Craeyvanger Children: Portrait of Jan
Craeyvanger (1641–after 1668)

oil on canvas

Gerard ter Borch the Younger(Zwolle 1617 – 1681 Deventer)GB-111.a56.5 x 41 cm
Currently on view at: Museum de Fundatie,
Zwolle© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Jan Craeyvanger (1641–after 1668)
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How To Cite
Van Suchtelen, Ariane. "Craeyvanger Children." In The Leiden Collection Catalogue. Edited by Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017.
https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/.
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© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Jan Craeyvanger (1641–after 1668)
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This entry is about the children of the Craeyvanger family. Click here toComparative Figures

read about their parents, Willem Craeyvanger (1615/1616–after 1666) andChristine van der Wart (1620–1666).
The portraits of the Craeyvanger family of Arnhem were practicallyunknown 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 forsuch a group to survive, but also because of their exceptionally highquality, particularly the likenesses 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 moreexperienced master, evident in the more subtle execution of the faces,
hands, and clothing, and the more convincing spatial rendering of theFig 1. Gerard ter Borch, Portraitof Charles de Liedekercke, His
Wife, Willemina van Braeckel,
and Their Son Samuel (1638–d.
before 1655), ca. 1654/55, oil on
panel, 45 x 39 cm, Frans Hals
Museum, Haarlem, inv. no.
OS1-28figures.
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-110e). Netscher’s barely visible signature, which wasapplied in light beige paint, was found not only on the portrait of theirmother, but also on the portraits of the three youngest children.[3] The
portrait of Gerrit, the youngest son, is the only one of the children’s
portraits that bears a date, 1658. No inscription is visible on the portrait ofPeter, the second youngest son, but there are remnants of a number or
letter, applied in the same light-colored paint as are Netscher’s otherinscriptions.[4] This portrait, too, can be assigned to Netscher on the basisof its execution, which is very close to that of the other Netschers.
Annotations with the names of the children portrayed and the dateFig 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)

1658—possibly applied in the eighteenth century—are still legible on theback of the eight unlined paintings. There is no other known example inseventeenth-century Dutch painting of such an extensive series of portraitsof the members of one family, in which the individual portraits of thechildren (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 agroup of pendants, with each pair of sitters inclined toward each other; in© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Jan Craeyvanger (1641–after 1668)
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the left-hand portraits the light falls from the upper left, and in the righthand portraits from the upper right. The unity of style that characterizes
these portraits makes clear that they originated in close collaboration
between Ter Borch and Netscher, who are known to have shared painting
materials.
The children are portrayed three-quarter length, standing in front of agrayish background on which they cast shadows. The dark oval borders
around the portraits, which were painted rapidly with broad brushstrokes,
function like trompe l’oeil frames that seem to cast a narrow band of
shadow along the edges of the ovals.[6] These borders were not originallycovered by the oval inlays of the lost frames, as evidenced by the lack ofminimal damage to the paint surface that one would then expect to find inthese areas, and by the fact that the craquelure covers the entire surfaceof the rectangular canvases evenly.[7]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)

The two oldest boys—Jan and Willem, 17 and 15 years old,
respectively—are nearly grown up.[8] Both of these self-assured youths areshown resting a hand on a hip below a light gray cape and demonstratively
holding a hat in the other hand. Their somewhat elongated faces aredelicately characterized. These unsigned portraits display the refined,
unerring style of painting and soft brushwork of Ter Borch, who—unlike
Netscher—did not usually sign his work. The meticulous rendering of theboys’ fashionable clothing was a specialism of Ter Borch and one that was
highly valued by his clientele.[9] The gray doublets are unbuttoned at thebottom, allowing their white shirts to blouse out and exposing theirtablierde 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 their fingernails, for example—is also characteristic

Fig 4. Gerard ter Borch, Portraitof Willem Everwijn (1613–1673),
1653, oil on panel, 28.2 x 22 cm,
Brantsen van de Zyp Stichting,Arnhemof 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 areconcerned, Jan and Willem are depicted in clothing almost identical to thatof 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, can© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Jan Craeyvanger (1641–after 1668)
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also 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 longFig 5. Gerard ter Borch, Portraitof Johanna Kelffken (ca.
1619–1701), 1653, signed atlower left: “GtB 1653”, oil on
panel, 28.2 x 22 cm, Brantsen vande Zyp Stichting, Arnhem

brushstrokes.
Netscher completed the series by painting the portraits of the younger
children—Peter, Gerrit, Lijsbeth, and Naleke—at the ages of eight, seven,
five, and three, respectively. Each child stands next to a table covered witha cloth. Although Netscher sought to connect these portraits to those of theolder children by faithfully following the style of his teacher, his execution isslightly 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 girlsof their tender age. 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 standrather stiffly and have little contact with one another. The difficulty
Netscher had in depicting the hands, which display almost no detail, andthe foreshortening of the arms also suggests a lack of experience.
Compared with Ter Borch, Netscher made greater use of dark contours in
the rendering of the clothing, as evidenced most clearly by the portrait ofPeter.
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 orleaving it completely open. The flesh color of the faces and hands wasapplied to a gray underlayer, which serves as the basic tone found, forinstance, in the shaded passages around the eyes. The general lack offine, finishing layers of glaze also indicates a direct and rapid working
method. The series of paintings was completed with apparent speed byboth masters in a well-oiled collaboration. Among the striking details are© 2017 The Leiden Collection

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the lace tassels on the collars of the youngest boys, Peter and Gerrit,which are painted exactly like those of their elder brothers: the pastosewhite paint was “pounded” onto the canvas with perpendicular movementsof the brush, thus creating a nearly relieflike structure in those places.
Such a detail reveals the extent to which Netscher observed Ter Borch atwork, imitating his teacher’s painting technique as much 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
from the fact that the children’s portraits were painted on canvases cut
from one large piece of primed linen: three paintings next to one anotherover the entire width of the roll.[11] The remarkable fact that all eight ofthese 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 ofprimed linen.[12] For this reconstruction, an examination was carried out of
the tacking edges (sometimes including the selvedge), of the irregularities
in the weave of the canvases, and of the presence in places of cusping(deformations caused by the stretching of the canvas at fixed positions). In
addition, manual thread counts were carried out on the backs of thepaintings.[13] The original piece of linen was, in fact, not quite wide enoughfor 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 thevertical seams in the portraits of Lijsbeth and Naleke. The reluctance to
use a new piece of canvas for the girls’ portraits seems rather stingy andsuggests that there was pressure to finish the commission on time.
The fact that all eight supports were prepared from the same piece ofprimed linen is further confirmation that Ter Borch and Netscher were
working in the same 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 stillworking under his teacher’s supervision, was possibly due to the lack of apainter’s guild in Deventer. As a result, rules relating to the signing of workby painters’ pupils were presumably less stringent than elsewhere.
It is difficult to say whether all the Craeyvanger children traveled from© 2017 The Leiden Collection

