© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Christine van der Wart (1620–66)
Page 2 of 12

Portrait of Christine van der Wart
(1620–66)
Caspar Netscher(Prague or Heidelberg ca. 1639 – 1684 The
Hague)

ca. 1655–56
oil on canvas
93 x 67 cm
inscribed and signed in light paint, lower left:“Aetatis 3[5?] / C. Netscher”
CN-110.e

How to cite
Van Suchtelen, Ariane. “Portrait of Willem Craeyvanger, 1651 & Portrait of Christine van der Wart, ca.
1655-56” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 2nd ed. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York,2017–20.

https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/portrait-of-willem-craeyvangers-wife-christine-van-de-wart/(archived May 2020).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative
occurs.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Christine van der Wart (1620–66)
Page 3 of 12

This entry is about Willem Craeyvanger (1615/1616–after 1666) andComparative Figures

Christine van der Wart (1620–1666). Click here to read about their children.
Willem Craeyvanger and Christine van der Wart of Arnhem had six sons andtwo daughters. In the seventeenth century, such a large family was unusual,
because children often did not survive infancy (they did have one otherdaughter who died at a very young age). In the prime of their lives, theCraeyvangers had portraits painted of themselves and every one of theirsurviving children. Rather than commissioning a group portrait—which would
have been an understandable alternative for a family with so manyoffspring—they chose instead to have individual portraits made. Willem andChristine are depicted half-length and nearly life-size in two pendant
portraits.[1]The portrait of Willem was produced in 1651 by Paulus Lesire (1612–54/56),

Fig 1. Adriaen Hanneman, Portraitof Constantijn Huygens and His
Children, 1640, oil on canvas,
204.2 x 173.9 cm, Mauritshuis,
The Hague, inv. no. 241

a painter active in The Hague.[2] His signature with the age of the sitter,“Aetatis 35,” appears in the left background. The accompanying portrait ofChristine was not executed by Lesire. During the restoration of the painting
carried out in 2009, the signature of Caspar Netscher (ca. 1639–84) was
discovered, along with her age: “Aetatis 35” (at the left in the shadow, barely
visible with the naked eye).[3] Christine’s age reveals that her portrait dates
from 1655 or 1656, since she was born in 1620.[4]For the series of portraits of their children, the Craeyvangers chose anentirely different form of portraiture and a different format. The children werepainted in about 1658 in a collaborative effort by Netscher and his teacher,
Gerard ter Borch (1617–81), who portrayed them in pairs, grouped according
to age, as pendants facing each other. The brothers and sisters are depicted
three-quarter-length, standing, in painted ovals. This exceptional group of
10 portraits was inherited by the second son, Willem Craeyvanger, andsubsequently passed down through the generations, remaining in the family
for nearly 350 years.
The cloth merchant Willem Craeyvanger was 35 years old when he had
himself portrayed by Lesire in 1651. A native of Arnhem, Craeyvanger had
probably taken advantage of a visit to The Hague to have his portrait painted,
presumably because in those years the thinly populated eastern part of thecountry, where he lived, lacked good portrait painters. The only well-known
portraitist in Arnhem, Hendrik Coster (ca. 1620–64), had a rather stiff stylethat made a provincial impression.[5] In comparison, Lesire’s fluently painted
portrait of Willem Craeyvanger radiates stylish elegance.
© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Christine van der Wart (1620–66)
Page 4 of 12

People from the whole of the Dutch Republic, particularly from regions
lacking good portraitists, had their portraits painted whenever they stayed forany length of time in The Hague. They might have been brought there forpolitical reasons, such as representing their province at the meetings of theStates General (the national assembly) or acting as a delegate to one of theother boards or colleges. In the seventeenth century, a number of the portrait
painters active in The Hague had close ties to England and English patrons,
and worked in a fashionable courtly style strongly influenced by Anthony van
Dyck (1599–1641). In the 1640s and 1650s Adriaen Hanneman (ca.
1604–71), who had worked in Van Dyck’s studio in London, created a furor
among the international courtly circles in The Hague with this elegant style ofportraiture. Lesire, a native of Dordrecht, worked in The Hague from around
1643/44 until his death sometime after 1651.[6] No more than a handful of his
portraits from those years have survived.[7] Whereas his early work,
produced in Dordrecht, displays the influence of both Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp(1594–1652) and Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), in The Hague Lesire
assumed the elegant style inspired by the popular Hanneman (fig 1).
Portrait of Willem Craeyvanger was painted swiftly with much attention to thedetails in Willem’s clothing, his shoulder-length hair and his graceful hands.
He holds his left hand to his chest—a gesture perhaps intended to express his
devotion to his wife—while reaching with his other hand toward the armrest of
his chair. His hands are softly modeled, and his fingers are unnaturally longand graceful. His black cloak is draped over his right shoulder and arm. With
his nonchalant hairstyle, thin moustache and goatee, Willem cuts afashionable figure, though his small, flat collar and narrow cuffs do notsuggest a taste for excessive finery. It is not known why Craeyvanger visited
The Hague in 1651, but in any case he took home a valuable souvenir of his
stay there: a portrait that seems to radiate an awareness of his prominencein society. Visitors to his house in Arnhem must have been impressed by his
stylish depiction.
At the time of his visit to The Hague, Craeyvanger had been married toChristine van der Wart for 12 years, and she was expecting their seventhchild. Gerrit, their youngest son, would be baptized on 4 December 1651 in
the Grote Kerk in Arnhem.[8] Perhaps this pregnancy was the reason she did
not accompany her husband to The Hague. In any case, her likeness was
not painted until some time after the completion of Willem’s portrait. Evenso, it must have always been the intention to have her portrait painted as apendant, because Lesire portrayed Willem turned toward her still-to-bepainted likeness. In the heraldic sense, he is on her dexter side, the position© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Christine van der Wart (1620–66)
Page 5 of 12

traditionally reserved for the man. In 1653 and 1655 the youngest
Craeyvanger children were born—two girls, at last (an elder sister had diedyoung)—after which time Christine’s portrait was painted. Although it would
have been natural to have her pendant portrait done by the same artist, theCraeyvangers commissioned Caspar Netscher, who worked in nearby
Deventer, to paint this work. The reasons for this decision are not known:
maybe Lesire had already died by then or perhaps it was impossible for
Christine to travel to Lesire’s studio in The Hague.
One might speculate that the Craeyvangers first approached Gerard ter
Borch for Christine’s portrait since this renowned portraitist was not only
Netscher’s teacher, but had also been working for Arnhem patrons sincearound 1653. In that year, for example, he had painted portraits of Willem
Craeyvanger’s cousin Willem Everwijn and his wife, Johanna Kelffken.[9]Perhaps Ter Borch was unwilling to paint a portrait that conformed toLesire’s likeness of Willem—so unlike his own work in both scale andexecution—and therefore passed the commission on to his talented pupil andstudio assistant. Netscher grew up in Arnhem, where he had learned therudiments of the trade from Coster, but he completed his training with Ter
Borch soon after that master had moved to Deventer from his native Zwollein 1654/55.[10] Netscher would master the refined, small-figure style of his
teacher and continue to work in Ter Borch’s studio until his departure for
Bordeaux in 1659. After his return from France in 1662 he settled in The
Hague, where he painted small-scale portraits for the rest of his career.
If the signature applied in light-colored paint to Christine’s portrait had notbeen discovered, one would hardly guess that Netscher was its maker,
because its size is remarkably large compared with the rest of his oeuvre.[11]The portrait of Christine of 1655 or 1656 is one of Netscher’s earliest known
paintings and a remarkable addition to his early oeuvre.[12] From 1655
onward Netscher occasionally signed his own paintings, even though he wasstill working under his teacher’s supervision. Evidently he had acquired acertain degree of independence in Ter Borch’s studio and was occasionallypermitted to sign his own work. The lack of documentary evidence leaves us
unenlightened with regard to the exact nature of the working relationshipbetween Ter Borch and Netscher. In the seventeenth century, various kindsof contracts between teacher and pupil were possible, depending on suchthings as the pupil’s level of experience and financial means.[13] It is not clear
why Netscher signed the portraits of Christine and the youngest Craeyvanger
children so faintly with a thin application of light-colored paint, making his
name almost illegible. One might speculate that this was a deliberate attempt© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Christine van der Wart (1620–66)
Page 6 of 12

to disguise the fact that the pendants were executed by different artists.[14]Clearly, Netscher did his best to ensure that Christine’s portrait matchedLesire’s likeness of Willem in scale, composition, palette, and its rather
broad brushwork, though with the light falling onto the figure from the rightinstead of the left. The somewhat harsh light falling on her face, with ashadow providing a dark accent below the nose and a dark line dividing thelips, resembles Lesire’s portrayal of Willem. The background, too, is similar:
both portraits display cast shadows and details executed in light brown paint,slightly reminiscent of cloudy skies. Netscher went on to use dark contours in
the rendering of Christine’s hands; her right hand in particular was executedwith rather pastose brushstrokes, which differ from Lesire’s soft modeling ofWillem’s hands. Over her black dress Christine wears a double collar oftranslucent white linen that falls far below her shoulders. The lowest layer ofthe collar is decorated with strips of lace and tied closed with small whitebows and a black rosette, as was the fashion in the 1650s.[15] Her cuffs, too,consist of various transparent layers of starched linen. Christine holds up her
dress with her left hand and rests her right hand on a red-upholsteredarmrest. Her hair is tied back beneath a black cap; long pendants inlaid with
precious stones are attached to the ends of the cap brooch. Seen together,
these pendants form a striking whole.
Who were Willem Craeyvanger and Christine van der Wart, who hadthemselves and their children immortalized with such apparent faith in the
future? Since the discovery of their portraits in 2009, numerous details of
their lives and their respective families have been found in the archives ofArnhem, Nijmegen and surroundings.[16] The documentary evidence
suggests that the couple—both typical representatives of the upper middle
class—prospered for a long time, and that Willem Craeyvanger played aprominent role in Arnhem’s public life. Willem, the third son of Johan
Craeyvanger and Naleken Sluisken, must have been born in 1615 or 1616,
according to the inscription on his portrait. Christine van der Wart was anative of Nijmegen, where she was baptized in the Stevenskerk on 16
September 1620.[17] Christine’s mother was the daughter of Peter
Verstegen, town secretary of Arnhem; one of her mother’s brothers was
married to an aunt of Willem. Evidently Willem had become acquainted withhis bride in the family circle. Willem and Christine, both from Protestantfamilies, married on 20 November 1639.
In 1640, at the age of 24, Willem Craeyvanger was first appointed to public
office in Arnhem,[18] after which he steadily climbed the social ladder. Many
© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Christine van der Wart (1620–66)
Page 7 of 12

important posts were to follow, though he never secured a top administrative
office as magistrate or burgomaster. He held various offices in, for instance,
the Guild of St. Nicholas—the merchants’ guild, whose 400 members made it
the largest guild in the city. He also fulfilled administrative functions in one of
Arnhem’s civic militias,[19] organizations originally intended to help defend thecity. In addition, he was a member of the elite St. Joost civic militia. Between
1644 and 1663, he served twice as deacon of the Reformed Church andafterwards was twice appointed an elder.[20] For Craeyvanger, an important
step upward was his honorable appointment in 1647 to membership in theprestigious Brotherhood of St. Nicholas, a charitable organization thatadministered poor relief. This appointment occurred several years before he
had his portrait painted in 1651.
In 1662 Craeyvanger was appointed by the town council to the office of town
treasurer, after working for three years as assistant to the previous treasurer;
one of his duties in this capacity was to collect various city taxes. This post
could have been a stepping-stone to higher government offices, but
Craeyvanger overplayed his hand. Although he was rather wealthy—for one
reason because he had inherited money from both his own family and that ofhis wife—financial recklessness got him into trouble. In the end he lost his
fortune, and as a result his social position.
In March 1666 Craeyvanger went bankrupt and absconded from Arnhem,leaving his wife and children behind, destitute. His possessions largely went
to his creditors, except for the family portraits, which apparently had nomonetary value to outsiders. To compound the family’s misfortunes,
Christine died five months after her husband declared bankruptcy. She waspossibly a victim of the plague, which swept through Arnhem in August 1666.
The children, then between the ages of 11 and 25, could not even afford the
few guilders needed to have the church bells rung at her burial. The strickenfamily fell apart, but their portraits remained together. Inherited by the second
son, Willem, they were passed down from one generation to the next for
more than three centuries.

- Ariane van Suchtelen, 2017

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Christine van der Wart (1620–66)
Page 8 of 12

Endnotes

1. The portraits of Willem Craeyvanger and Christine van der Wart were once lined, but theirlinings were removed during the restoration recently carried out by Patrick Corbett in London
at the request of Johnny van Haeften, who acquired the pictures at the sale of 6 May 2009.
The portraits were registered in 1939 by Dr. H. Schneider for the Iconographic Bureau, The
Hague (IB nos. 39669 and 39673).
2. On Paulus Lesire, see the biography in this catalogue and Werner Sumowski, Gemälde derRembrandt-Schüler, 6 vols. (Landau and Pfalz, 1983–94), 3: 1711–43; Edwin Buijsen, et.al.,Haagse schilders in de gouden eeuw (The Hague, 1998), 324. Closely related to the portraitof Willem Craeyvanger are Lesire’s pendant portraits of the Tiel burgomaster Albert van Lidthde Jeude and his wife, likewise of 1651 (Flipje en Streekmuseum, Tiel, not published by
Sumowski). The Departure of Henriette Maria from Scheveningen in 1643 (Werner
Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, 6 vols. [Landau and Pfalz, 1983–94], no. 1162)
of 1644 is the earliest known painting produced by Lesire in The Hague (art dealer P. de
Boer, Amsterdam, 2011).
3. In Christie’s sale catalogue (Amsterdam, 6 May 2009), the portrait of Christine was attributed
to Paulus Lesire, but Netscher’s signature was discovered during the restoration carried out
by Patrick Corbett in London at the request of Johnny van Haeften, who acquired the picturesat the sale of 6 May 2009.
4. Regionaal Archief Nijmegen, Doopregisters (baptismal registers), RBS 1164/187.
5. On Coster, see Rudolf E. O. Ekkart, “Gelderse portretten en portrettisten: Hendrick Coster,”in Gelderse Gezichten: drie eeuwen portretkunst in Gelderland 1550–1850, eds. Johan Carel
Bierens de Haan, Peter van der Coelen, and Rudolf E. O. Ekkart (Exh. cat. Nijmegen, Valkhof
Museum) (Zwolle, 2002), 60–63.
6. Paulus Lesire’s date of death is unknown, but his last dated works were produced in 1651.
Lesire’s Portrait of a Man in Armor from the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Metz (inv. no. 11423;
Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, 6 vols. [Landau and Pfalz, 1983–94],
no. 1161) was previously considered his last painting, because it supposedly bears the date
1654 or 1656. Closer inspection (under a microscope) has shown, however, that the dateshould be read as 1650 (with thanks to Raphaël Mariani, Metz).
7. Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, 6 vols. (Landau and Pfalz, 1983–94),
nos. 1158–62, and the portraits of the Tiel burgomaster Albert van Lidth de Jeude and his
wife, of 1651 (Flipje en Streekmuseum, Tiel, not published by Sumowski).
8. 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© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Christine van der Wart (1620–66)
Page 9 of 12

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, and Deaths), theregisters 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 ofdecisions taken by the magistrates and their summaries in the protocols of conveyances andmortgages, 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, idemof the Brotherhood of St. Nicholas, idem of the guilds, idem of the Orphanage, the armorialsof the St. Joost civic guard and the Brotherhood of St. Luke, all in Arnhem, and the records ofsentences 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).
9. Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), nos. 103 and 104,
Stichting Brantsen van de Zyp, Arnhem, since 2010.
10. See Netscher’s biography in this catalogue; see also Marjorie E. Wieseman, Caspar Netscherand Late Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting (Doornspijk, 2002), 23–35.
11. For the only other large-scale portraits in Netscher’s oeuvre, see Marjorie E
Wieseman, Caspar Netscher and Late Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting (Doornspijk,
2002), nos. 19 and 201.
12. On Netscher’s early career, see Marjorie E. Wieseman, “The Craeyvanger Portraits inContext–Shedding Light on Caspar Netscher’s Early Career,” Oud Holland 127 (2014):
31–47.
13. Cf. Ronald de Jager, “Meester, leerjongen, leertijd: Een analyse van zeventiende-eeuwse
Noord-Nederlandse leerlingcontracten van kunstschilders, goud- en zilversmeden,” Oud
Holland 104 (1990): 69–111.
14. Marjorie E. Wieseman, “The Craeyvanger Portraits in Context–Shedding Light on Caspar
Netscher’s Early Career,” Oud Holland 127 (2014): 41, n. 11. The signatures have become
even more difficult to read over time, owing to abrasion and the formation of craquelure (withthanks to Petria Noble).
15. Cf., for example, Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60),
nos. 38, 104, 106, 108, 118, 134, 135, 159, 160, 163, 175, 178, 180, 182, 184, 186, 196, and210; Marjorie E. Wieseman, Caspar Netscher and Late Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting(Doornspijk, 2002), no. 3.
© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Christine van der Wart (1620–66)
Page 10 of 12

16. 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, and Deaths), theregisters 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 ofdecisions taken by the magistrates and their summaries in the protocols of conveyances andmortgages, 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, idemof the Brotherhood of St. Nicholas, idem of the guilds, idem of the Orphanage, the armorialsof the St. Joost civic guard and the Brotherhood of St. Luke, all in Arnhem, and the records ofsentences 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).
17. Regionaal Archief Nijmegen, Doopregisters (baptismal registers), RBS 1164/187.
18. At this time he became a “gemeensman” (Gelders Archief, Raadsignaten 1640–66), i. e., amember of the council of the “sworn community” (“gezworen gemeente”). This council
played an advisory role in the Arnhem city government.
19. Craeyvanger was recorded in 1646 as the standard-bearer of the Bakkerstraatvendel; in 1651
he was a lieutenant; and in 1661 he became a captain (hopman), which meant that at one
time or other he held every administrative office in the organization.
20. Gelders Archief, Archief Nederlands Hervormde Kerk, access 2179, Acta van de kerkenraad(documents of the church council) 1640–66, inv. 1 and 2. Lidmatenlijsten (members of thecongregation), inv. 86 and 87.

Provenance
Willem Craeyvanger (1615/16–after 1666) and Christine van der Wart (1620–66), Arnhem; bydescent to their second son, Willem Craeyvanger (1643–after 1712) and Maria van Ommen;by descent to 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,© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Christine van der Wart (1620–66)
Page 11 of 12

Willem Craeyvanger (born ca. 1762), and Sophia Florentina Hovij (1751–1830); by descent totheir second son, Lodewijk Craeyvanger (1788–1859), and Maria Alexandrina Kennedy(1793–1871), Utrecht; by descent to their son Willem Craeyvanger (1820–73) 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 the family 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 andstudio [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 permanentcollection [lent by the present owner].
The Hague, Mauritshuis, 10 February 2010–16 January 2011, on loan with the permanentcollection [lent by the present owner].
Nijmegen, Museum het Valkhof, March–December 2011, on loan with the permanentcollection [lent by the present owner].
Istanbul, Sak?p Sabanc? Museum, “Rembrandt and His Contemporaries: The Golden Age ofDutch Art,” 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– [lentby the present 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.
© 2020 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Portrait of Christine van der Wart (1620–66)
Page 12 of 12

Wuestman, Gerdien, ed. Rembrandt and His Contemporaries: The Golden Age of Dutch Art.
Exh. cat. Istanbul, Sak?p Sabanc? Museum. Istanbul, 2012, 48–51, nos. 9–18.
Van Suchtelen, Ariane, and Menno Potjer. “De Arnhemse familie Craeyvanger: eenbijzondere 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.

Technical Summary
The half-length Portrait of Christine van der Wart painted by the artist Caspar Netscher and thehalf-length portrait of her husband, Willem Craeyvanger, painted by the artist Paulus Lesire are
executed on similarly sized, unlined fabric supports and both paintings are signed and inscribed inlight paint.
The Portrait of Christine van der Wart, the mother of the eight Craeyvanger children (CN-110.a–d
and GB-111.a–d), is signed and inscribed: “Aetatis 3[5?] / C. Netscher” in barely discernible lightcolored paint along the lower left. The last digit of the inscription bearing her age appears to be a
5 although it is difficult to make out. Based on her baptism in 1620, together with the inscription, adate of 1655 or 1656 is proposed, making her portrait one of Netscher’s earliest known works.[1]The Portrait of Willem Craeyvanger, the father of the eight Craeyvanger children, is inscribed,
signed, and dated in light-colored paint along the center of the left side: “Aetatis 35. /P. Lesire. /1651. Fecit.”
Neither portrait has undergone conservation treatment since its acquisition in 2009 and both
portraits remain in a good state of preservation.[2]Technical Summary Endnotes

1. A.

van

Suchtelen,“Dehelefamilie

Craeyvanger/The

Craeyvanger

FamilyAll

Together,” Mauritshuis in Focus 23 (2010): 23.
2. Entry based on technical examination report by Petria Noble, head of conservation,
Mauritshuis, The Hague, and Oleg Karuvits during his internship as part of the Conservation
and Restoration program at the University of Amsterdam, 2009–10.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection