Frans van Mieris the Elder and His Four Leiden Patrons

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Bakker, Piet. "Frans van Mieris the Elder and His Four Leiden Patrons." In The Leiden Collection
Catalogue. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017.
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Frans van Mieris the Elder and His Four Leiden Patrons
Page 2 of 18

After Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69) moved to Amsterdam in 1631, his

Comparative Figurespupil Gerrit Dou (1613–75) soon took over his master’s prominent position
as Leiden’s leading painter.[1] Dou’s meticulous and detailed manner ofpainting exerted a great influence on scores of young and ambitious local
artists. Only one of them, however, ever attained his high level: Frans van
Mieris the Elder (1635–81), “the prince of his pupils,” who, according toDou, “carried off the crown from them all” (fig 1).[2] Van Mieris’s work, likethat of his master, was exclusively in the reach of the elite and, given theprices he commanded, only the very wealthiest of them. This essay
examines these buyers, specifically the four whom Houbraken deemed tobe the artist’s most important patrons: Isaac Gerard (1616–94),
Franciscus de le Boë Sylvius (1614–72), Cornelis Paets (1636–94), andthe mysterious “Vredenburg.”[3].

Fig 1. Frans van Mieris the Elder,
Self-Portrait as a Painter, 1667,
oil on panel, 17.7 x 13.3 cm,
Polesden Lacey, Surrey, The
National Trust

Van Mieris vis-à-vis Dou
Van Mieris initially worked in the style of his master; his Kitchen Maid
Drawing Water from a Well made before 1655 is even a literal copy of an
original by Dou.[4] He most likely produced other early work while in Dou’s
workshop, including Elderly Couple in an Interior from The Leiden
Collection (FM-100) (fig 2). After 1658, the year Van Mieris joined the
Leiden Guild of Saint Luke, however, he increasingly distanced himself
from his teacher. Though he still derived subjects from Dou, he now drew
inspiration from the Haarlem genre painter Adriaen van Ostade (1610–85),
whose work found particular favor in Leiden.[5] Other important influenceswere his fellow townsmen Quiringh van Brekelenkam (ca. 1622–69 orafter) (see: Fisherman and His Wife in an Interior , QB-100, in The Leiden

Fig 2. Frans van Mieris the
Elder, Elderly Couple in an
Interior, FM-100

Collection (fig 3)), with whom he had worked as a pupil in Dou’s workshop
for some time, and Gabriel Metsu (1629–67) (see: Old Woman at Her
Meal in an Interior, GM-102, in the The Leiden Collection) (fig 4)).
Moreover, he and his good friend Jan Steen (1625/26–79), who had
returned to Leiden from Delft in 1657, mutually influenced each other. Van
Mieris based his various versions of Oyster Meal on Steen’s somewhat
earlier Girl Eating Oysters now in The Hague, while Steen derived his
variations of Doctor’s Visit from Van Mieris’s famous “prototype” in Vienna(fig 5). Van Mieris’s definitive break with his master’s style, however, canFig 3. Quiringh van
Brekelenkam, Fisherman and His
Wife in an Interior, QB-100

be credited to Gerard ter Borch (1617-81), whose genre paintings ofprosperous figures in elegant interiors had a substantial impact on Van
Mieris.[6] Van Mieris must have already been quite familiar with Ter© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Frans van Mieris the Elder and His Four Leiden Patrons
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Borch’s work in the 1650s, judging from the affinity between his Child’s
Lesson (FM-102) (fig 6) from the second half of the 1650s and Ter
Borch’s The Reading Lesson from just after 1650 (fig 7).[7]Van Mieris lived up to Dou’s expectations and, already quite early in his
career, gained a reputation equal to and sometimes even surpassing thatof his master. For instance, Cornelis de Bie’s comment in 1661 that
whoever sees a picture by Van Mieris “has the work of Dou in mind,”underscores the parity between the two painters.[8] The Amsterdam city
physician Jan Sysmus, in about 1670, even deemed Van Mieris to be“better than Dou.”[9] The view that Van Mieris eclipsed his teacher was

Fig 4. Gabriel Metsu, Old Woman
at Her Meal in an Interior,
GM-102also held by the Frenchman Roger de Piles, who noted in hisLa vie despeintres of about 1695 that Van Mieris improved on Dou particularly withrespect to composition and coloration.[10] Gerard de Lairesse (1641–1711)
also estimated Van Mieris above Dou in some respects: “Francis Mieris
has not only curiously followed his master Gerrard Dou, in the elegant
modern manner, but is, in some things, his superior.”[11]Surprisingly, however, much as with Dou, extant estate inventories inLeiden and other cities do not list many of Van Mieris’s paintings andprovide little documentation about his reputation. His name does notfeature among the twenty-five most mentioned artists in Tables 2 and 3 inthe essay on the Leiden fijnschilders. Of the 258 Leiden estate inventories
used for this research, only ten list works by Van Mieris.[12] This seeming
anomaly is not as strange as it might initially appear, for Van Mieris’s work,

Fig 5. Frans van Mieris the Elder,
The Doctor’s Visit, 1657, oil on
panel, 34 x 27 cm.,
Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Viennalike that of Dou, was so expensive that only a select few could afford to buyit.

Isaac Gerard and the Price of Van Mieris’s
Work
Van Mieris was one of the best-paid painters in the Dutch Republic.
Attestations of this fact are found primarily in literary sources, and theygenerally touch on the exorbitant amounts that foreign princes were willingto pay for his work. These were often substantially higher than thevaluations given in the estate inventories of burghers and dealers.[13] Of
the more than 750 paintings evaluated in the 258 Leiden estateFig 6. Frans van Mieris the Elder,Child’s Lesson, FM-102

inventories, only 22 were worth 100 or more guilders. Of this modest
number, 15 works—including the three most valuable ones, all by Van© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Frans van Mieris the Elder and His Four Leiden Patrons
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Mieris—were the property of a single individual. The owner of this first-ratecollection was Isaac Gerard, one of the four patrons of Van Mieris
mentioned by Houbraken in his Schouburgh.[14] Gerard, a bachelor, was afabulously

wealthymerchantwithbusinesses

inLeidenandAmsterdam.[15] He was also a member of the vroedschap, or town council.
He lived in Leiden in a splendid house at 24 Rapenburg that had formerly
been the property of the banker Francois Tortarolis, from whose heirs
Isaac Gerard bought it in 1654 for the steep price of 25,000 guilders.[16]Little else is known about him, but the estate he left behind in 1694
confirms that Houbraken was right—Gerard was a great aficionado of Van
Mieris.[17] Among the close to two hundred paintings with a total value ofmore than 6,100 guilders, five were by Van Mieris, three of which were theFig 7. Gerard ter Borch, The
Reading Lesson, ca. 1652, oil on
panel, 27 x 25 cm, Musée du
Louvre, Paris, Département desPeintures, Bequest of Louis La
Caze, 1869, MI 1006, Photo:
Gérard Blot. © RMN-Grand
Palais / Art Resource, NY

most highly valued of them all. “Een stuckje daer osters gegeten warden”(A picture in which oysters are being eaten), possibly The Oyster Meal in
St. Petersburg (fig 8), was valued at 750 guilders by the painter Jacob
Toorenvliet (1640–1719) and the art dealer Cornelis Berckhey; “eenslapent mannetje” (a man sleeping), possibly The Sleeping Officer in
Munich (fig 9), at 660 guilders; and “een stuckie met drie figuurties” (apicture with three figures) at 500 guilders.[18] No such high valuations
occur in any of the other Leiden estate inventories. Moreover, the fourthmost expensive painting was also the property of Gerard, “eennagtstuckie” (a nocturnal scene) by Gerrit Dou worth 300 guilders
according to the appraisers. Whether these generous amounts correspondto the prices Gerard actually paid for the works is not certain. Gerard’s
inventory dates from 1697, long after the death of both Dou and Van
Mieris, and in a period when their work fetched record prices at auction.[19]Fig 8. Frans van Mieris the Elder,
The Oyster Meal, 1659, oil on
panel , 44.5 x 34.5 cm, The State
Hermitage Museum, St.
Petersburg, ГЭ-917, Photograph© The State Hermitage Museum.
Photo by Vladimir Terebenin

Franciscus de le Boë Sylvius
The most important of the four patrons mentioned by Houbraken in his
biography of Van Mieris was Franciscus de le Boë Sylvius, who also
features elsewhere in this catalogue as a benefactor of Dou (fig 10).
Originally of French-Flemish origins, Sylvius was born in Hanau, Germany
in 1614 to the merchant Isaac de le Boë (1588–1643) and Anna Vignet (d.
1648). He moved to Leiden to study medicine in 1634.[20] Disappointed
with the academic climate, he left the following year and went on to obtaina doctoral degree in Basel, before returning to Leiden in 1638 as aprofessor. This second sojourn too was short lived, for he moved toFig 9. Frans van Mieris the Elder,© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Frans van Mieris the Elder and His Four Leiden Patrons
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Amsterdam in 1641 and opened what proved to be a highly successful
and profitable physician’s practice. There, in 1649, he married Anna deLigne (1626–57), the youngest daughter of the wealthy grain merchant
Abraham de Ligne and Catharina de Willem.[21]Sleeping Officer in an Inn, ca.
1666, oil on panel, 42.5 x 33 cm,
Alte Pinakothek, Bayerische
Staatsgemaeldesammlungen,
Munich, Inv. Nr. 241. Photo
Credit: bpk, Berlin / Art Resource,NY

After the death of his wife in 1657, Sylvius accepted a position as
professor of medicine in Leiden for an honorarium of 1,800 guilders per
year, twice what his colleagues received. By then his reputation extended
far beyond the Dutch Republic. For instance, a German student
commended “Sir Dr. Sylvio […] [for] his erudition, which brought him fameunequaled in Holland and Germany. All of the great men in Europe sought
his council and gave him lavish gifts.”[22] Foreign scholars who spent sometime in Leiden also spoke of him with respect. The Danish scholar Ole
Borch (1626–90), who was in Leiden between 1661 and 1663, tookdetailed notes of Sylvius’s lectures and the chemistry experiments heconducted in his laboratory at his house on the Rapenburg. Borch also
wrote extensively about his discussions with Sylvius.[23] Borch, thus, wasspeaking from first-hand experience when he lavished praise on Sylvius,
extolling his character in a letter in 1661 to the Danish physicist and

Fig 10. Cornelis van Dalen,
Portrait of Franciscus de le Boë
Sylvius, 1659, engraving (fourthstate), 306 x 238 mm, British
Museum, London, 1864,0714.17,© Trustees of the British Museum

mathematician Thomas Bartholinus (1616–80).[24]Sylvius was a great art lover, who at the time of his death in 1672 left
behind 185 pictures, though whether he personally purchased them all is
unknown. For example, research on his second wife, Margareta Lucretia(ca. 1647–69) makes it clear that her contribution to the collection was
significantly larger than has hitherto been assumed. Not only did sheinherit family portraits, but presumably also the portraits of Queen
Christina of Sweden, and of Martin Luther and his wife, as well as theportrait of King Charles I of England by Anthony van Dyck (1599–1640).
The picture by Adam Elsheimer (1578–1610) described in the estate
inventory as “een groot Duyts landschap” (a large German landscape)most likely also came from her father’s estate.[25]Fig 11. Frans van Mieris the
Elder, Portrait of Florentius
Schuyl (1619–1669), 1666, oil on
copper, on panel, 21.3 x 16.5 cm,
Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis,
The Hague

Margareta Lucretia was the daughter of Johann Friedrich Schlezer(1609/10–ca. 1673), from Mecklenburg, and Maria Tentenier (d. 1648), of
Utrecht.[26] Her mother hailed from a family of merchants that had gained
entry into Utrecht’s patriciate. Her father was born to a distinguished
Lutheran family, several members of which moved in the social circles
around the Swedish court.[27] Johann’s father, as well as his grandfather,© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Frans van Mieris the Elder and His Four Leiden Patrons
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had been the personal physician of the Swedish king, and his brother
Adolf was ambassador of Brandenburg in Stockholm. Schlezer came to
the Dutch Republic to read mathematics at the Leiden Academy in
1629.[28] He continued his study in Rostock, but was back in Leiden once
more in 1634 as a student of mathematics.[29]Schlezer was in Utrecht in 1641 and 1644, perhaps serving as a diplomat.
His compatriot and a co-student from his Leiden years, Martinus Tancken,
who assisted him in drawing up his wedding contract in Utrecht in 1641,
stated that he was an envoy of the Danish crown in The Hague. Schlezer
was, in any event, a diplomatic agent between 1644 and 1658, and took
part in many important missions as “secretaris van de Geheime Kamer”(secretary of the Privy Council) in the service of Elector Frederick William I(1620–88) of Brandenburg. Schlezer seems to have played a key role in
1646 in the wedding negotiations between the Great Elector and Louise
Henriette of Nassau (1627–67), daughter of Stadholder Frederik Hendrik

Fig 12. Frans van Mieris the
Elder, Double Portrait ofFranciscus de le Boë Sylvius and
His Wife, known as “The Music
Lesson,” 1672, panel with arched
top, 41 x 31 cm, Staatliche
Kunstsammlungen,Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister,
Dresden, 1743

and Amalia van Solms. Margareta Lucretia Schlezer was born in Kleve,
which probably indicates that she was born soon after the electoral
wedding, since Frederick William and his bride spent the first years of theirmarriage in that city.[30] Schlezer later served as ambassador on behalf ofBrandenburg in Hamburg in 1651, and again in London in 1655.[31]Some art historians believe that Sylvius and Van Mieris enjoyed arelationshipsimilartothat

between

PieterSpiering

andDou.[32] Houbraken, however, writes that Van Mieris “regularly requested
that any work that he [Van Mieris] created might be for him, or that hemight be granted the privilege of paying a price commensurate with what
another [collector] had already offered.”[33] Words such as “dikwerf”(regularly), “verzogt” (requested), and “mogt wezen” (might be) are not

Fig 13. Frans van Mieris the
Elder, The Cloth Shop, 1660, oil
on panel, 55 x 43 cm,
Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Viennaindicative of an existing situation, but rather a desired one.[34] It is also
highly questionable whether Sylvius could afford the kind of financial
agreement that existed between Dou and Spiering. There is no doubt that
he was wealthy, but whether he was rich enough to pay 500 guilders ayear for the right of first refusal is unlikely.[35] That Sylvius greatly admired
Van Mieris’s work, however, is evident: at his death he owned no fewer
than seven pictures by the artist. Still, that is four fewer than by Dou.
Patronage involved more than buying works of art; there were other waysof promoting one’s protégé. For instance, Sylvius ensured that Van Mieris© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Frans van Mieris the Elder and His Four Leiden Patrons
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gained entry into his scholarly network. This is suggested by the portraits
Van Mieris made of two professors, Florentius Schuyl (1619–69) (fig 10)
and Francois Gomarus (ca. 1615–69), the latter of which is known only
from his estate inventory.[36] In 1722, a double portrait of Sylvius andwife (fig 12) was in the possession of Maria Justina Kraij, the only

Fig 14. Frans van Mieris the
Elder, A Sleeping Courtesan,
1669, oil on copper, 27.5 x 22.5
cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence,
inv. 1890, no. 1263, © 2015.
Photo Scala, Florence -courtesyof the Ministero Beni e Att.
Culturalitraceable Haarlem owner of a work by Van Mieris.[37] Since she possessed
several more pictures by Van Mieris, as well as paintings by other Leiden
artists, it is plausible that she, or her parents, inherited them from a relativein Leiden.[38] A suitable candidate is Susanna Claessens, Maria’s greataunt and the wife of Paulus Barbette, a famous physician who died in
Amsterdam in 1665.[39] Barbette admired Sylvius greatly and knew him
well.[40] No inventory of his estate was made after his death, but one thatwas drawn up when his widow passed away seven years later mentions“de print van Silvius” (the print of Sylvius), which probably refers to a
portrait print by Cornelis van Dalen of 1659 (fig 11).[41] Although there isno direct indication that Barbette was the original owner of Van Mieris’s
double portrait of Silvius and his wife, given the family relationship heseems ideally suited for ordering an expensive portrait of someone heknew well, but who was not a relative.

Fig 15. Frans van Mieris the
Elder, “Self-Portrait” with a
Plumed Beret, FM-108

Sylvius sometimes mediated actively on behalf of Van Mieris. Houbraken
writes that in 1660 Van Mieris “through the grace of the gentlemanmentioned, his patron [Sylvius]” had the opportunity to paint a picture forArchduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614–62), which became one of theArchduke’s favorite paintings: “a beautiful woman in a silk cloth shop, andan officer,” presently known as The Cloth Shop (fig 13).[42] The
commission could have radically altered the course of Van Mieris’s career.
Not only did he receive the astonishingly high sum of 1,000 guilders for thework, but he was also invited to become Leopold’s court painter in Vienna
for a staggering annual stipend of 2,500 guilders.[43] The painter thanked
the Archduke most kindly for this signal honor, but asserted that he was

Fig 16. Frans van Mieris the
Elder, Portrait of Agatha Paets,
1665, oil on panel, 27 x 21.5 cm,
private collection, United Statescompelled to decline because his wife was unwilling to leave Leiden. The
truth of the matter, however, was that Van Mieris did not lack in profitablecommissions in Leiden and therefore felt no acute need to leave hishometown.
Van Mieris found favor with yet another princely admirer: Cosimo III de’
Medici (1642–1723). In 1667 and 1669—before succeeding his father asGrand Duke of Tuscany in 1670—Cosimo made two incognito trips to the© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Frans van Mieris the Elder and His Four Leiden Patrons
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Dutch Republic, during which he met many magistrates, scholars andartists.[44] He also visited Sylvius’s home on the Rapenburg, which isprobably where he first became acquainted with Van Mieris’s
paintings.[45] It also seems likely that Sylvius actually introduced the artist
to Cosimo. During the 1669 trip, Cosimo collected the paintings he hadordered from Van Mieris the previous year, likely The Sleeping
Courtesan (fig 14) and The Quacksalver, both in the Uffizi in
Florence.[46] Van Mieris was not the only Leiden fijnschilder whom Cosimo
held in high esteem.[47] He also visited Gerrit Dou, from whom he probably
bought Woman Making Pancakes.[48] This notwithstanding, the future
Grand Duke seems to have been impressed most by Van Mieris, whom heengaged to produce another five paintings in the years after his return toFlorence. Van Mieris was renowned for his self-portraits, such as the one
in The Leiden Collection in which he expresses surprise (fig 15). It is, thus,
not surprising that one of the paintings Cosimo ordered was a self-portrait
for his gallery of European celebrities.[49]Cornelis Paets and the Mysterious“Vredenburg”
While staying in Leiden, Cosimo also called on Cornelis Paets and took atour of his splendid picture collection. He was particularly struck by “acabinet picture depicting a young lady in a swoon, along with a doctor, andan old woman weeping” (fig 5).[50] Van Mieris had begun this painting in
1663. In that year French envoy Balthasar de Monconys had called on Van
Mieris and found him at work on it. He was astonished to hear that Van
Mieriswantedcompleted.

[51]

1,200

guilders

for

the

piece

once

it

was

According to Houbraken, Paets had agreed to pay Van

Mieris 6 guilders for every hour he worked on it (this is the famousDoctor’s
Visit now in Los Angeles).[52] This agreement ultimately cost Paets a
staggering 1,500 guilders, or 300 guilders more than the already
exorbitant initial amount. Cosimo was eager to acquire the work andoffered Paets twice as much for it, an enticement to which Paets did not
succumb.
Unfortunately, no inventory of Paets’s collection has been preserved.
Nevertheless, it enjoyed such renown that Cosimo visited his home on theBreestraat to see the works.[53] On this occasion Cosimo surely admired
the stunning portrait of Agatha van Couwenhoven (fig 16), Paets’s wife,© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Frans van Mieris the Elder and His Four Leiden Patrons
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which Van Mieris had painted in 1665 and which in Houbraken’s time washeld to be “one of his most skillful paintings in this country.”[54]Paets seems to have granted commissions primarily to Van Mieris.
Indications that he also served as an agent, like Sylvius, have not beenfound, although such a role cannot be definitively excluded. Van Mieris
may have owed the commission for the portrait of Allard van
Couwenhoven, Agatha’s father, to Cornelis Paets.[55] Paets was Van
Mieris’s contemporary and had known him since his youth. According to
Houbraken, Paets was a fervent amateur painter and had received
instruction in drawing from Van Mieris. Paets’s involvement with andencouragement of painting (which had landed him in a deep crisis)
became apparent yet again shortly after Van Mieris’s death in 1681, when
Paets helped found a drawing academy.[56]The fourth patron mentioned by Houbraken in his Schouburgh is a certain“Vredenburg,” about whom he offers no further details. Since the only
“Vredenburg” living in Leiden after mid-century was the notary Willem van
Vredenburch (ca. 1621–64), he is generally assumed to be the individual
Houbraken had in mind. On first consideration, he does appear to be an
excellent candidate. The Dou follower Adriaen van Gaesbeeck (1621–50)
was Van Vredenburch’s brother-in-law and could have stimulated his
interest in fijnschilder art. On the other hand, however, the notary had
neither an extensive network of contacts nor the kind of wealth that would
allow him to buy paintings from Van Mieris on a regular basis.[57] In fact, it
is doubtful whether he was in a position to acquire even one work by Van
Mieris; the four Leiden estate owners with only a single work by the artist
were, in any case, much richer than Van Vredenburch.[58] The only otherperson from Leiden who could vie for the designation “Maecenas” was themerchant Alexander de Koninck from Zeeland. In 1681 five undescribed
paintings by Van Mieris hung in his house on the Nieuwe Rijn.[59]In light of all this, the “Vredenburg” cited by Houbraken was probably
someone who was not from Leiden. A suitable contender might be Gerard
van Vredenburch (ca. 1640–90), who came from a wealthy Rotterdam
regent family and was closely related to Cornelis Paets. Prior to his
successful career in the Rotterdam town council, Van Vredenburch hadstudied law in Leiden in the early 1660s.[60] Upon his return to Rotterdam
in 1665, he married Maria van Couwenhoven, a first cousin of Agatha van© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Frans van Mieris the Elder and His Four Leiden Patrons
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Couwenhoven, the wife of Cornelis Paets.[61] Van Vredenburch surely
knew Van Mieris’s portrait of Agatha mentioned above, given that in May
1667 he was staying with Paets in Leiden to witness the baptism of his
nephew Allard Paets. He could also have been exposed to Van Mieris’s
work through his uncle, namely Agatha’s father, for the fabulously wealthy
Allard van Couwenhoven had his likeness limned by Van Mieris.[62] When
the Rotterdam city secretary and owner of more than 140 pictures died in
1683, this portrait was in his house at the Wijnhaven, together with works
by Jan Both (1615/18–52), Balthasar van der Helst (1613–70), Rembrandt
van Rijn (1606–69), and Jan Lievens (1607–74), among others.[63] Van
Vredenburch’s grandson, Willem Paets (1665–1740), inherited theportrait, and it was returned to Leiden, where it hung—until Willem was oldenough—in the house of Cornelis Paets, doubtless in the vicinity of
Agatha’s likeness.[64] It is therefore entirely plausible that the “Vredenburg”
described by Houbraken was someone not from Leiden, but rather from
Rotterdam. Nevertheless, so long as information is lacking about the
pictures owned by Gerard van Vredenburch or other members of thiswealthy Rotterdam brewers’ family, this identification remains hypothetical.
- Piet Bakker© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Frans van Mieris the Elder and His Four Leiden Patrons
Page 11 of 18

Endnotes
1. See the essays on Dou and the Leiden fijnschilders in this catalogue.
2. Den Prins van zyne Leerlingen … de kroon van hun allen weg droeg.” Arnold Houbraken,De grooteschouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen , 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed.,The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1980) 3:2.
3. Equally important for Van Mieris’s career was Cosimo III de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, but he canbe discussed only briefly here. For his role as Van Mieris’s patron in the 1670s, see the painter’s biography
in this catalogue.
4. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:43.
5. See Tables 2 and 3 in the essay on the Leiden fijnschilders and the local art market in this catalogue.
6. Quentin Buvelot, “De reputatie van Frans van Mieris,” in Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris
1635–1681 (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington, National Gallery of Art) (Zwolle, 2005), 15;
Otto Naumann, “Frans van Mieris’ Personal Style,” in Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681(Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington, National Gallery of Art) (Zwolle, 2005), 33.
7. Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681 (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington,
National Gallery of Art) (Zwolle, 2005), 15, 104–6, no. 12.
8. Voor ’t werck van Dau beooght.” Cornelis de Bie,Het Gulden Cabinet van de Edel Vrij Schilder Const,
inhoudende den lof vande vermarste schilders, architecte, beldthowers ende plaetsnijders van deze eeuw
(Antwerpen, 1661), 404.
9. “Beter als Douw.” Abraham Bredius, “Het Schilderregister van Jan Sysmus, Stads-Doctor van
Amsterdam,” Oud-Holland 8 (1890), 8.
10. “François Miris. (…) disciple de Girard Dau (…) si ce n’est qu’il avoit un meilleur goût de dessein, plus degentillesse dans ses Compositions, & plus de suavité encore dans ses couleurs (…),” in Rogier de Piles,
Abrégé de la vie des peintres (…) (Paris, 1715), 430. The quote is taken from Otto Naumann,Frans van
Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:192.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Frans van Mieris the Elder and His Four Leiden Patrons
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11. G. de Lairesse, Groot Schilderboeck (Amsterdam, 1707; English ed., London, 1778), 101. Quote takenfrom Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:194.
12. In addition to the Leiden estate inventories listed in Otto Naumann,Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the
Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:168, 170, 175, 189, and Eric Jan Sluijter, “Schilders van ‘cleyne, subtile
ende curieuse dingen’: Leidse fijnschilders in contemporaine bronnen,” in Leidse fijnschilders: van Gerrit
Dou tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge, 1630–1770 , ed. E. J. Sluijter et al. (Exh. cat. Leiden, Stedelijk Museum
De Lakenhal) (Zwolle, 1988), 39–40, and excluding the inventories in the main text, there are those of thecloth merchant Abraham le Pla and Johanna Mabuse (1673, Regionaal Archief Leiden, NA not. C. van
Scharpenbrant, inv. 1103, deed 35), in which are listed “een tafereel van een out mannetje dat een pen
versnyt” (a scene of an old man cutting a quill) (see Otto Naumann,Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the
Elder, 2 vols. [Doornspijk, 1981], 2:8, no. 2) and “Een out mannetje en wijffie om tafel” (An old man andwoman at a table) (see ibid., 7, no. 1).
13. For the prices mentioned in written sources, see Otto Naumann, “Van Mieris as a ‘Money-Maker,’”Tableau 3 (1981): 649–56. For the various ways in which an asking price was determined, see E. J. Sluijter,“Determining Value on the Art Market in the Golden Age: An Introduction,” in Art Market andConnoisseurship: A Closer Look at Paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, and Their Contemporaries , ed. A.
Tummers and K. Jonckheere (Amsterdam, 2008), 7–28.
14. Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen , 3 vols.
(Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1980), 3:3.
15. Gerard left behind a fortune worth 457,500 guilders in 1694. K. Zandvliet,De 250 rijksten van de
Gouden Eeuw (Amsterdam, 2006), 143, no. 73.
16. T. H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, ed., Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht , 6 vols. andindex (Leiden, 1986–92), 4:439.
17. Gerard died in 1694, but his estate was divided only in 1697 (Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Notarial
Archives 4264, notary D. van der Groe, fol. 1-52v, 27 August 1697). For a review of this, see T. H. Lunsingh
Scheurleer, ed., Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht , 10 vols. (Leiden, 1986–92),
4:454–57. For a transcript of the entire estate inventory, see ibid., 494–508.
18. For an identification of the pictures, see Quentin Buvelot, “De reputatie van Frans van Mieris,” inQuentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681 (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington,
National Gallery of Art) (Zwolle, 2005), 18.

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19. Examples of prices for the work of Van Mieris and Dou outside of Leiden are extremely rare. In the 1674
stock inventory of Gerrit Uylenburgh is “een slapend vrouwtje” (a woman sleeping) valued at 250 guilders(Abraham Bredius, Künstler-Inventare: Urkunden zur Geschichte der holländischen Kunst des XVIten,
XVIIten und XVIIIten Jahrhunderts, 8 vols. [The Hague, 1915–22], 1570), and in the 1682 Amsterdam
stock of Diego Duarte “een nacht met vier figuren en een lanterne keers en maenlicht, capitaal en curieus”(a noctural scene with four figures and a candle lantern and moonlight, outstanding and meticulous) valued
at 403 guilders, and “een cleynder syn conterfeytseltien op sen Italiaens gekleet spelende op een Luyt” (asmaller one being a portrait [of a figure] dressed in Italian clothing playing a lute) valued at 170 guilders(Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. [Doornspijk, 1981], 1:188).
20. Unless mentioned otherwise, the information on Sylvius is taken from: Evert H. Baumann,Francois dele Boë Sylvius (Leiden, 1949), and G. E. Dann, “Beitrag zur Biographie und Familiengeschichte desLeidener Professors Franz de la Boë Sylvius,” in Die Vorträge der Hauptsammlung der Internationalen
Gesellschaft für Geschichte der Pharmazie e.V. während des Internationalen Pharmaziegeschichtlichen
Kongresses in Rotterdam vom 17. – 21. September 1963, ed. G. E. Dann (Stuttgart, 1965), 29–46.
21. Information on Abraham de Ligne and his family can be found in the Montias database in the Frick
Collection.
22. The original German reads: “Herrn Dr. Sylvio (…) Seine Erudition den Ruhm [brachte], dass er seines
gleichen in Holland und Teutschland nicht hätte. Alle grossen Herrn in Europa bedienten sich seines Raths
und schickten ihm grosse Geschenke.” See Max Hans Würzner, “Duitse studenten in de 17e eeuw te
Leiden,” Leids Jaarboekje 67 (1975): 71. See also Theodore H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, ed.,Het Rapenburg:
Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht, 6 vols. and index (Leiden, 1986–92), 3a:282.
23. H. D. Schepelern, ed., Olai Borrichii, Itineraium 1660–1665: The Journal of the Danish Polyhistor Ole
Bloch (London, 1983), passim.
24. Borch in a letter dated 24 November 1661 to Th. Bartholinus, see Evert H. Baumann,Francois de leBoë Sylvius (Leiden, 1949), 235 n. 1.
25. Theodore H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, ed., Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht , 6 vols.
and index (Leiden, 1986–92), 3a:337.
26. The name Schlezer, rather than Schletzer, is used here because the former is used more widely in theextensive English and German literature devoted to Margareta Lucretia’s father.

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27. Unless mentioned otherwise, all of the information on Johann Friedrich Schlezer is taken from: Peter
Bahl,

Der

Hof

des

grossen

Kurfürsten:Studienzur

höherenAmtsträgerschaft

Brandenburg-Preussens (Cologne/Weimar/Vienna, 2001), 571–72
28. Album studiosorum academiae lugduno batavae (The Hague, 1875), 222.
29. Album studiosorum academiae lugduno batavae (The Hague, 1875), 264.
30. According to the Leiden marriage certificate, Margareta Lucretia was born in Kleve. A birth certificate
has not been preserved and so her date of birth can only be approximated. Her parents drew up theirmarriage settlement on 31 December 1641 in Utrecht (Het Utrechts Archief, NA not. F. Zwaerdecroon, inv.
U028c001, deed 53, 31 December 1641) and would have wed soon thereafter, in January 1642. Herparents were still without issue in 1644, since, again in Utrecht, they appointed guardians for their unborn
children (Het Utrechts Archief, NA F. Zwaerdecroon, inv. U028a010, deed 106, 25 December 1644). As
her mother died there in 1648 (Het Utrechts Archief , Begraafregister, deed 123, p. 180), Margareta
Lucretia had to have been born between 1644 and 1648. She could thus also have been born before thenuptials of the elector, given that he resided primarily in Kleve as of 1640 and her father would have foundhimself there regularly. Margareta Lucretia, in any case, was still very young when she and Sylvius marriedin 1667, but her young age supports the identification of the famous double portrait of Sylvius and his
second wife in Dresden that Frans van Mieris painted shortly after Margareta Lucretia’s death in 1669. On
this portrait, see Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981),
2:101, no. 89.
31. When it was discovered in 1658 that Schlezer also worked for Sweden, he fell in disgrace with theGreat Elector and had no choice but to enter into the service of the Swedish court, after which little else washeard from him. In 1667 he was in Leiden to witness the marriage of his daughter. Sylvius’s inventory drawn
up in 1673 makes it clear that Schlezer was dead by that time, therefore he must have passed awaysometime between 1667 and that year.
32. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:25; Quentin
Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681 (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington, National Galleryof Art) (Zwolle, 2005), 18. See also the essay on Gerrit Dou in this catalogue.
33. “Dikwerf [verzogt], dat al wat hy maakte voor hem mogt wezen, of hy keur hebben om het zelve tenaasten tot zoodanig een prys als ymant anders daar voor wilde geven.” Arnold Houbraken,De grooteschouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen , 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed.,The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1980), 3:2.

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34. That this expresses a desire rather than an actual situation is stated even more strongly by Weyerman,
who writes that Sylvius “dikmaals aan den jongen Konstschilder verzogt, om alles het geene hy schilderdete moogen hebben, of ten minsten het te moogen naasten voor de hoogste prijs die er iemant voor zou
komen te bieden” (regularly requested the young painter to be allowed to have everything that he painted,
or at least be able to take it over for the highest price that someone would offer for it). Jacob Campo
Weyerman, De levens-beschrijvingen der Nederlandsche Konst-schilder en Konst-schilderessen (The
Hague, 1729), 342.
35. For instance, in Leiden in 1674 the heirs of Sylvius were taxed on a capital of 25,000 guilders, just like
Gerrit Dou. For the sake of comparison: in that year Cornelis Paets was taxed on a capital of 82,000
guilders, and Isaac Gerard on 61,000 (Gerrit Jan Peltjes, Leidse Lasten, twee belastingkohieren uit 1674
[Leiden, 1995]). At his death in 1694, the latter left behind a fortune of 457,500 guilders. K. Zandvliet,De
250 rijksten van de Gouden Eeuw: kaptiaal, macht, familie en levensstijl (Amsterdam, 2006), 143, no. 73.
36. Regionaal Archief Leiden, NA not. L. van Overmeer, inv. 969, deed 8, 14 December 1669: “Hetconterfeytsel van de overledenen [ = Francois Gomarus en Susanna Goethals] van Mieris” (The likeness ofthe deceased [= Francois Gomarus and Susanna Goethals] by Van Mieris). Portrait of Florentius Schuyl,
1666, is in the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague. See Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris(1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 2: no. 63; Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris
1635–1681 (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington, National Gallery of Art) (Zwolle, 2005), no. 37.
37. Pieter Biesboer, Collections of Paintings in Haarlem: 1572–1745 (Los Angeles, 2001), 343, no. 12.
38. The inventory also mentions “een mansportraitje” (a portrait of a man) and a self-portrait by Van Mieris.
Also listed were “een oudemans portraitje boven ovael” (a portrait of an old man arched at the top) by Dou,an amorous couple by Carel de Moor, and a portrait of a woman by Willem van Mieris. Not a single work bythese artists occurs in other Haarlem estate inventories, with the exception of two pieces by Dou in the 1694
stock inventory of Cornelis Dusart, but this was most likely by a follower.
39. Susanna Claessens’s sister was Barbara Maria Claessens, the wife of Jan van Pradellis, a cloth
manufacturer in Leiden. They were the grandparents of Maria Justina Kraij, living in Haarlem, whoseparents were Abraham Kraij, Lord of Idewalle and burgomaster of the Zeeuwse Sluijs, and Maria van
Pradellis.
40. E. H. Baumann, Francois de le Boë Sylvius (Leiden, 1949), 15.
41. Regionaal Archief Leiden, NA not. P.A. Scharpenbrant, inv. 1102, deed 19, 2 January 1672.

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42. “Door de gunst van gemelden Heer zynen Mecenas [Sylvius]”; “een schoon Vrouwtje staande in een
Zyde Stoffewinkel, en nevens de zelve een Ruiter.” Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der
Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753;
reprint, Amsterdam, 1980), 3:3; this is The Cloth Shop, oil on panel, 55 x 43 cm, signed and dated 1660,
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols.
(Doornspijk, 1981), 1:24; 2:33–35, no. 31.
43. According to Sandrart, the Archduke even paid 2,000 guilders for the painting; see Otto Naumann,Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:24.
44. G. J. Hoogewerff, De twee reizen van Cosimo de Medici Prins van Toscane door de Nederlanden(1667–1669) (Amsterdam, 1919).
45. In a letter to Cosimo, Sylvius thanks the Grand Duke for having honored him with a visit to his house
while sojourning in Leiden. G. J. Hoogewerff, “De twee reizen van Cosimo de’ Medici Prins van Toscane
door de Nederlanden (1667–1669),” Joumalen en Documenten, Amsterdam (1919), 393–94.
46. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 2:13–14, no. 9;
ibid., 89–91, no. 75.
47. H. Gerson, Ausbreitung und Nachwirkung der holländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts (Haarlem,
1942; reprint, Amsterdam, 1983), 179–84.
48. Woman Making Pancakes, ca. 1650–55, oil on panel, arched top, 44.2 x 34 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi,
Florence; Ronni Baer, “The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613–1675),” (Ph.D. diss., New York University,1990), no. A61.
49. On the five works that he bought, see note 24 in the biography of Frans van Mieris elsewhere in thiscatalogue. See Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681 (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis;
Washington, National Gallery of Art) (Zwolle, 2005), 215 n. 60.
50. “Een Kabinetstukje, waar in verbeeld word een jong Juffertje dat in een flaaute leit, nevens een
Medecynmeester en een schreijende oude Vrouw.” Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der
Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753;
reprint, Amsterdam, 1980), 3:4.
51. A. Bredius, “17e Eeuwsche reisherinneringen: Journal des Voyages de Monsieur de Monconys etc.etc.
Paris 1677,” Nederlandsche Kunstbode (1880): 413.
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52. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 2:84–87, no. 71.
53. At the marriage of his brother Jacob in Leiden in 1675, Cornelis Paets gave the Breestraat as his
address.
54. “Een van zyn konstigste Penceelkonst die hier te Land is.” Quentin Buvelot, ed.,Frans van Mieris
1635–1681 (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington, National Gallery of Art) (Zwolle, 2005),
169–74, nos. 35–36.
55. See the discussion on “Vredenburg” below.
56. Piet Bakker, De Vrije Fries: verdwenen maar niet vergeten: themanummer rond de opheffing van de
Academie van Franeker in 1811 (Leeuwarden, 2011), 264–65.
57. In 1674, about ten year’s after Van Vredenburch’s death, his widow was taxed on a capital estimatedbetween 5,000 and 6,000 guilders. Gerrit Jan Peltjes, Leidse Lasten: Twee belastingkohieren uit 1674
(Leiden, 1995), 52.
58. In 1674 the cloth merchants Jan Adriaensz le Pla (Regionaal Archief Leiden, NA 1404, deed 44, 1687)
and Gerrit van Hoochmade (Regionaal Archief Leiden, NA 1002, deed 6, 1683), and the heirs of the
medical doctor Franciscus Gomarus (Regionaal Archief Leiden, NA 969, deed 8, 1669) were taxed for
80,000, 45,000 and 25,000 guilders, respectively. See Gerrit Jan Peltjes, Leidse Lasten: Tweebelastingkohieren uit 1674 (Leiden, 1995), passim. Information on the wealth of a colleague of Gomarus,
Johannes van der Spelt, who died in 1664, is not available. In addition to a portrait by Van Mieris, Van derSpelt owned a bond worth 200 guilders in the name of the painter (Regionaal Archief Leiden, NA 984, deed
61, 1665). The doctor’s brother was Adriaen van der Spelt, the still-life painter with whom Van Mieris
collaborated on at least one occasion (Adriaen van der Spelt and Frans van Mieris,Trompe l’Oeil with a
Garland of Flowers and a Curtain , signed A. van der Spelt, dated 1658, The Art Institute of Chicago; seealso: Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681 (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington,
National Gallery of Art) [Zwolle, 2005], 117–19, no. 16). This painting was the property of the brewer Henric
Bugge van Ring, in whose estate inventory (Regionaal Archief Leiden,, NA 1005, deed 10, 1667), in
addition to a country house, so much real estate is mentioned that his fortune would have equaled if notsurpassed that of Le Pla.
59. Regionaal Archief Leiden,, NA not. L. Leffen, inv. 1264, deed 55, 4 May 1681.
60. Album studiosorum academiae lugduno batavae (The Hague, 1875), 473.

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61. For the Van Vredenburch and Van Couwenhoven families, their mutual relationships, and position in
Rotterdam’s regent patriciate, see E. A. Engelbrecht, De Vroedschap van Rotterdam 1572–1795(Rotterdam, 1973), passim. Judging from the will of Gerard van Vredenburg of 1667, the wealth was
primarily from his wife’s family. In the reciprocal will, in the event that she died first, she left her family
110,000 guilders in real estate, and Van Vredenburg “a mere” 20,000 guilders. The amounts would devolve
to both families upon the death of the survivor (Gemeente Archief Rotterdam, Notarial Archives, notary J.
Delphius, inv. 363, deed 356/1305, 11 December 1667).
62. Een Conterfeytsel van Dhr A van Couwenhoven za: van Miris (“A likeness of the late Mr A. van
Couwenhoven by Van Mieris”) (Gemeente Archief Rotterdam, Notarial Archives, notary Johannes Bordels,inv. 1300, [unpag.] 27 July 1683). Allard van Couwenhoven was married to the daughter of the brewer
Jacob Jacobsz van Couwenhoven (1592–1661), who left a fortune worth 220,000 guilders in 1661. K.
Zandvliet, De 250 rijksten van de Gouden Eeuw: kaptiaal, macht, familie en levensstijl (Amsterdam,
2006), 353, no. 216. A share was bequeathed to his granddaughter Maria van Couwenhoven, the wife ofGerard van Vredenburch.
63. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:189. See:
Albertys Welcker, “Johannes Ruyscher alias Jonge Hercules,” Oud-Holland 50 (1933): 29. The pictures inthis extensive bequest are listed in a separate category in Gemeente Archief Rotterdam, Notarial Archives,
notary. Johannes Bordels, inv. 1300, (unpag.), 27 July 1683.
64. All of the paintings, with the exception of the portraits, were auctioned in Rotterdam on 20 September
1683. The portraits, including the one by Van Mieris, devolved to Cornelis Paets as the guardian of his twochildren, Willem and Elisabeth. Gemeente Archief Rotterdam, Notarial Archives, notary Johannes Bordels,inv. 1300, 27 July 1683, Settlement of the Estate, (unpag.).

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