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Arnhem to Deventer to pose for Ter Borch and Netscher. Both painterswere no doubt used to painting portraits “from life”; the details of theclothing and hands, 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 studioestate, which has largely 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 hedeparted for France in 1659: 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 theportraits of the young girls Wilhelmina and Suzanna Everwijn, who also
lived in Arnhem (fig 2) (fig 3).[19] These portraits joined the likenesses thatTer Borch had painted in 1653 of their parents, Willem Craeyvanger’s
cousin Willem Everwijn and his wife, Johanna Kelffken (fig 4) and (fig5).[20] The ensemble of portraits of the Everwijn family was later dispersed.
The fact that Netscher painted portraits of the Everwijn children to go withthe parents’ portraits, completed several years earlier by Ter Borch,suggests that Ter Borch commonly called on his most talented pupil toassist 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 to which 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 ofpaintings, 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 original frames surrounding the portraits. If these were carved gilt
frames, as was often the case with Ter Borch’s portraits, they would
certainly have contributed 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
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called Willem, who inherited the family portraits.[23] All the sons attended
the Latin school in Arnhem, although probably not all of them completed
their studies. The eldest son, Jan, presumably died not long after 1668,
when he is recorded for the last time in connection with the winding up of
his father’s bankruptcy 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
in Duisburg. The following year he went to the Academy in Nijmegen,where he gained his doctorate in law in April 1663.[24] In 1670 in The
Hague, Willem married Maria van Ommen, with whom he had sevenchildren. In 1679, and later again between 1705 and 1712, Willem isrecorded as a clerk of Gelderland 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
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
killed in action in 1674, when Stadholder Willem III recaptured the fortified
town of Grave from the French. Lijsbeth married Arnold d’Everdinge vander 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 aProtestant family.[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 ofEngel, 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 thesepeople who lived so long ago. Fortunately, the present owner has
prevented the break-up—even now, 350 years after they were
portrayed—of this family from Arnhem.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Jan Craeyvanger (1641–after 1668)
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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 wereregistered 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 ofGerard ter Borch; he also attributed the portraits of the other children to Ter Borch. S. J.
Gudlaugsson, Gerard ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–1960), 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 children of the Craeyvanger family in the style of Ter Borch,
possibly by Gesina ter Borch, one of which was allegedly monogrammed “GTB”; this lastassertion is based on Schneider’s notes).
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 saleof 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 theBrantsen 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
the request 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 salecatalogue 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 S. J. Gudlaugsson, Gerard ter Borch, 2 vols. [The Hague,
1959–1960], nos. 203, 204; it can no longer be ascertained if these two portraits were
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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 (S. J.
Gudlaugsson, Gerard ter Borch, 2 vols. [The Hague, 1959–1960], 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, baptizedon 7 November 1647, must have died before the portraits were made) were baptized in theGrote 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. et al., Gerard ter Borch (exh. cat., Washington, National Galleryof Art; Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts) (Zwolle 2005), passim.
10. See S. J. Gudlaugsson, Gerard ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–1960), no. 101; Pieter
Biesboer and Neeltje Köhler, eds., Painting in Haarlem 1500–1850: The Collection of theFrans Hals Museum (Ghent, 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
the gray-brown ground layer, whereas the tacking edges that correspond to the outer edgesof the 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
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).
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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 theart 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. S. J. Gudlaugsson, Gerard ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–1960), 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. P. J. J. van Thiel and C. J. de Bruyn Kops,Prijst de lijst: De Hollandse schilderijlijst in dezeventiende 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, andAriane van Suchtelen and Menno Potjer, “De Arnhemse familie Craeyvanger: Eenbijzondere 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 most important sources of the information presented in this entry are to befound in the Gelders Archief, namely the Doop-, Trouw- en Overlijdensregisters (Registers of
Baptism, Marriages, and Deaths), the registers of members of the Reformed Church, thedocuments of the 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© 2017 The Leiden Collection

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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),
the accounts 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
and 30.
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), andMaria Alexandrina Kennedy (1793–1871), Utrecht; by descent to their son Willem
Craeyvanger (1820–1873) and Jacoba Theodra Steijn Parvé (born 1827), Deventer; bydescent to their eldest daughter, Louise Maria Craeyvanger (1854–1924), Naumburg a/d
Saale; by descent to her sister Jacoba Theodora Craeyvanger (1856–1938), Naumburg a/d
Saale; by descent to Maria Louise van Limburg Stirum-Luden (1886–1962), and SamuelJohn van Limburg Stirum (1879–1963), Olst; by descent to the family members (sale,
Christie’s, Amsterdam, 6 May 2009, no. 78, as by Gerard ter Borch II; no. 79, as by Paulus© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Jan Craeyvanger (1641–after 1668)
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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, Sakıp Sabancı 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, S. J. Gerard ter Borch. 2 vols. The Hague, 1959–1960, 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, Sakıp Sabancı 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 (2014): 7–24.
Noble, Petria. “From One Piece of Canvas: The Supports of Eight Craeyvanger Children’sPortraits.” Oud Holland 127 (2014): 25–30.
© 2017 The Leiden Collection

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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 andexplains why cusping is seen along some edges and ground is present on some tacking edges
and not others. The seam runs through the portraits of Naleke and Lijsbeth, and a radio-opaquelayer, 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 ground since no paint cross-sections were made.
The paint has been freely applied in a palette characterized by greenish-brown, gray, 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 aroundthe figures, 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, andNaleke—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 withscant remains of the other letters, at the center left in the portrait of Naleke. It is more than likelythat these 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 discernible at center right in a light beige paint.
With regard to the portraits of the four oldest children—Jan, Willem, Reijnder, and Engel—which
are considered to be by Gerard ter Borch, no signature or date could be discerned undermagnification or with infrared or false color infrared photography.
In general, the portraits ofJan,Willem,Reijnder,Engel, and possibly alsoPeterare painted using atypical seventeenth-century layering process. The use of a gray underpaint, a technical feature© 2017 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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commonly 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, thefigures of Gerrit and the two young girls appear rather awkward, with little or no attempt todifferentiate 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
in a 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.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection