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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, 3rd ed. Edited by Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr. and Lara Yeager-Crasselt. New York, 2020–23. https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/ (archived
December 2023).
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.

This entry is about the children of the Craeyvanger family. Click here to read about

Comparative Figures

their parents, Willem Craeyvanger (1615/1616–after 1666) and Christine van derWart (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 the likenesses of the fouroldest 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 andstudio.”[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, andclothing, and the more convincing spatial rendering of the figures.
After the sale, the portraits of the four youngest children were attributed specificallyFig 1. Gerard ter Borch, Portrait ofCharles 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.
OS1-28to Ter Borch’s pupil Caspar Netscher (ca. 1639–1684), who had also painted theportrait of their mother, Christine van der Wart, in ca. 1655–56 (see CN-110.e).
Netscher’s barely visible signature, which was applied in light beige paint, was found© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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not only on the portrait of their mother, 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 of Peter, thesecond youngest son, but there are remnants of a number or letter, applied in the samelight-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 theother Netschers. Annotations with the names of the children portrayed and the date
1658—possibly applied in the eighteenth century—are still legible on the back of theeight unlined paintings. There is no other known example in seventeenth-century
Dutch painting of such an extensive series of portraits of the members of one family,
in which the individual portraits of the children (here, eight) form an entity.[5]The children’s portraits were painted in the elegant, small-figure style of portraiturethat was Ter Borch’s trademark. They were conceived as a group of pendants, witheach pair of sitters inclined toward each other; in the left-hand portraits the light falls

Fig 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)

from the upper left, and in the right-hand portraits from the upper right. The unity ofstyle 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 a grayish
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 originally covered by the oval inlays of the lost frames, asevidenced by the lack of minimal damage to the paint surface that one would then
expect to find in these areas, and by the fact 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 nearlygrown up.[8] Both of these self-assured youths are shown resting a hand on a hip

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)

below a light gray cape and demonstratively holding a hat in the other hand. Theirsomewhat elongated faces are delicately 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
the boys’ fashionable clothing was a specialism of Ter Borch and one that was highly
valued by his clientele.[9] The gray doublets are unbuttoned at the bottom, allowing
their white shirts to blouse out and exposing their tablier de galants, an apronlike skirtof ribbon loops. Like the four younger brothers, they wear flat collars, tied withtasseled band-strings. The use of subtle highlights—on their fingernails, forexample—is also characteristic of Ter Borch. Such details lend his figures an almost© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Naleke Craeyvanger (1655–1676)
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palpable realism.
The portraits of Jan and Willem Craeyvanger are closely related to the likeness of the
Haarlem youth Samuel de Liedekercke, whom Ter Borch portrayed aroundFig 4. Gerard ter Borch, Portrait ofWillem Everwijn (1613–1673), 1653,
oil on panel, 28.2 x 22 cm, Brantsen
van de Zyp Stichting, Arnhem

1654/1655 at approximately the age of 16, together with his parents (fig 1).[10] As far
as attire, pose, and characterization are concerned, Jan and Willem are depicted inclothing almost identical to that of Samuel. They are also depicted three-quarterlength, with each holding a hat in one hand. The next two Craeyvanger brothers,
whose portraits are executed in the same unerring technique and with similarrefinement, can 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 long 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, andthree, respectively. Each child stands next to a table covered with a cloth. Although
Netscher sought to connect these portraits to those of the older children by faithfully
following the style of his teacher, his execution is slightly less subtle and theFig 5. Gerard ter Borch, Portrait ofJohanna Kelffken (ca. 1619–1701),
1653, signed at lower left: “GtB1653”, oil on panel, 28.2 x 22 cm,
Brantsen van de Zyp Stichting,Arnheminteraction between the pairs less convincing. Peter rests his hand on his hat, whichlies on the table. Gerrit, the youngest of the brothers and still wearing a skirt, points toa 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 tender age.
Although their faces are well captured, the four children painted by Netscher looksomehow 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 theircomplementary 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 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 mostclearly by the portrait of Peter.
Characteristic of the entire series of children’s portraits is the swift and streamlined
efficiency with which they were executed in a similar technique. The paint wasapplied thinly with rapid brushstrokes over a cursory underpainting, letting theunderlayer shimmer through in places or leaving it completely open. The flesh colorof the faces and hands was applied to a gray underlayer, which serves as the basic
tone found, for instance, in the shaded passages around the eyes. The general lack offine, finishing layers of glaze also indicates a direct and rapid working method. The© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Naleke Craeyvanger (1655–1676)
Page 5 of 14series of paintings 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 theyoungest 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 as much as he could, while sharing his
studio.
Unity of style and technique was naturally an important requirement. Ter Borch andNetscher no doubt carried out this commission for the Craeyvanger family side byside, 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 another over the entire width of the roll.[11] The remarkable fact that alleight of these unlined paintings have retained their original dimensions and that theirtacking 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 this reconstruction,
an examination was carried out of the tacking edges (sometimes including theselvedge), of the irregularities in the weave of the canvases, and of the presence inplaces 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 enough for all
eight paintings, so an extra strip (of finer linen) measuring about 20 cm wide had tobe sewn on to it.[14] This added piece is evident in the vertical seams in the portraits ofLijsbeth 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 thecommission on time.
The fact that all eight supports were prepared from the same piece of primed linen isfurther 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 forFrance in 1659. That Netscher was allowed to sign his work in these years, eventhough he was still working under his teacher’s supervision, was possibly due to thelack of a painter’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 Arnhem toDeventer to pose for Ter Borch and Netscher. Both painters were no doubt used topainting portraits “from life”; the details of the clothing and hands, for example,
could be worked out without the model present. Nevertheless, it is also possible thatin painting these portraits they relied on sketches (which have not survived); Ter© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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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 he departed 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 that Ter Borch had
painted in 1653 of their parents, Willem Craeyvanger’s cousin Willem Everwijn andhis wife, Johanna Kelffken (fig 4) and (fig 5).[20] The ensemble of portraits of theEverwijn family was later dispersed. The fact that Netscher painted portraits of theEverwijn 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 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 inmastering his teacher’s style.[21]The rapid completion in 1658 of the portraits of the Craeyvanger children put theirparents 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 theseries 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, theywould certainly have contributed to the sumptuous impact of the whole.[22]Archival documents provide information about the lives of the sons and daughters ofWillem Craeyvanger, particularly about the second son, also 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 inconnection with the winding up of his father’s bankruptcy proceedings. Willem musthave finished his studies at the Latin school, because in 1661 he enrolled as a studentof 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 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, and later again© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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between 1705 and 1712, Willem is recorded 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 followedin his father’s footsteps, as emerges from the small payments he received until 1669
from the parish for deliveries of cloth. 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 inaction in 1674, when Stadholder Willem III recaptured the fortified town of Gravefrom 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 labelon the back of her portrait says that she had been “put in a convent,” which issurprising for the descendant of a Protestant family.[26] It is possible that after thedeath 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 these people who lived solong ago. Fortunately, the present owner has prevented the break-up—even now, 350
years after they were portrayed—of this family from Arnhem.

- Ariane van Suchtelen, 2017

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Endnotes
1. The portraits of the Craeyvanger children are not lined. The portraits of the boys were never lined, but
the portraits of the girls were lined at some point, though their linings were removed during therestoration carried out by Patrick Corbett at the request of Johnny van Haeften, who acquired thepictures 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 incorrectlyinterpreted 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 bya pupil of Ter Borch, possibly Pieter van Anraadt), 2: 289 (under “Pieter van Anraadt,” as five portraitsof children of 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’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 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 by Willem’s
uncle and aunt, Reinier Everwijn and Naleke Craeyvanger, of themselves and their three children(Everard, Reinier, and Lucretia). These portraits are recorded (without attribution) in an inventorydrawn 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 the request ofJohnny van Haeften, who acquired the pictures at the sale of 6 May 2009. They can be seen more clearlyin 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 bustlength 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, 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.
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8. In 1658 the boys could also have been 16 and 14. For the sake of simplicity, this text sticks to one set ofages. The Craeyvangers’ nine children (a daughter named Lijsbeth, baptized on 7 November 1647, musthave 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 the Frans 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’sPortraits,” Oud Holland 127 (2014): 25–30, which is the source of the technical details given.
12. Thus the tacking edges of the portraits that were cut from the middle of the roll still display the graybrown ground layer, whereas the tacking edges that correspond to the outer edges of the large piece oflinen are unprimed.
13. The primary cusping, which extends some 12–15 cm into the paintings, was caused by stretching thelarge piece of linen to apply the ground; the secondary, shallow cusping was caused by mounting theportraits 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 made preparatory 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 the Work 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).
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 inContext–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© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Naleke Craeyvanger (1655–1676)
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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 (seeConnoisseur 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 thesewere copies or original paintings by Netscher. The dating is based on, among other things, theinscription “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; inventorydrawn 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 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, 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 most important 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, andDeaths), the registers of members of the Reformed Church, the documents of the Arnhem church
council and of the provincial synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in Gelderland (Guelders), theraadsignaten (formal records of the decisions taken by the local council), the records of decisions takenby 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 and accounts 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, all in
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© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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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 dezeventiende 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; bydescent to their second son, Willem Craeyvanger (1643–after 1712) and Maria van Ommen; by descentto their second son, Gijsbert Craeyvanger (born ca. 1700), and Geertruida Margaretha Bongers (born ca.
1705); by descent to their second son, Gijsbert Craeyvanger (born ca. 1730), and Geertruida Klingen(1737–1817), Utrecht; by descent to their 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; by descent 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 Samuel John van Limburg Stirum (1879–1963), Olst; by descent to thefamily members (sale, Christie’s, Amsterdam, 6 May 2009, 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 permanent collection[lent by the present owner].
The Hague, Mauritshuis, 10 February 2010–16 January 2011, on loan with the permanent collection[lent by the present owner].
Nijmegen, Museum het Valkhof, March–December 2011, on loan with the permanent collection [lentby the present owner].
Istanbul, Sakıp Sabancı Museum, “Rembrandt and His Contemporaries: The Golden Age of Dutch Art,”© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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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– [lent by thepresent 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, Sakıp Sabancı Museum. Istanbul, 2012, 48–51, nos. 9–18.
Van Suchtelen, Ariane, and Menno Potjer. “De Arnhemse familie Craeyvanger: een bijzondere 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 Netscher’s
early career.” Oud Holland 127, no. 1 (2014): 31–47.
Vogelaar, Christiaan. “The Leiden Collection.” In Rembrandt and his Contemporaries: History Paintingsfrom The Leiden Collection. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. and Caroline Van Cauwenberge, 14. Exh.
cat. Amsterdam, Hermitage Amsterdam. Zwolle, 2023. [Exhibition catalogue also published in Dutch.]

Technical Summary
The supports of all eight portraits were cut from a composite fabric comprising a large piece of primed, plainweave 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 the individual paintings werepositioned on the canvas support in relation to one another and explains why cusping is seen along someedges and ground is present on some tacking edges and not others. The seam runs through the portraits of
Naleke and Lijsbeth and a radio-opaque layer, possibly lead white, was applied along the seam.
© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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An identical opaque brownish-gray oil ground has been applied to all eight portraits with a broad brush andremains exposed along the painting margins, on many of the tacking edges, and in places where the paint has
been loosely applied. It has not been determined whether this is a double groundsince no paint cross-sections
were made.
The paint has been freely applied in a palette characterized by greenish-brown, grays, and ocher tones withbright white accents. The oval surrounds were painted first and the figures were then sketched, probably withthe same fluid brown-black paint used for the ovals. The figures were then worked up with underpaint, muchlighter and cooler in tone than the rather dark brown-gray ground, followed by thinner layers of paint. The
background was vigorously brushed in around the 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 waspainted on top of her apron, or as in the portraits of Engel and Peter, where the left contours of theircostumes 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 ofGerrit, which also bears the date of 1658. On the portrait of Lijsbeth, “C…etscher f” can be discerned in thecenter right background, and a C along with scant remains of the other letters, at the center left in the portraitof Naleke. It is more than likely that 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 discernable at center right in a lightbeige 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 magnification or with
infrared or false color infrared photography.
In general, the portraits of Jan, Willem, Reijnder, Engel, and possibly also Peter are painted using a typicalseventeenth-century layering process. The use of a gray underpaint, a technical feature commonly employedby 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 touch and convincing attention to the details of
their physiognomy and costumes. In contrast, the figures of 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 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,© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Portrait of Naleke Craeyvanger (1655–1676)
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The Hague, and Oleg Karuvits during his internship as part of the Conservation and Restoration programat the University of Amsterdam, 2009–10.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection