Portrait of Pieter Ranst Valckenier(1661–1704)
Michiel van Musscher(Rotterdam 1645 – 1705 Amsterdam)

1687
oil on canvas
56.5 x 50.6 cm
signed and dated in dark paint, lower left corner:“M. v. Musscher. Pinxit. A.° 1687. ”
MM-102.a© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Pieter Ranst Valckenier (1661–1704)
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How to cite
Van Tuinen, Ilona. “Pair of Portraits: Pieter Ranst Valckenier (1661–1704) and Eva Suzanna Pellicorne (1670–1732),
1687” (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.

Michiel van Musscher painted with great finesse these elegant three-quarter-length

Comparative Figures

pendant portraits of a young upper-class couple in a garden. Seated on the heraldic
right, the man is dressed in a fashionable, exotic, golden-brown silk Japonse rok,which falls open at his torso, revealing a red brocaded undergarment.[1] His jabot andcuffs are adorned with fine floral lace, and on his head he wears a dark brown, curly
wig. With his right arm he leans on a mossy wall, while the slender fingers of his righthand hold a small book with a black leather and gold binding. His pose, directedslightly to the right, is mirrored by that of his wife, who has turned slightly toward theleft. She is wearing an elegant, purple silk gown trimmed with lace identical to that ofher husband. Around her left shoulder and draped over her lap is an orange-brown

Fig 1. Detail of MM-102.a showing
the delicate shadow of the sitter’s
proper right cuff on the lacesilk scarf, similar in tone to her husband’s garment. When seen together, the twopaintings provide a continuous view of a country estate in a lush setting before a
distant, mountainous landscape.
With his characteristic attention to detail, Van Musscher took great care in rendering
the textures of the various fabrics. He attained the shimmering effect of silk in theman’s Japonse rok and the woman’s dress by boldly applying the highlights with broad
brushstrokes, often playfully following the direction of the folds. The much moredelicate lace, on the other hand, was painted with thin, barely visible strokes. Using aFig 2. Detail of MM-102.b

grayish tone as the base for the lace and adding pure white for the highlights, VanMusscher exquisitely depicted the subtle contrasts between light and shadow, aquality seen in the shadow cast by the proper right sleeve of the man’s blouse onto its
lace edging (fig 1). He created a similar effect in the contrast between the shaded
reverse of the lace around the woman’s proper right sleeve and the highlighted frontof the lace at her neckline (fig 2).
© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Pieter Ranst Valckenier (1661–1704)
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Old handwritten inscriptions on the reverses of the canvases identify the sittersas 26-year-old Pieter Ranst Valckenier (1661–1704) and his 17-year-old wife, EvaSuzanna Pellicorne (1670–1732) ((fig 3) and (fig 4)). Valckenier and Pellicorne weremarried in 1686, which suggests that they commissioned these paintings, dated 1687,
as marriage portraits. Pieter’s father was the influential Gillis Valckenier (1623–80),
who had been the director of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and remained
active in the municipal government of Amsterdam until his death.[4] Pieter, too, held
several important positions in the Amsterdam municipal government until heeventually became director of the VOC in 1693.[5] The fact that Pieter is wearing aJapanese gown reflects his family’s high position in this trading company as much as
his upper-class fashion status. Eva Suzanna Pellicorne was the daughter of thewealthy Casper Pellicorne and Clara Valckenier, Gillis Valckenier’s sister, making
Pieter and Eva Suzanna first cousins as well as spouses.[6]Fig 3. Reverse of MM-102.a revealing
the inscription identifying the sitter.
The original inscription on the oldlinen was reproduced in Mylarencapsulated images and attached tothe tops of the reverse, while thecontents of the inscription was copied
onto the relined canvas.

It is likely that the outdoor mansion in the idealized, hilly landscape in thebackground of the pendant portraits is Gynwens in Baambrugge, just south of
Amsterdam. Pieter inherited this manor from his father in 1680, and Eva Suzanna
continued to live there after her husband’s death in 1704. A few years before her
death in 1727, she sold this property to Joan van der Voort (1667–1727), the husbandof her cousin Anna Jacoba Valckenier (1676–1743).[7] Unfortunately, this mansion nolonger survives, and an etching of a country house named Gynwens that appears in
Abraham Rademaker’s Holland’s Arcadia, 1730, depicts a different property (fig 5).
[8]The Valckenier family, however, owned other mansions in the same vicinity near

Amsterdam, and one of them, Valck en Heining, in Loenersloot, still exists (fig 6).
The similarity in the appearance of this country house and the structure in thebackground of the pendant paintings supports the hypothesis that Van Musscher
depicted Gynwens in these works. It seems probable that Pieter’s second cousin
Cornelis (1640–1700), who built Valck en Heining in 1677,[9] based his design on

Fig 4. Reverse of MM-102.b revealing
the inscription identifying the sitter.
The original inscription on the oldlinen was reproduced in Mylarencapsulated images and attached tothe tops of the reverse, while thecontents of the inscription was copied
onto the relined canvas.

Gynwens.
When Van Musscher painted these portraits in 1687, he was one of the most popularand frequently commissioned portraitists of the Amsterdam elite. Among his many
distinguished clients were members of the Van Loon, Blaeu, and Witsen families, andeven Czar Peter the Great of Russia, who commissioned a portrait during his visit tothe Netherlands in 1697–98.[10] Van Musscher’s portraits of Pieter Ranst Valckenierand Eva Suzanna Pellicorne are comparable to other pendant portraits he painted of
distinguished couples between 1680 and 1700, such as his 1681 portraits of François
le Gillon and Christina Backer (fig 7), or his 1696 portraits of Nicolaes Kalkoen andAgatha van Loon.[11]In all of these paintings, the elegant couples, just like Pieter and Eva Suzanna, areFig 5. Abraham Rademaker,“Gynwens apartenant a Mr. ChristianWencel / Gynwens, toebehorende den
Heer Christiaan Wencel,” etching, 168
x 192 mm, in Abraham Rademaker,
Holland’s Arcadia (Amsterdam, 1730),
University of Leiden, Special© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Pieter Ranst Valckenier (1661–1704)
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dressed in lush silks, reveal slender, elongated fingers, and stand in an idealized,

Collections

pastoral landscape, often with a mansion or landscape extending across the pendants.
This courtly style of portraiture was extremely popular among the Dutch upper classin the late seventeenth century and was indebted to the late portraits of the Flemish
artist Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641) and the Dutch artists he inspired, such as Jan
Mijtens (ca. 1614–70), Caspar Netscher (ca. 1639–84), and Nicolaes Maes (1634–93).[12] Clearly this style, in which Van Musscher excelled, was highly sought after in theelite circles of Amsterdam.

Fig 6. Valck en Heining mansion,
Loenersloot (outside Amsterdam),built in 1677 by Cornelis Valckenier(1640–1700), second cousin of Pieter
Ranst Valckenier- Ilona van Tuinen, 2017

Fig 7. Michiel van Musscher, Portraitof François le Gillon (left) and Portraitof Christina Backer (right), 1681, oilon canvas, 56 x 50 cm, AmsterdamMuseum, Amsterdam, SB 2547 andSB 2548, photo Amsterdam Museum,René Gerritsen© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Pieter Ranst Valckenier (1661–1704)
Page 5 of 8Endnotes
1. For the Japonse rok, see Marieke de Winkel, “Rollenspel,” in Kopstukken: Amsterdammers geportretteerd
1600–1800, ed. Norbert Middelkoop (Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Amsterdam Museum) (Bussum, 2002),
96–97. This exotic and relatively costly kimono was often worn as an informal housecoat. Because of its
elegant appeal and the different possibilities of wearing it, many men in the late seventeenth century
chose to wear this garment in portraits.
2. See Technical Summaries for MM-102.a and MM-102.b. In 2006 Timothy Watson discovered theinscriptions on the reverses of the original canvas supports. He created Mylar-encapsulated images ofthese inscriptions, which he attached to the top center of the reverse of the frame. Nancy Krieg copied
the contents of the inscriptions onto the new, relined canvas. It is not possible to date the handwritten
inscriptions.
3. Pieter Ranst Valckenier and Eva Suzanna Pellicorne married on 18 April 1686; Johan E. Elias, De
Vroedschap van Amsterdam 1578–1795, 2 vols. (Haarlem, 1903–5; reprinted in Amsterdam, 1963),
1:478–79. Robert E. Gerhardt, “The Art of Michiel van Musscher,” in Michiel van Musscher(1645–1705): The Wealth of the Golden Age (Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Museum van Loon) (Zwolle, 2012),
48, was the first to make the plausible suggestion that these are wedding portraits.
4. Johan E. Elias, De Vroedschap van Amsterdam 1578–1795, 2 vols. (Haarlem, 1903–5; reprint,Amsterdam, 1963), 1: 478. Gillis Valckenier was made director of the VOC in 1657. He held theposition of burgomaster in the Amsterdam municipal government from 1665 until 1679, the year before
his death.
5. Johan E. Elias, De Vroedschap van Amsterdam 1578–1795, 2 vols. (Haarlem, 1903–5; reprinted inAmsterdam, 1963), 1:479. See also Jan Wagenaar, Amsterdam in Zyne Opkomst (Amsterdam, 1768), 7:
226, where it lists Pieter Ranst Valckenier as “Schepen” of the municipal government in 1695 and as
secretary in 1679.
6. Johan E. Elias, De Vroedschap van Amsterdam 1578–1795, 2 vols. (Haarlem, 1903–5; reprinted inAmsterdam, 1963), 1:478–79.
7. “Het buiten Gijnwens te Baambrugge,” Edward Munnig Schmidt, Jaarboekje van het Oudheidkundig
Genootschap Nifterlake (2012): 86. Thanks to Mr. Munnig Schmidt for sending me his article, e-mailcommunication, November 2013. In preparation of his forthcoming monograph on Michiel vanMusscher, Robert E. Gerhardt was told by a member of the Valckenier family that the house in thepaintings must be Gynwens. Thanks to Mr. Gerhardt for sharing this information, e-mailcommunication, November 2013.
8. The relatively small house in the print does not resemble the mansion in the background of the portraits,
for it has only four columns of windows instead of five, and a large dormer in the roof instead of fivesmall ones, among other things. This was also noted by Edward Munnig Schmidt, “Het buiten Gijnwens© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Pieter Ranst Valckenier (1661–1704)
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te Baambrugge,” Jaarboekje van het Oudheidkundig Genootschap Nifterlake (2012): 86. Moreproblematic is that the caption of the etching mentions a Mr. Christian Wencel as the owner of thehouse. Considering that the etching was published in 1730, only three years after Eva Suzanna had soldthe house to Joan van der Voort, it appears that the etching cannot depict the same Gynwens as the oneowned by the Valckenier family.
9. Edward Munnig Schmidt, “Het buiten Gijnwens te Baambrugge,” Jaarboekje van het Oudheidkundig
Genootschap Nifterlake (2012): 86–89. Valck en Heining (accessed 25 October 2013); Cornelis
Valckenier purchased the land on 2 June 1677.
10. Robert E. Gerhardt, “Michiel van Musscher: The Best Amsterdam Painter of Small Portraits,” in Michielvan Musscher (1645–1705): The Wealth of the Golden Age (Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Museum van Loon)(Zwolle, 2012), 17–18. The heyday of Musscher’s popularity was 1680 to 1700. See the AllegoricalPortrait of Tsar Peter the Great, oil on canvas, 49 x 41 cm, signed and dated 1698, Stichting Historische
Verzamelingen van het huis Oranje-Nasau, The Hague, on loan to the Hermitage in Amsterdam.
11. Portraits of Nicolaas Kalkoen and Agatha van Loon, signed and dated 1696, oil on canvas, 56 x 50 cm,Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, Rijswijk.
12. On the influence of Anthony van Dyck’s portraiture on Dutch painting, see Emilie S. Gordenker,
Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641) and the Representation of Dress in Seventeenth-Century Portraiture(Turnhout, 2001), 74–75. For a discussion of the development of Netscher’s courtly style, see Marjorie
E. Wieseman, Caspar Netscher and Late Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting (Doornspijk, 2002),
90–101. For an example of Netscher’s elegant, courtly portrait style in The Leiden Collection, seeCaspar Netscher’s Portrait of Susanna Doublet Huygens, executed in 1669 (CN-102).

Provenance
Frédéric de Rosenberg, Vienna (his sale, Miethke, Vienna, 9 April 1883, nos. 339, 340).
(Sale, Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, 9–14 November 2005, no. 1023 (with pendant); [Salomon Lilian, B. V.,
Amsterdam]).
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2005.

Exhibition History
Amsterdam, Museum van Loon, “Michiel van Musscher (1645–1705): The Wealth of the Golden Age,”
9 March–10 June 2012 [lent by the present owner].
© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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References
Moes, Ernst Wilhelm. Iconographia Batava: Beredeneerde lijst van geschiderde en gebeeld-houwde
portretten van Noord-Nederlanders in vorige eeuwen. 2 vols. Amsterdam, 1897–1905, 2:502, no. 8225;
Addendum, 324, 388, no. 5832a.
Gerhardt, Robert E. “The Art of Michiel van Musscher.” In Michiel van Musscher (1645–1705): The
Wealth of the Golden Age. Edited by Robert E. Gerhardt, Tonko Grever, and Francis Griep-Quint,
48–51. Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Museum van Loon. Zwolle, 2012.
Munnig Schmidt, Edward. “Het buiten Gijnwens te Baambrugge.” Jaarboekje van het Oudheidkundig
Genootschap Nifterlake (2012): 86–89.

Technical Summary
The support, a single piece of fine, plain-weave fabric with all four tacking margins present, has been linedwith a gauze interleaf. There is cusping but no paper tape along all four sides. An inscription identifying themale sitter was discovered along the support reverse during the lining procedure and has been transcribed
onto the lining reverse. There are two paper labels but no wax seals, import stamps or stencils along the lining
or stretcher.
A dark-colored, thinly and evenly applied ground extends onto the tacking margins. The oil paint has been
applied smoothly with no use of impasto but with extremely fine detail in the lacework, brocade and bookspine.
Although the flesh tones of the hands are slightly warmer than those in the female companion portrait, theposition of the fingers of both the left and right hands are remarkably similar in each portrait. The fingers ofboth hands in the female portrait have been shifted slightly during the paint stage, perhaps in an attempt tomore closely match the male companion piece.[1]Two sets of overlapping irises visible in the X-radiograph indicate that the positions of the sitter’s eyes andeyebrows were shifted during the paint stage.[2] In the final composition, the lower portions of both irises
appear almost perfectly round and only the uppermost curve of the irises are obscured by the upper lids. Thisslight adjustment may have been made so the portrait more closely relates to the female companion piece.
No underdrawing or compositional changes are readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000
nanometers.
The painting is signed and dated in dark paint along the lower left corner.
The painting was cleaned, lined, and restored in 2006 and remains in a good state of preservation.

Technical Summary Endnotes© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Portrait of Pieter Ranst Valckenier (1661–1704)
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1. See X-radiograph image of MM-102.b in The Leiden Collection archive files.
2. See X-radiograph image of MM-102.a in The Leiden Collection archive files.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection