Jacob Toorenvliet(Leiden 1640 – 1719 Leiden)

How To Cite
Bakker, Piet. "Jacob Toorenvliet." In The Leiden Collection Catalogue. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.
New York, 2017.
https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/.
This page is available on the site's Archive. PDF of every version of this page is available on the Archive,
and the Archive is managed by a permanent URL. Archival copies will never be deleted. New versions areadded only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

Jacob Toorenvliet was baptized in Leiden on 1 July 1640. His parents were Abraham Toorenvliet (ca.
1610–92) and Maria Willemsdr van der Hulle. Jacob’s father was a drawing master and glass painter, andas of 1636 a member of the Glassmakers’ Guild, of which he was either headman or dean almost
continuously between 1645 and 1687. In 1649 he also became a member of the recently founded Guild ofSaint Luke, giving his profession as “Constschilder” (“painter”) in two documents.[1] He was elected
headman and dean of the Guild of Saint Luke, presumably for his administrative skills, as he does not seemto have been a particularly productive painter.[2] He did, however, enjoy a great reputation as a drawing
master,[3] a skill that benefitted not only his son, but also Frans van Mieris the Elder (1635–81), and Mathijs
Naiveau (1647–1726).[4] A year after Jacob’s mother died in 1649, his father married Geertruy Somers, thewidow of Jan Dou, a producer of church glass. Abraham and Jan’s brother, Gerrit Dou (1613–75), assumed
guardianship of Jan’s surviving young son.[5]Jacob Toorenvliet learned the rudiments of painting from his father and subsequently completed his training
with Gerrit Dou.[6] He drew his first self-portrait in 1655, at the young age of fifteen,[7] and signed his firstpainting four years later.[8] Evidence of his independence is also found in a 1660 document, in which he isfirst mentioned as a “schilder” (“painter”).[9] At the same time, he produced drawings for engraved bookillustrations and received his first portrait commissions, the most notable ones in 1660 from Cornelis
Schrevelius (1608–61), dean of the Latin school, and in 1661 from Ole Borch, a Danish scholar residing
temporarily in Leiden.[10] After 1661 the Leiden sources remain quiet regarding Toorenvliet. His name only
surfaces again in a 1674 archival document, in which he is said to be “uytlandich” (“abroad”).[11] In adocument dated two years later one reads that he was living “tot Wenen in Oostenrijk” (in Vienna,
Austria).[12]In his biography of Toorenvliet, Arnold Houbraken also notes that the artist lived abroad for a long time, but
only in Italy. He does not mention Vienna, where the painter actually did reside for a long time.[13]Houbraken reports that Toorenvliet traveled together with the Catholic history painter Nicolaes van
Roosendael (1634/35–86) to Rome, arriving there when he was “ruim 29 jaren” (over 29 years old), hencearound 1670.[14] In Rome, Toorenvliet subsequently “assiduously and diligently . . . devoted his time to© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Jacob Toorenvliet
Page 2 of 10

drawing after paintings by Raphael, Paolo Veronese, Tintoretto, and furthermore after the most famous
works of art hanging in palaces and churches.”[15] Like so many other northern painters in Rome,
Toorenvliet joined the Bentvueghels (“Birds of a Feather,” an artists’ fraternity), who gave him the nickname
Jason. After some time Toorenvliet decided to leave the Eternal City. He moved to Venice, where he lived
for “verscheyden jaren” (several years) and married a wealthy woman, who accompanied him when hereturned to the Dutch Republic.
Even though Houbraken’s biography of Toorenvliet is incomplete, his assertion that the artist traveled toRome has never been doubted. Not even when it emerged that Toorenvliet not only lived in Vienna from1674 to 1679—the year of his return—but also probably from 1668 to 1670; at least, this is inferred byvarious paintings in Austrian museum collections dated 1668 and 1669 and the twenty-six engravings by
the artist in a Vienna publication of 1670.[16]These indications never led anyone to investigate whether Toorenvliet might have lived in Vienna
continuously from around 1668 to 1679. This omission is due in part to Toorenvliet’s 1669 portrait of Carel
Quina (1622–89), which is assumed to have been painted in Rome.[17] In that year, Quina is thought to havestopped in the Eternal City on his way back to the Netherlands from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. However, in
his travel journal, which he only wrote once he was home in Amsterdam, he barely mentions this return
journey.[18] That this trip passed through Rome thus rests entirely on the assumption that Toorenvliet wasliving there in 1669.[19] Quina’s travelogue does include a passage from which it emerges that he traveled
via Vienna on the return trip, as he had done on the outward one. Writing extensively about his Vienna
adventures, which all seem to have taken place on the outward journey, Quina also reflects on his visit to
the grave of a deceased friend. According to Quina, this took place “after I had been to Jerusalem.”[20]That Toorenvliet spent time in Rome and also “verscheyden jaren” (several years) in Venice is notcontested here. What is disputed is the timing of 1670 to 1673. This objection gains support from the factthat Houbraken contradicts himself. Immediately following his digression on Toorenvliet’s artistic training,
he writes: “When he had made such progress in art that he could draw well and paint a good portrait, he left
Leiden and went to Rome to verse himself further in art.”[21] Later in the text (when Toorenvliet has arrived
in Rome), Houbraken observes that he “[had] then already painted many portraits, for which he had gained
fame.”[22] To illustrate this he refers to the aforementioned Schrevelius family portrait, including the paean it
inspired, and concludes with “Dit was in den jare 1661” (This was in the year 1661).
The content of both passages allows for no other interpretation than that Toorenvliet went to Rome soonafter completing his training and having acquired some experience as a portraitist.[23] This will have beenshortly after 1661, because most of Toorenvliet’s (few) dated portraits were painted between 1659 and
1661. It therefore seems likely that Houbraken was mistaken and meant “ruim 20 jaren” (over 20 years old)when he wrote “ruim 29 jaren” (over 29 years old).[24]A departure date not long after 1661 also accords better with the information we have about Nicolaes
Roosendael, Toorenvliet’s travel companion. Roosendael—to whom only a dozen paintings can be
attributed at present—was living in Vienna already in 1655, working together with Samuel van Hoogstraten(1627–78) on a painting of Saint Benedict intended for the Abbey of Weingarten in southern Germany.[25]© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Jacob Toorenvliet
Page 3 of 10

The next signs of life come from Amsterdam; Roosendael made an exceptionally good match there in 1665,
became a citizen a year later, and set up a workshop where he trained several pupils.[26] What he did
between 1655 and 1665 is not documented. However, the crisp composition and bright palette of his
earliest known, independent, signed painting, the 1664 Carrying of the Cross,[27] reflects Italian art to suchan extent that it seems more logical to date Roosendael’s sojourn in Rome between 1655 and 1665 rather
than around 1670, when he appears to have been leading a settled and comfortable life in Amsterdam.[28]If Roosendael stayed on in Vienna after 1655, it is possible that Toorenvliet met him there around 1662 andthat the two artists then traveled on to Rome, like Van Hoogstraten before them.[29] When Roosendael madehis return journey around 1664, Toorenvliet may have accompanied him up to Venice and subsequently
stayed there for “verscheyden jaren” (several years). We know with certainty that he was acquainted with
Roosendael and also maintained contact with him after the trip to Rome, for Roosendael’s wife witnessed
the baptism of Toorenvliet’s son Abraham in Amsterdam years later.[30]Around 1667 Toorenvliet traveled from Venice to Vienna, where he may have lived continuously until theend of 1679.[31] If Houbraken is correct and Toorenvliet did indeed take his Venetian wife to Leiden, his staythere was brief. This intermezzo, however, would have to occurred well before 1679, given that her death inthat year would have been Toorenvliet’s main reason for returning to the Dutch Republic for good.
While we may not know the exact details of Toorenvliet’s life between 1661 and 1679, he was certainly
back in Leiden in 1679. He did not remain a widower for long; in that same year he married Susanna
Verhulst, although where is unknown.[32] The couple settled in Amsterdam and was soon followed there by
Jacob van der Sluis (1660?–1732), who had become Toorenvliet’s pupil in Leidenv.[33] Toorenvliet tookpossession of a house on the corner of the Herengracht and the Reguliersgracht. Shortly thereafter on 24
May 1680, their daughter Lidia was baptized in De Krijtberg, a clandestine Catholic church, suggesting that
Toorenvliet had converted to Catholicism in Italy or Austria.[34] In March 1682 their son Abraham, who
would become a painter, was baptized in Amsterdam, at which, as mentioned above, Catherina Deyl, thewife of Toorenvliet’s former travel companion Nicolaes Roosendael, served as a witness.
The artist was again living in Leiden in 1686, when he joined the Guild of Saint Luke and enrolled in theuniversity, the latter undoubtedly because of the tax benefits this entailed. His return may have coincidedwith the establishment of the Leidse Tekenacademie (a drawing academy), an initiative he undertook
together with Willem van Mieris and Carel de Moor.[35] He inventoried his father’s sizable collection ofpaintings following his death in 1692.[36] Jacob’s name appears in the guild records with nearly
uninterrupted regularity, alternately as headman and dean, from 1695 to 1712, the year he stepped down.
And in 1717 he is recorded in the university as “informator pingendi,” which may mean that he gavedrawing lessons to students.
Toorenvliet’s extensive, generally high-quality oeuvre and his important position in the Leiden painters’community suggest that he had a successful career. Houbraken, however, contends that Toorenvliet did notfare well at all. That he was talented went without saying, ‘‘however, it is painful to behold that others who
are less artistic, as the saying goes, just roll rather than having to crawl through the world.”[37] Toorenvliet’s
straitened circumstances at the end of his life are confirmed by a tax assessment register of 1716, in which© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Jacob Toorenvliet
Page 4 of 10

the artist was exempted from payment because he was “onmagtigh” (unable) to do so.[38] He died in
January 1719, and was brought to Oegstgeest for burial on 25 January. This may have taken place fromthe house of his brother, the notary public Dirck Toorenvliet, with whom he lived after his wife died in 1713
and whose family he portrayed so beautifully in 1687.[39]-Piet Bakker

Endnotes
1. See RAL, NA not. C. van Scharpenbrant, inv. 804, 11 October 1658, and idem, inv. 808, 4
May 1662.
2. At present no works can be attributed to him, and in 17th-century Leiden estates his name islinked only to “een stukje van twee joden” (a picture of two Jews). This is mentioned in his own
inventory, for which his son Jacob provided the attributions, see: RAL, Bibl. Leiden en
Omstreken, inv. 67504 (f) Aantekeningen over Leidse schilders en de kunsthandel (1692).
Incidentally, it is not certain whether this inventory was of Abraham Toorenvliet’s estate. Not asingle reference is made to the owner in the introduction and its “attribution” to him relies on aninterpretation of the description itself, see: C. W. Fock, “Kunstbezit in Leiden in de zeventiende
eeuw,” in Lunsingh Scheurleer et al., Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht , 6
vols. and index (Leiden 1986–92), (Leiden, 1990), 5: 8–9. It is interesting to note that various
paintings of Jewish people by Jacob Toorenvliet are known, all dated 1675 and thus painted in
Vienna. Susanne H. Karau, Leben und Werk des Leidener Malers Jacob Toorenvliet(1640–1719) (PhD diss., Universität Berlin, 2002).
3. Houbraken calls him “een vermaart Glasschilder, en Teekenmeester” (a renowned glass
painter and a drawing teacher). Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche
konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753;
reprint, Amsterdam, 1976), 3:2.
4. For Naiveu’s pupilage, Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche
konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753;
reprint, Amsterdam, 1976), 3: 228. See the biography of Frans Van Mieris in this catalogue.
5. RAL NA not. C. van Berendrecht, 27 December 1656.
6. Houbraken mentions only his father as his teacher. The generally accepted assumption thathe completed his training with Dou is undocumented. His father’s specialty appears to have beendrawing instruction, hence the supposition that Toorenvliet followed the same path as Van Mieris
and Naiveau is not so far-fetched, certainly not after his father married Gerrit Dou’s sister-in-law.
© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Jacob Toorenvliet
Page 5 of 10

7. Susanne H. Karau, Leben und Werk des Leidener Malers Jacob Toorenvliet (1640–1719)(PhD diss., Universität Berlin, 2002), 2: 105, cat. no. E 3.29, ill.
8. This is The Young Composer, oil on panel, 35 x 27 cm., signed and dated 1659, see SusanneH. Karau, Leben und Werk des Leidener Malers Jacob Toorenvliet (1640–1719) (PhD diss.,
Universität Berlin, 2002), 2: 2, cat. no. A1.
9. RAL, NA not. C. Scharpenbrant, inv. 806, 30 March 1660. It is striking that he did not becomea member of the guild during his first active period in Leiden. He did so only in 1686 upon his
return from a lengthy sojourn abroad. The most logical explanation is that in his early years heassisted his father and was therefore exempt from membership.
10. Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en
schilderessen, 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam,
1976), 3:166–67. Portrait of the Schrevelius Family , oil on canvas, 115 x 155 cm, signed anddated: J.Toorenvliet Fc 1660, private collection. Susanne H. Karau, Leben und Werk desLeidener Malers Jacob Toorenvliet (1640–1719) (PhD diss., Universität Berlin, 2002), 2: 2, cat.
no. A3; see also eadem, “Brüderliche Bande. Jacob Toorenvliet malt das Familienporträt seines
Bruders Dirck,” Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 67 (2006): 279–80 (fig. 2). Portrait of Ole Borch, oil
on panel, 50 x 40 cm, signed and dated: JToorenvliet Fec.Ao.1661, Frederiksborg,
Nationalmuseum, Susanne H. Karau, Leben und Werk des Leidener Malers Jacob Toorenvliet(1640–1719) (PhD diss., Universität Berlin, 2002), 2: 5, cat. no. A11.
11. RAL, NA not. P. van Scharpenbrant, inv. 149, 17 December 1674. In this document Abraham
Toorenvliet states that his sons Christiaen and Jacob “beyde uitlandich synde” (are bothabroad).
12. RAL, NA, not. P.C. van Scharpenbrant, inv. 1276, 13 May 1676.
13. Alexander Hajdecki, “Die Niederländer in Wien,” Oud-Holland 25 (1907): 12; Th. vonFrimmel, “Jacob Toorenvliet als Wiener Maler und die Verteilung seiner Arbeiten inÖsterreichischer Galerien,” in Von Alter und Neuer Kunst (Vienna, 1922), 1: 69–81; Susanne H.
Karau, Leben und Werk des Leidener Malers Jacob Toorenvliet (1640–1719) (PhD diss.,
Universität Berlin, 2002), 1: 62–83, esp. 62.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Jacob Toorenvliet
Page 6 of 10

14. When it was discovered that Toorenvliet was not born in 1641, as Houbraken contended, but
in 1640, 1670 was still maintained as the year of his departure from Leiden, as this was
supported by a notarial deed published by Abraham Bredius, Künstler Inventare, 8 vols. (The
Hague, 1915–22), 2, 1916, 541. It concerned Toorenvliet’s travel companion Roosendael, whodrew up his will in Amsterdam on 5 March 1670. At the time this was a common precautionary
measure taken by people about to embark on a long and dangerous journey. For example, see:P. Dirkse, “Nicolaes Roosendael (1634/5–86). Historieschilder voor katholiek Amsterdam,” inBegijnen, pastoors en predikanten. Religie en kunst in de Gouden Eeuw (Leiden, 2001), 203.
15. “Naarstig en yverig . . . zyn tijd waargenomen met teekenen naar de Schilderyen van Rafael,
Paulo Veronees, Tintoret, en zoo voorts naar de beroemdste konstwerken die in paleizen en
Kerken ophingen.” Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders
en schilderessen, 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam,
1976), 3:167.
16. Susanne H. Karau, Leben und Werk des Leidener Malers Jacob Toorenvliet (1640–1719)(PhD diss., Universität Berlin, 2002), 2: 29 n76; Geza Galavics, “Netherlandish Baroque Painters
and Graphic Artists in 17th-Century Central Europe,” in Baroque Art in Central Europe:
Crossroads (Exh. cat. Budapest Történneti Múzeum, 1993), 94.
17. Portrait of Carel Quina (1622–1689) , oil on copper, 40 x 31 cm, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam,
inv. A 2254. Susanne H. Karau, Leben und Werk des Leidener Malers Jacob Toorenvliet(1640–1719) (PhD diss., Universität Berlin, 2002), 1: 42–44.
18. For a transcript of this travel account and a critical commentary, see Ingrid van der Vlis,Door
het land van de Sultan. Carel Quina’s pelgrimage naar Jeruzalem (1668–1671) (Zutphen,2005).
19. Ingrid van der Vlis, Door het land van de Sultan. Carel Quina’s pelgrimage naar Jeruzalem(1668–1671) (Zutphen, 2005), 79.
20. “Nadat ick van Jeruzalem gecomen was.” Ingrid van der Vlis,Door het land van de Sultan.
Carel Quina’s pelgrimage naar Jeruzalem (1668–1671) (Zutphen, 2005), 133. Van der Vlis
believes that this comment is probably a slip of the pen. She says this in part because she
assumes that Quina traveled back via Rome, given that he had himself portrayed by Toorenvliet
on his return trip (see n. 26). However, now that it has become clear that Toorenvliet was most
likely in Vienna and not in Rome in 1669, Quina’s comment takes on an entirely different
meaning. In fact, it was not an error, but an accurate rendering of facts.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Jacob Toorenvliet
Page 7 of 10

21. “Wanneer hy nu zoo veer in de konst gevordert was dat hy braaf teekenen en een goetpourtret schilderen konde, vertrok hy van Leyden naar Rome, om zig voorts in de Konst teoefenen.” Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en
schilderessen, 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam,
1976), 3: 164.
22. “Toen al veele pourtretten geschildert [had], daar hy roem door behaald heeft.” Arnold
Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen , 3 vols.
(Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1976), 3: 165.
23. Of the 111 dated paintings attributed to Toorenvliet, the earliest three are all portraits. It
would appear that after his training Toorenvliet first worked in this genre.
24. Perhaps it was not Houbraken who was mistaken, but the person preparing his manuscriptfor printing. As is known, Houbraken’s widow edited the third volume of his Schouburg in 1721.
In this process the 0 may have been read erroneously as a 9. Anyone with some experience of
17th-century handwriting knows how easily this mistake is made.
25. Michiel Roscam Abbing, De schilder & schrijver Samuel van Hoogstraten, 1627–1678(Leiden, 1993), 48–49; Robert Schillemans, “Gabriel Bucelinus and ‘The names of the mostdistinguished European painters,’” Hoogsteder-Naumann Mercury 6 (1987): 25–37. Also see thebiography of Samuel van Hoogstraten in this catalogue.
26. Abraham Bredius, Künstler Inventare, 8 vols. (The Hague, 1915–22), 2, 1916, 541–48.
27. The Carrying of the Cross , oil on canvas, 210 x 199 cm, Utrecht, Museum
Catharijneconvent. P. Dirkse, “Nicolaes Roosendael (1634/5–86). Historieschilder voor katholiek
Amsterdam,” in: Begijnen, pastoors en predikanten. Religie en kunst in de Gouden Eeuw
(Leiden, 2001), 199–200.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Jacob Toorenvliet
Page 8 of 10

28. Moreover, Roosendael’s The Carrying of the Cross includes motifs that seem directly
derived from Barocci’s Descent from the Cross in the Cathedral of Perugia. P. Dirkse, “Nicolaes
Roosendael (1634/5–86). Historieschilder voor katholiek Amsterdam,” in: Begijnen, pastoors en
predikanten. Religie en kunst in de Gouden Eeuw (Leiden, 2001), 200. In 1670 he inherited
25,000 guilders, 7,000 guilders of which he used to buy land on the Herengracht, subject to the
obligation of building a house on it. In 1673 he donated stones for the building of a Catholic
church. R. Schillemans, “Zeventiende- en vroegachttiende-eeuwse wisselaltaarstukken in deAmsterdamse Begijnhofkerk,” De Zeventiende Eeuw 15 (1999): 211. That he led a life ofaffluence is furthermore evidenced by his wife’s estate, which in 1686 included a sizeable
collection of paintings. All in all, a journey to Rome in 1670 seems highly unlikely, given that theavailable information indicates that he was building up a life for himself in Amsterdam in justthese years. Abraham Bredius, Künstler Inventare, 8 vols. (The Hague, 1915–22), 2, 1916,
541–48.
29. It is also possible that the two men began their journey in the Netherlands. Dirkse, forinstance, refers to a “Ter Borch-achtig” (Ter Borch-like) family portrait, which once bore
Roosendael’s signature and the year 1668, neither of which are now visible. Dirkse maintains theattribution, but dates the portrait to 1658 on the basis of the sitter’s clothing. If he is correct
Roosendael must have been in the Republic in that year. The Rijksmuseum, the present ownerof the work, forwards Caspar Netscher as its possible maker and maintains a dating between
1649 and 1684. The work is Family Scene, panel, 114 x 166.5 cm, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum,inv. A 2556.
30. SAA, Doopb. 358/1 (RK Kerk de Duif).
31. A sojourn of several years is also indicated by the hundred paintings by Toorenvliet that Von
Frimmel found in Austrian—mostly private—collections. Th. von Frimmel, “Jacob Toorenvliet als
Wiener Maler und die Verteilung seiner Arbeiten in Österreichischer Galerien,” inVon Alter undNeuer Kunst (Vienna, 1922), 1:69–81. See also see Eric J. Sluijter et al.,Leidse fijnschilders:van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge 1630–1760 (Exh. cat. Leiden, Stedelijk Museum
de Lakenhal, 1988), 239n12.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Jacob Toorenvliet
Page 9 of 10

32. According to Karau, Susanna Verhulst was baptized in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam on 31
December 1662. Her parents were Markus Kleynhens and Maria Verhulst (SAA, Doopb. 44/26
NK; Susanne H. Karau, Leben und Werk des Leidener Malers Jacob Toorenvliet (1640–1719)(PhD diss., Universität Berlin, 2002), 1: 87). However, this cannot be correct, because eight days
after this baptism “Maria Verhulst met haer kraemkintie in een kist de vrou van Markus
Kleynhens buyten de Heylige Wechspoort op’t leertouwers pat tegen over de Geele Bock in een
eygen graft in de middelkerck in No 33 bleven na 2 kinderen” (Maria Verhulst with her newborn
in a coffin, the wife of Markus Kleyn outside of the gate of the Heyliche Wech on the
Leertouwerspad opposite the Geele Bock in a separate grave in the nave at no. 33, survived by
two children). The couple had earlier had two children named Susanna, but as it was notcustomary to give the same name to more than one child in a single family, these two must havedied before Susanna (the third) was born. The children who survived Maria Verhulst are Ghertie(b. 1651) and Jacobus (b. 1656). On the basis of known data, this Maria Verhulst cannot havebeen the mother of Toorenvliet’s second wife.
32. Susanna Verhulst’s name only occurs twice in the Leiden archives. In 1702 she witnessed
the marriage before the aldermen of her daughter Lidia to the agent Johannes van
Ruyschenberg. A 1706 burial deed states that she, the wife of Jacob Toorenvliet, is buried in
Oegstgeest. Exactly who Susanna Verhulst was, and where and when the couple married,
remain a mystery; no marriage certificate has been found either in Amsterdam or Leiden.
33. This emerges from a letter dated 16 April 1680 from Jacobus van der Stoffe, regent of the
Leiden Weeshuis, to the Burgerweeshuis in Amsterdam, in which he requests his Amsterdam
colleague provide Jacob van der Sluys with lodging for one to two years so that he can follow his
teacher Jacob Toorenvliet, with whom he was already training in Leiden, to Amsterdam. E.
Pelinck, “Hoe een Leidse weesjongen tot kunstschilder bestemd werd,” Jaarboekje overgeschiedenis en oudheidkunde van Leiden en omstreken 40 (1948): 199–203.
34. This conversion cannot be determined until we know more about his wife’s religious
background.
35. For the founding of the Leiden drawing academy and the artistic climate in Leiden in the lastquarter of the 17th century, see Piet Bakker, “Crisis? Welke crisis? Kanttekeningen bij het
economische verval van de schilderkunst in Leiden na 1660,” De Zeventiende Eeuw 27, no. 2(2011): 232–69.
36. See endnote 2 of this biography.

© 2017 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Jacob Toorenvliet
Page 10 of 10

37. “T is egter smartig, als men ziet dat anderen die minder konst beziten, als het spreekwoort
zeit, door de waerelt rollen, daar zij er door kruipen moeten.” Arnold Houbraken, De grooteschouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen , 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21;
rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1976), 3:167. For Toorenvliet and the market for
his work, see E. J. Sluijter et al., Leidse fijnschilders: van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris deJonge 1630–1760 (Exh. cat. Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, 1988), 42.
38. For the reference to the tax assessment register, see Susanne H. Karau,Leben und Werk
des Leidener Malers Jacob Toorenvliet (1640–1719) (PhD diss., Universität Berlin, 2002), 1:
89. However, Karau does not link the comment “Jacob Toorenvliet, onmagtigh” (Jacob
Toorenvliet, unable) to dire circumstances, while this most certainly does refer to his penury. Itshould be noted that the tax was imposed on a person’s income and not their capital.
Toorenvliet’s reasons for living with his brother were thus practical as well as financial.
39. Susanne H. Karau, Leben und Werk des Leidener Malers Jacob Toorenvliet (1640–1719)(PhD diss., Universität Berlin, 2002), 1: 89; eadem, “Brüderliche Bande. Jacob Toorenvliet malt
das Familienporträt seines Bruders Dirck,” Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 67 (2006).

Literature
Houbraken, Arnold. De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en
schilderessen, III (2nd ed., The Hague 1753, reprint Amsterdam 1976), 164–67.
Von Frimmel, Th. “Zu den Malern Toorenvliet.”

Blätter für Gemäldekunde , 4/2(1907): 41–42.
Hajdecki, Alexander. “Die Niederländer in Wien.” Oud-Holland 25 (1907): 9–26.
Von Frimmel, Th. “Jacob Toorenvliet als Wiener Maler und die Verteilung seiner Arbeiten inÖsterreichischer Galerien.” In Von Alter und Neuer Kunst, I (Vienna 1922): 69–81.
Sluijter, Eric J. et al. Leidse fijnschilders: van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge
1630–1760. Exh. cat. Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal 1988, 239–49.
Dirkse, P. “Nicolaes Roosendael (1634/5-86). Historieschilder voor katholiek Amsterdam.”
In Begijnen, pastoors en predikanten. Religie en kunst in de Gouden Eeuw (Leiden 2001),
198–207.
Karau, Susanne H. Leben und Werk des Leidener Malers Jacob Toorenvliet(1640–1719). Berlin 2002 Diss.
Karau, Susanne H. “Brüderliche Bande. Jacob Toorenvliet malt das Familienporträt seines
Bruders Dirck.” Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 67 (2006): 279–85.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection