Pieter van der Werff(Kralingen 1665 – 1722 Rotterdam)

How to citeBakker, Piet. “Pieter van der Werff” (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 December2023).
A PDF of every version of this biography is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed bya permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

Pieter van der Werff was baptized in Kralingen on 1 May 1665. His parents were Arjen Jans, the owner of a flourmill on
the Oudendijk, and Maertje Adriaens. Pieter was the younger brother of “the renowned throughout Europe and worldfamous” painter Adriaen van der Werff (1659–1722).[1] The family belonged to Kralingen’s upper middle class, andPieter’s father served several terms as an alderman.[2] Pieter studied under his brother, who was six years older, as a matterof course, and Adriaen’s international breakthrough in 1696 would have contributed to Pieter’s decision to stay on as an
assistant in his workshop. His activities consisted primarily of making copies of Adriaen’s pictures. He also produced
signed inventions of his own, which are still deeply indebted to his brother’s art. The siblings’ relationship was strictly
professional, as evidenced from a journal in which Adriaen kept a detailed record of Pieter’s activities on the basis ofwhich he would pay him down to the nearest penny in accordance with his share and hours.[3] “The only favor the Knight
bestowed him free of charge was the loan of his works, from which Pieter culled models for composing the principal partof his originals.”[4]In 1694 Van der Werff married Maria Bosman (1672–1700), the daughter of Adriaen Bosman, scion of a well-established
Rotterdam brewers’ family, and Sara Teniers (1651–1706).[5] Van der Werff must have met her in his brother’s workshop,because according to Johan van Gool she had been “a pupil of the Knight van der Werff, already wonderfully advanced inart.”[6] If she were actually a practicing painter, she was not so for long because “her marriage dulled her drive, and in theend her artistic skill came to naught.”[7] Moreover, she did not live much longer, and was carried to her grave from theirhouse in the Hoogstraat on 22 March 1700. Shortly after being widowed, Van der Werff and his young daughter Elisabeth
moved in with Adriaen on the Delftsevaart, next to the house called Paradijs (Paradise).[8]Van der Werff must have enjoyed a certain authority among his colleagues because he served as dean of theRotterdam Guild of Saint Luke from 1703 to 1716. However, this appreciation could not prevent his life from taking atroubled turn. According to Van Gool, he had “een heel wonderzinnigen inborst” (a very peculiar disposition), which first© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Pieter van der Werff
Page 2 of 4

manifested itself in a penchant for seclusion, and later in “noch vreemder grillen” (even stranger quirks) as a consequenceof “eener ongemakkelyke Zenuwkwael, of zo genoemde Hypochondrie” (a disturbing nervous disorder, or so-calledhypochondria), whereby “tot groote droefheit” (to the deep regret) of his family he could no longer function normally.[9]Van der Werff died in September 1722, and his body was carried from Adriaen’s house to the family grave in the GroteKerk. His brother made the same sad journey seven weeks later; however, his funeral did not go unnoticed and displayed acertain pomp and circumstance: bells pealed loudly and without interruption in the town for no less than four hours.
The totally different circumstances surrounding the two funerals are highly illustrative of the brothers’ careers. WhileAdriaen’s was grand and compelling, Van der Werff’s was very modest and practically invisible. If Adriaen enjoyed aclientele from far beyond the borders of the Dutch Republic and the highest social circles, Van der Werff’s patrons came
predominantly from Rotterdam and were of middle-class standing. Adriaen’s art was praised in every possible way, yetnothing is known about the contemporary appreciation of Van der Werff’s art; Van Gool was the first to mention him(1750). Van Gool believed that Pieter “can rightly be counted among the respectable masters.”[10] Van der Werff’s extant
portraits, as well as his genre and history scenes, confirm Van Gool’s observation, even though, as has been noted, his worklacks originality. Van der Werff’s was so skilled in imitating his brother’s paintings that it was impossible even forconnoisseurs “to distinguish with their eyes what was authentic or not.”[11]Van der Werff’s was paid well for his work, in part because of this ability. Van Gool reports that at the 1713 auction of therenowned collection of Adriaen Paets (1631–86), treasurer of the Rotterdam Admiralty, two works by Van der Werff’s
went under the hammer for a substantial 550 and 335 guilders, respectively. In his biography of Adriaen, however, VanGool mentions this same auction noting that six works by Adriaen fetched a total of no less than 15,600 guilders, anexorbitantly high amount, so high that “his art again garners a shining reputation throughout Europe, such that everyone
yearns to see it, and even own it.”[12] According to Van Gool, “the Knight beheld all of this, leaning out of a window next
to me, his inner satisfaction palpable.”[13] Whether Van der Werff’s witnessed his brother’s triumph (one of many) isunknown; Van Gool does not devote a single word to him in Adriaen’s biography.

- Piet Bakker, 2017

© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Pieter van der Werff
Page 3 of 4Endnotes
1. “Den door gansch Europe vermaerde en wereltberoemden.” Johan van Gool, De nieuwe schouburg derNederlantsche kunstschilders en schilderessen waer in de levens- en kunstbedryven der tans levende en reets
overleedene schilders, die van Houbraken, noch eenig ander schryver, zyn aengeteekend, verhaelt worde(The Hague, 1750), 1: 235.
2. Pieter’s uncle on his mother’s side also served as an alderman for some time. See E. Wiersum, “Ridder
Adriaen van der Werff,” Rotterdamsch Jaarboekje 5 (1927): 2.
3. For a transcription, see Barbara Gaethgens, Adriaen van der Werff 1659–1722 (Munich, 1987), 442–44.
4. “De eenigste gunst dan, die hem de Ridder gratis bewees, was het leenen zyner Stukken, van welke zich
Pieter bediende als patroonen om er het hooftwerk zyner Origineelen na te richten.” Johan van Gool, De
nieuwe schouburg der Nederlantsche kunstschilders en schilderessen waer in de levens- en kunstbedryven
der tans levende en reets overleedene schilders, die van Houbraken, noch eenig ander schryver, zyn
aengeteekend, verhaelt worde (The Hague, 1750), 1: 238.
5. For genealogical details of Maria’s family, see E.A. Engelbrecht, De Vroedschap van Rotterdam
1572–1795 (Rotterdam, 1973), 135–37. Her great-grandfather was Iman Hendricks Bosman, brewer at
De Bijl, member of the city council from 1618 to 1624, and mayor of Rotterdam in 1621 and 1622.
Maria’s mother, Sara Teniers, was a daughter of the surgeon Pieter Teniers (1622–53), originally fromBergen op Zoom (Gemeentearchief Rotterdam, Trouwboek).
6. “Eene Discipeles . . . van den Ridder van der Werf, zynde al fraei in de Kunst gevordert.” Johan vanGool, De nieuwe schouburg der Nederlantsche kunstschilders en schilderessen waer in de levens- en
kunstbedryven der tans levende en reets overleedene schilders, die van Houbraken, noch eenig anderschryver, zyn aengeteekend, verhaelt worde (The Hague, 1750), 1: 241.
7. Haer huwelyk verflaeude de lust, en ging op ’t laetst, met haer Kunstvermogen, geheel te niet.” Johanvan Gool, De nieuwe schouburg der Nederlantsche kunstschilders en schilderessen waer in de levens- en
kunstbedryven der tans levende en reets overleedene schilders, die van Houbraken, noch eenig ander
schryver, zyn aengeteekend, verhaelt worde (The Hague, 1750), 1: 241.
8. Presumably Pieter also lived in this house, which his brother bought in 1692 before he married. E.
Wiersum, “Ridder Adriaen van der Werff,” Rotterdamsch Jaarboekje 5 (1927): 5. Pieter gave
“Delftsevaart” as his address when he married in 1694.
9. Johan van Gool, De nieuwe schouburg der Nederlantsche kunstschilders en schilderessen waer in de levensen kunstbedryven der tans levende en reets overleedene schilders, die van Houbraken, noch eenig anderschryver, zyn aengeteekend, verhaelt worde (The Hague, 1750), 1: 236.
10. “Met recht onder de brave Meesters mag getelt worden.” Johan van Gool, De nieuwe schouburg derNederlantsche kunstschilders en schilderessen waer in de levens- en kunstbedryven der tans levende en reets
overleedene schilders, die van Houbraken, noch eenig ander schryver, zyn aengeteekend, verhaelt worde© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Pieter van der Werff
Page 4 of 4(The Hague, 1750), 1: 237.
11. “Om door hunne oogen te kunnen onderscheiden, wat echt is of niet.” Johan van Gool, De nieuwe
schouburg der Nederlantsche kunstschilders en schilderessen waer in de levens- en kunstbedryven der tanslevende en reets overleedene schilders, die van Houbraken, noch eenig ander schryver, zyn aengeteekend,verhaelt worde (The Hague, 1750), 1: 236.
12. “Zyn Kunst op nieuw grooten luister door gansch Europe, dat elk reikhalse om die maer eens te zien,laet staen te bezitte.” Johan van Gool, De nieuwe schouburg der Nederlantsche kunstschilders en
schilderessen waer in de levens- en kunstbedryven der tans levende en reets overleedene schilders, die vanHoubraken, noch eenig ander schryver, zyn aengeteekend, verhaelt worde (The Hague, 1750),1: 384–85.
13. “Van dit alles was de Ridder aenschouwer, die naest my uit een venster lag, men kon de vergenoeging uit
zyn wezen zien.” Johan van Gool, De nieuwe schouburg der Nederlantsche kunstschilders en schilderessen
waer in de levens- en kunstbedryven der tans levende en reets overleedene schilders, die van Houbraken,
noch eenig ander schryver, zyn aengeteekend, verhaelt worde (The Hague, 1750), 1: 385.

Literature
Van Gool, Johan. De nieuwe schouburg der Nederlantsche kunstschilders en schilderessen waer in delevens- en kunstbedryven der tans levende en reets overleedene schilders, die van Houbraken, noch eenig
ander schryver, zyn aengeteekend, verhaelt worde. 2 vols. The Hague, 1750–51.
Wiersum, E. “Ridder Adriaen van der Werff.” Rotterdamsch Jaarboekje 5 (1927): 1–15.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection