bonnefantenmuseum, February–August 2013 [lent by the present owner].
Zwolle, Museum de Fundatie, on loan with the permanent exhibition, September 2013– [lentby the present owner].

References
Gudlaugsson, Sturla J. Geraert ter Borch. 2 vols. The Hague, 1959–60, 2:113 (under no.
103), 146 (under no. 135), 289 (under Pieter van Anraadt).
Van Suchtelen, Ariane. “De hele familie Craeyvanger / The Craeyvanger Family All
Together.” Mauritshuis in Focus 23 (2010): 22–28.
Wuestman, Gerdien, ed. Rembrandt and His Contemporaries: The Golden Age of Dutch Art.
Exh. cat. Istanbul, Sak?p Sabanc? Museum. Istanbul, 2012, 48–51, nos. 9–18.
Van Suchtelen, Ariane, and Menno Potjer. “De Arnhemse familie Craeyvanger: eenbijzondere groep portretten door Paulus Lesire, Gerard ter Borch en Caspar Netscher.” Oud
Holland 127, no. 1 (2014): 7–24.
Noble, Petria. “From One Piece of Canvas: the supports of the eight Craeyvanger children’s
portraits.” Oud Holland 127, no. 1 (2014): 25–30.
Wieseman, Marjorie E. “The Craeyvanger Portraits in Context: shedding light on Caspar© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Naleke Craeyvanger (1655–1676)
Page 14 of 15

Netscher’s early career.” Oud Holland 127, no. 1 (2014): 31–47.

Technical Summary
The supports of all eight portraits were cut from a composite fabric comprising a large piece ofprimed, plain-weave linen, presumably flax, with a narrow strip of fine linen added with a simple
overcast stitch selvedge to selvedge.
All eight portraits retain their original formats and original tacking margins and are unlined.
Comparison of thread density, weave structure, and cusping allows us to reconstruct how theindividual paintings were positioned on the canvas support in relation to one another and explains
why cusping is seen along some edges and ground is present on some tacking edges and notothers. The seam runs through the portraits of Naleke and Lijsbeth and a radio-opaque layer,
possibly lead white, was applied along the seam.
An identical opaque brownish-gray oil ground has been applied to all eight portraits with a broad
brush and remains exposed along the painting margins, on many of the tacking edges, and inplaces where the paint has been loosely applied. It has not been determined whether this is adouble groundsince no paint cross-sections were made.
The paint has been freely applied in a palette characterized by greenish-brown, grays, and ocher
tones with bright white accents. The oval surrounds were painted first and the figures were thensketched, probably with the same fluid brown-black paint used for the ovals. The figures werethen worked up with underpaint, much lighter and cooler in tone than the rather dark brown-grayground, followed by thinner layers of paint. The background was vigorously brushed in around thefigures, after which the contours of the ovals were adjusted and finishing touches applied.
Minor adjustments were made late in the paint stage, such as in the portrait of Lijsbeth where her
thumb was painted on top of her apron, or as in the portraits of Engel and Peter, where the left
contours of their costumes were reduced by the application of extra background paint.
The portraits of the three youngest children—Gerrit, Lijsbeth, and Naleke—bear authentic
signatures of Netscher testifying to his participation in their production. The finely painted
signatures, applied in a faint, light beige paint, can be made out only with difficulty. The signature
is best preserved in the portrait of Gerrit, which also bears the date of 1658. On the portrait of
Lijsbeth, “C…etscher f” can be discerned in the center right background, and a C along with scantremains of the other letters, at the center left in the portrait of Naleke. It is more than likely thatthese portraits, like the portrait of Gerrit, once bore the date as well. In the portrait of Peter, either
a letter or a digit—possibly a G or 6—is discernable at center right in a light beige paint.
With regard to the portraits of the four oldest children—Jan, Willem, Reijnder, and Engel—which areconsidered to be by Gerard ter Borch, no signature or date could be discerned under© 2020 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Portrait of Naleke Craeyvanger (1655–1676)
Page 15 of 15

magnification or with infrared or false color infrared photography.
In general, the portraits of Jan, Willem, Reijnder, Engel, and possibly also Peter are painted usinga typical seventeenth-century layering process. The use of a gray underpaint, a technical featurecommonly employed by many artists, including Ter Borch and Netscher, is evident in the faces
and figures of these portraits. The portraits of the four older children are painted with a deft touchand convincing attention to the details of their physiognomy and costumes. In contrast, the figuresof Gerrit and the two young girls appear rather awkward, with little or no attempt to differentiate
the texture and materials of their costumes.
On the portraits of Lijsbeth (CN-110.c) and Naleke (CN-110.d) the wax-resin linings were
removed in London shortly after acquisition. The remaining six portraits of the Craeyvanger
children have not undergone conservation treatment since acquisition. All eight portraits remain ina good state of preservation.[1]Technical Summary Endnotes

1. Entry based on 2012 technical examination report by Petria Noble, head of conservation,
Mauritshuis, The Hague, and Oleg Karuvits during his internship as part of the Conservation
and Restoration program at the University of Amsterdam, 2009–10.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection