Portrait of Dina Margareta de Bye

1705

Willem van Mieris(Leiden 1662 – 1747 Leiden)

oil on panel
32.4 x 26.7 cm
signed and dated in dark paint on gray rock,
upper right: “W. Van. Mieris. Fec Anno. 1705”
WM-102© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Dina Margareta de ByePage 2 of 8

How To Cite
Aono, Junko. "Portrait of Dina Margareta de Bye." 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 Dina Margareta de ByePage 3 of 8Standing before an imaginary rocky landscape, a woman handsomely

Comparative Figures

attired in an orange-tinged brown satin dress with an aqua-blue shawl
draped across her body smiles charmingly out at the viewer. On the left,
behind a partially drawn curtain and in front of a pillar, stands a fountainwith a statue of a cupid riding a sea monster. The woman holds an orange
in her left hand and carefully selects a red carnation from a bunch offlowers lying on a stone plinth faced with a carved relief sculpture of anunidentified allegorical subject.[1] Resting on this garden plinth is a coloreddrawing of a flower, a small wooden box, some paintbrushes, and a coupleof shells containing pigments.
The identification of the sitter is established by an eighteenth-century
inscription written in Dutch on the back of the panel: “Dina Margareta deBye, born on 7 May 1680 and deceased on 26 August 1740.”[2] DinaFig 1. Caspar Netscher, Portraitof Maria Timmers (1657–1753),
1683, oil on canvas, 48.2 x 39.7cm, Mauritshuis, The Hague, inv.
no. 127

Margareta was the second daughter of Johan Paeuw de Bye, a lawyer
from Leiden, and his wife, Anna van Oorthoorn. In 1703 Dina Margareta
married Pieter van der Dussen (1675–1726), also a lawyer, and movedfrom Leiden, where she apparently had been living with her parents on theRapenburg, to her husband’s native city of Dordrecht.[3] As Willem vanMieris already enjoyed a great reputation among the Leiden elite, he was a
suitable choice to portray the esteemed Dina Margareta, even after she
had moved to Dordrecht.
It was common for young, wealthy couples to commission pendant
portraits upon the occasion of their marriage. Such “marriage portraits”(huwelijksportretten) would become important elements of their personalpossessions.[4] Although no documents list pendant portraits of themarried couple, Dina Margareta’s inventory at her death in 1740 mentions
a portrait of her husband and two portraits of her.[5]Fig 2. Willem van Mieris,
Preparatory Study for Portrait ofDina Margareta de Bye, ca. 1705,
signed, above the relief: Willem /van Mieris. f, black chalk andwash on paper, 159 x 133 mm,
Leiden Collection, New York(WM-107)

The pictorial elements and date of this portrait two years after her marriage
indicates that it was made within the marriage portrait tradition. Dina
Margareta’s face and right arm are directed toward the left, that is, in thedirection of her husband, assuming the traditional arrangement of pendant
portraits. The setting and her attributes, moreover, embody virtues thatwere expected of a young wife in early modern Dutch society: purity,chastity, and love.[6] The water from the fountain and the statue of cupid
allude to love and purity, and the carnation she holds was a popular bridal
flower.[7] Oranges symbolize chastity and, hence, they were often depicted

Fig 3. Arnold Boonen, Portrait of© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Dina Margareta de ByePage 4 of 8as an attribute for brides and married women. For example, in a portrait ofMaria Timmers by Caspar Netscher (ca. 1639–84), the sitter gestures
toward an orange branch along the basin of a fountain containing a statueof cupid (fig 1).[8] Willem’s father, Frans van Mieris the Elder (1635–81),

Catharina Backer, 1713, oil oncanvas, 47.5 x 40 cm, AmsterdamMuseum, Amsterdam, on loan
from Backer Stichting, inv. no. SB
2530, photo Amsterdam Museum,
René Gerritsen

also depicted a woman holding an orange in his 1678 portrait of a marriedcouple (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).[9]Although it is highly probable that Van Mieris painted the male portrait at
the same time, it is also possible that he created this portrait of Dina
Margareta as a pendant to a preexisting portrait of Pieter van der Dussen,
one perhaps even created by a different artist prior to the marriage.[10] Van
Mieris completed Dina Margareta’s portrait only in 1705, two years after
her marriage, perhaps because she had a baby in 1704 and likely had notime to sit for a portrait.[11]In preparation for his portrait, Van Mieris made a rough but precise
preparatory drawing in black chalk, which fortunately is also in the LeidenCollection (fig 2) (WM-107).[12] The drawing’s composition and otherpictorial elements are mostly consistent with those of the painting,although he redirected Dina Margareta’s gaze so she looks out toward theviewer rather than to the left. He also shifted the direction of the sculptureof the cupid and sea monster in much the same manner, somewhat
reinforcing the central focus of this image on Dina Margareta. The mostsignificant alteration to the painting is the addition of the drawing, woodenbox, paintbrushes, and shells on the stone plinth. As these are not typicalattributes for a marriage portrait, the motifs can be considered personal
attributes of this particular young woman. In those days, upper-classwomen often demonstrated their cultural and intellectual capabilities bydrawing or painting. For example, in Arnold Boonen’s marriage portrait ofCatharina Backer, who was likewise from a distinguished family on theRapenburg, the young bride is depicted not only with flowers in a basketbut also with a floral still-life painting on an easel (fig 3).[13] Such objects
probably were meant to convey the same message about Dina Margareta,
who was portrayed as a virtuous woman with a taste for art.

-Junko Aono

© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Dina Margareta de ByePage 5 of 8Endnotes
1. The relief, which is only partially visible, may represent a “Triumph of Bacchus” or a festive
scene of drinking cupids. A depiction of excessive drinking could be interpreted as amoralizing warning and as an encouragement of temperance—one of the virtues expected ofwomen—but the relief could also function simply as a decorative scene of merriment.
2. The RKD (Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie/Netherlands Institute for ArtHistory) archive houses a letter by R. J. te Rijdt dated 24 November 1993, which confirmsthat the inscription is in eighteenth-century script.
3. Genealogical information about this couple is based on Piet Bakker’s unpublished research
into the baptism, marriage, and burial registers in the Regionaal Archief Leiden (RAL) andGemeente-archief Dordrecht (GAD). Dina Margareta’s father, Johan Pauw de Bye(1650–1715), owned Rapenburg 2 and lived there with his family from 1676 until 1715.
According to the marriage register dated 5 May 1703, Dina Margareta resided on theRapenburg: RAL, Arch. no. 1004, inv. no. 28, “Nederlands Hervormd Ondertrouw(1575–1795)”.
4. For this type of portrait, see Eddy de Jongh,Portretten van echt en trouw: Huwelijk en gezin
in de Nederlandse kunst van de zeventiende eeuw (Exh. cat. Haarlem, Frans HalsMuseum) (Zwolle, 1986).
5. After ressettling in Leiden after her husband’s death in 1732, Dina purchased her parents’house on the Rapenburg. According to the estate inventory made after her death in 1740,
she had decorated the large room facing the Rapenburg with “three paintings in gilt frames,that is, one portrait of Mr. and two of Mrs. Van der Dussen.”
6. Eddy de Jongh, Portretten van echt en trouw: Huwelijk en gezin in de Nederlandse kunst
van de zeventiende eeuw (Exh. cat. Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum) (Zwolle, 1986), 55–57,184–91.
7. Eddy de Jongh, Portretten van echt en trouw: Huwelijk en gezin in de Nederlandse kunst
van de zeventiende eeuw (Exh. cat. Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum) (Zwolle, 1986), 33, 36,fig. 28, 63 n. 5; 189–91.
8. Eddy de Jongh, Portretten van echt en trouw: Huwelijk en gezin in de Nederlandse kunst
van de zeventiende eeuw (Exh. cat. Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum) (Zwolle, 1986), 189–91,
no. 38, 244–45; Marjorie E. Wieseman, Caspar Netscher and Late Seventeenth-Century
Dutch Painting (Doornspijk, 2002), 310, no. 215. For a marriage portrait of a woman holding
an orange, see, for example, Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), no. 76.
9. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 2:119,
no. 113; Eddy de Jongh, Portretten van echt en trouw: Huwelijk en gezin in de Nederlandse
kunst van de zeventiende eeuw (Exh. cat. Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum) (Zwolle, 1986),© 2017 The Leiden Collection

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192–94, no. 39; Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris, 1635–1681 (Exh. cat. The Hague,Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art) (New Haven, 2005), 204–6, no. 46.
10. Some portraits by Caspar Netscher have similar compositions and motifs. See, for example,Portrait of a Man (1680, oil on canvas, 48.3 x 39.3 cm, present location unknown): Marjorie
E. Wieseman, Caspar Netscher and Late Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting (Doornspijk,2002), no. 187.
11. Dina may have wished to have a different type of portrait—one as a mother—when she got
pregnant after her marriage, leading her to pose for Van Mieris only after the birth of her childin 1704. The date inscribed on the picture plane has usually been read as “1705.” Although
the last digit is rather unclear and could be read as a 1 instead of a 5, it is less plausible thatthe portrait was made in 1701. Portraits of unmarried women typically did not have acomposition designed for a companion painting to be hung on the left side of the picture. For
examples of such portraits, see Eddy de Jongh, Portretten van echt en trouw: Huwelijk engezin in de Nederlandse kunst van de zeventiende eeuw (Exh. cat. Haarlem, Frans HalsMuseum) (Zwolle, 1986), 73–75, 79–80, 83–86, 93–95, nos. 4, 6, 8, 10.
12. Willem van Mieris made preparatory drawings for his paintings; most of them are the same
size as his paintings. The present drawing, however, is half the size of the final picture. ForWillem van Mieris’s preparatory drawings, see Emke Elen-Clifford Kocq van Breugel,“Tekeningen van Willem van Mieris (1662–1747) in relatie tot zijn schilderijen,” LeidsKunsthistorisch Jaarboek 4 (1985): 152–58.
13. Lunsingh Scheurleer et al., Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht , 6 vols.
and index (Leiden 1986–92), 2:329–36. Catharina (1689–1766), married to the textile
manufacturer and art collector Allard de la Court, indeed made flower paintings. A few
examples survive, such as the one in the Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal. She even madedrawn copies after drawings by Willem van Mieris.

ProvenanceDina Margareta de Bye (1680–1740); by descent in her family to Baron Jules deWyckerslooth de Rooyestein, by 1831; by descent in his family (sale, Sotheby’s,Amsterdam, 17 November 1993, no. 19 [to Johnny van Haeften Ltd., London; to a private
collector, Monte Carlo, 1994]).
Private collection, Monte Carlo (sale, Christie’s, London, 9 July 2003, no. 51, unsold);[Johnny van Haeften Ltd., London, Richard Green, London, and Otto Naumann Ltd., NewYork, 2004].
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2004.
© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Dina Margareta de ByePage 7 of 8Exhibition HistoryLondon, Richard Green Gallery, “The Cabinet Picture: Dutch and Flemish Masters of theSeventeenth Century,” 14 April–7 May 1999 [lent by a private collector, Monte Carlo].

References
Wright, Christopher. The Cabinet Picture: Dutch and Flemish Masters of the SeventeenthCentury. Sales cat. London, Richard Green Gallery. London, 1999, 170–71, 195–96.

Technical Summary
The support, a single plank of vertically grained, rectangular oak, has bevels on all foursides.[1] The unthinned and uncradled panel has machine toolmarks along the upper third andhandwritten inscriptions but no wax seals, import stamps or panel maker’s marks along thereverse.
A light-colored ground has been thinly and evenly applied followed by paint applied smoothly insuccessive thin layers of transparent glazing, with slightly raised low brushmarking along thefigure’s drapery folds, the stonework along the lower left corner, and the drapery swag along theupper left.
No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers.
Compositional differences between the painting and its preparatory drawing (WM-107) include
the addition in the painting of the silk painting along the lower left corner, the paint box, paintfilled seashells, paint brushes, and cut flowers, and the placing of the three putti along the friezecloser together. In addition, in the painting the figure gazes toward the viewer, holds an orange inher proper left hand, and pinches a flower stem between the pointer and thumb of her proper
right hand. In the preparatory drawing, the figure gazes off to the left, holds nothing in her proper
left hand, and holds two flowers stems in her proper right hand. Also, in the painting the fountainincludes one putto blowing a horn facing toward the right. In the preparatory drawing, thefountain includes two putti blowing horns facing toward the left.
The painting is signed and dated in dark paint on a gray rock along the upper right corner.
The painting has not undergone conservation treatment since its acquisition and remains in agood state of preservation.
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Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood is based on visual examination of the X-radiograph andpanel reverse images by Ian Tyers. According to Tyers, the panel has good potential for
dendrochronology.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection