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Portrait of Conradus Viëtor
Page 2 of 9

Portrait of Conradus ViëtorFrans Hals(Antwerp 1582/83 – 1666 Haarlem)1644
oil on canvas
82.6 x 66 cm
signed in monogram and dated in dark paint,
upper right: “FH / M CONRADVS VIETOR /ÆTATIS 56 / Ao 1644”
FH-101

How to cite
Liedtke, Walter A. “Portrait of Conradus Viëtor” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 3rd ed. Edited by Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr. and Lara Yeager-Crasselt. New York, 2020–23. https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/ (archivedDecember 2023).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed by apermanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

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Portrait of Conradus Viëtor
Page 3 of 9Conradus Viëtor, a Lutheran preacher from Aachen, was born there in 1588 and diedComparative Figures

in Haarlem in 1657. He served the Lutheran community in Haarlem for forty years,
having joined the small Lutheran community there on 1 May 1617. The humanist
name Viëtor, or Vitor, is a Latinized form of the German and Dutch names for acooper (barrel maker), so it is likely that Viëtor was born Konrad Fassbinder orKüfer. Frans Hals’s portrait, dated 1644, is inscribed with Viëtor’s name and age, fiftysix. The portrait was engraved by Jonas Suyderhoef (ca. 1613–86) shortly after thesitter’s death in 1657 (fig 1).[1]Viëtor arrived in Haarlem at a significant moment in the political and religious
ferment of the early seventeenth century. Until just prior to his arrival, the city
council had forbidden Lutheran worship, a decree it had instituted in 1596. Although
the immigration of Lutherans from Antwerp and Germany was generally regarded asadvantageous for the economic well-being of the Dutch Republic, conflicts between
Calvinists and Lutherans (which had been a serious problem in Antwerp before 1585)
were viewed as potential threats to its stability.[2] Other officially Reformed cities andFig 1. Jonas Suyderhoef, engraving
after Frans Hals, Conradus Vietor,
1657, National Gallery of Art,
Washington D.C., RosenwaldCollection, 1943.3.8066

towns of the Northern Netherlands similarly discouraged Lutherans and otherProtestant sects from worshiping in their communities. In 1615, however, theHaarlem city council reconsidered this ban and allowed the Lutherans to open a“public” church.
Evidently, however, Viëtor was not one to calm the waters of Protestant dissent.
Within months of becoming the Lutheran preacher in Haarlem (where the previous
one had been shared with Lutherans in Leiden and The Hague), Viëtor entered into acontentious power struggle within his small congregation. In March 1618 the church
council, the General Consistory in Amsterdam, renewed his contract only underoutside pressure. By December of that year he embroiled himself in another heatedissue, the right of a man to hit his wife (as had a member of his congregation), whichViëtor defended on the basis of Scripture. His position flew in the face of Dutch
custom, and Viëtor found himself in trouble with the church council as well as withsome of his parishioners. In 1619 he was sent to Leiden as a second preacher for six
months, a cooling-off period after which the question of his return to Haarlem was tobe resolved. In the end, Viëtor’s stature as a properly appointed representative of theLutheran Church trumped the marks against him. Forty-nine women of Haarlem’s
Lutheran community, in fact, wrote a petition in support of Viëtor to the General
Consistory in Amsterdam, dated April 16 [1620].[3]
Numerous accounts testify to Viëtor’s combativeness at later dates. He frequently
tested the patience of his Dutch Reformed counterparts and the city council ofHaarlem. For example, during the suppression of Remonstrants (followers of the© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Conradus ViëtorPage 4 of 9

Protestant theologian Jacobus Arminius [1560–1609]) from 1618 onward, Viëtorplaced himself in the vanguard of Lutheran preachers soliciting Remonstrant
converts, going so far as to distribute Arminian tracts in 1624.[4] He also opposed theAnabaptist argument against infant baptism in publications of 1628 and later on.
Although now remembered mainly for his provocative opinions, Viëtor must havebeen seen by the Lutheran community in the Netherlands as an indefatigable defenderof its faith during a difficult time in its history.
Hals’s portrait of Viëtor is characteristic of his work during the mid-1640s in itsrestrained palette and quiet composition, and in the sitter’s sober expression. Thepainter had a remarkable gift for characterization, and presumably the mixture ofthoughtfulness, sincerity, and perhaps some anxiety that might be discerned inViëtor’s features faithfully reflects his personality. The pose and expression foundhere are by no means conventional for portraits of preachers, as is clear fromcomparisons with the many more standardized portraits of religious figures by otherDutch artists, and Hals’s own portrait, dated 1639, of the Reformed preacher
Hendrick Swalmius (Detroit Institute of Arts).[5]The strong modeling of the face, despite the use of broad strokes and loose touches tosuggest highlights, shadows, hair, ruddy flesh and so on, is entirely consistent with
Hals’s autograph works of about the same time. The virtuoso treatment of the hands
cradling a Bible seems to suggest both resolve and slight nervousness. Hals managed
to evoke the different surface qualities of flesh, paper, leather and cloth withexceptional economy. The highlights and shadows in the ruff re-create its delicacy
and volume; the collar’s recession is effectively conveyed at a proper viewing
distance. As usual, the background plane is neutral but enlivened by the sitter’s
shadow and shifting textures. The notice at the lower left on Suyderhoef’s print, “F.
Hals pinxit” (“painted by F. Hals”), seems unnecessary when one appreciates thesheer quality of the painting, but, in fact, much of what Hals achieved was impossible
for Suyderhoef to reproduce in his engraving.[6]The portrait is thought to have been acquired by John Stuart (1713–92), 3rd Earl ofBute, and to have descended in his family until its sale in 1994. Bute was one of thegreat British collectors of the eighteenth century, whose Netherlandish pictures
included many landscapes and genre scenes but very few Dutch portraits.[7]- Walter A. Liedtke, 2017

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Portrait of Conradus ViëtorPage 5 of 9Endnotes
1. Seymour Slive, Frans Hals, 3 vols. (London, 1970–74), 3: 78, wrongly asserts that the inscription on
Suyderhoef’s print gives biographical information about the sitter. Instead, it is a generic text suitable
for a preacher and praises his spirituality.
2. See Jonathan Israel, The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall, 1477–1806 (Oxford, 1995),374–76.
3. As explained in detail in Jo Spaans, “Negenenveertig Haarlemse Mirjams: Over het aandeel vanvrouwen in de moeilijkheden rondom de Lutherse predikant Conrad Viëtor,” Nederlands Archief voor
Keerkgeschiedenis 67 (1987): 1–14.
4. Jonathan Israel, The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall, 1477–1806 (Oxford, 1995), 395. Thiswas undoubtedly meant to reveal parallels in the views of Luther and Arminius.
5. Seymour Slive, Frans Hals, 3 vols. (London, 1970–74), 3: no. 126; 2: pl. 204, engraved seven or eight
years later by Suyderhoef.
6. Claus Grimm, in various publications (see References) has described this portrait as a workshop
product, without much explanation. As in dozens of other cases, this designation is widely regarded asunconvincing.
7. See Francis Russell, John, 3rd Earl of Bute: Patron and Collector (London, 2004).

Provenance
Presumably acquired by John Stuart (1713–92), 3rd Earl of Bute, for Luton Park, Bedfordshire; bydescent to John Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute (1847–1900) until at least 1934.
Lord Robert Crichton-Stuart, by 1949.
(Sale, Christie’s, New York, 18 May 1994, no. 85).
(Sale, Christie’s, London, 2 December 2008, no. 19 [Johnny van Haeften, London]).
From whom acquired by the present owner.

Exhibition History
London, Bethnal Green Branch Museum, “The Collection of Paintings Lent for Exhibition by theMarquis of Bute, K. T.,” 1883, no. 94; Glasgow, 1884, no. 69; Manchester, 1885, 27, no. 180.
© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Conradus ViëtorPage 6 of 9Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum, on loan with the permanent collection, August 2009–January
2012.
Istanbul, Sabancı Üniversitesi Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi, “Where Darkness Meets Light . . . Rembrandt andHis Contemporaries—The Golden Age of Dutch Art,” 21 February–10 June 2012 [lent by the presentowner].
Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum, on loan with the permanent collection, June 2012–March 2015
[lent by the present owner].
Beijing, National Museum of China, “Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The LeidenCollection,” 17 June–3 September 2017 [lent by the present owner].
Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden Age:Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection,” 23 September 2017–25 February 2018 [lent by the presentowner].
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpiecesof The Leiden Collection,” 28 March 2018–22 July 2018 [lent by the present owner].
St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces ofThe Leiden Collection,” 5 September 2018–13 January 2019 [lent by the present owner].
Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age. Masterpieces fromThe Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre,” 14 February–18 May 2019 [lent by the presentowner].

References
Von Bode, Wilhelm. Stüdien zur Geschichte der holländischen Malerei. Braunschweig, 1883, no. 135.
Richter, Jean Paul. Catalogue of Paintings Lent for Exhibition by the Marquess of Bute. Manchester,
1885, 27, no. 180.
Moes, Ernst Wilhelm. Iconographia Batava: Beredeneerde lijst van geschiderde en gebeeld-houwde
portretten van Noord-Nederlanders in vorige eeuwen. 2 vols. Amsterdam, 1897–1905, 2: 530, no. 8491.
Moes, Ernst Wilhelm. Frans Hals, sa vie et son oeuvre. Translated by Jean de Boschere. Brussels, 1909,
68–69, no. 81.
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of
the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith. Edited and Translated by Edward G. Hawke,
3: 70, no. 236. 8 vols. London, 1907–28.

Originally published as Beschreibendes und kritisches

Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten höllandischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols.
Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28.
Von Bode, Wilhelm, and Moritz Julius Binder. Frans Hals: His Life and Work. 2 vols. Berlin, 1914,
2:60, 79, no. 203a, fig. 129a.
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Portrait of Conradus ViëtorPage 7 of 9

Valentiner, Wilhem R. Frans Hals, des Meisters Gemalde in 322 Abbildungen. Stuttgart, 1923, 214, 319.
Blok, Petrus Johannes and Philip Christian Molhuysen. Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek.
10 vols. Leiden, 1911–37, 9:1210.
Grimm, Claus. Frans Hals: Entwicklung, Werkanalyse, Gesamtkatalog. Berlin, 1972, 215, no. 152.
Slive, Seymour. Frans Hals. 3 vols. New York, 1970–74, 2: fig. 248; 3:77–78, no. 152.
Grimm, Claus, and E. C. Montagni. L’opera completa di Frans Hals. Milan, 1974, 104–5, no. 165b.
Grimm, Claus, and E. C. Montagni. Tout l’oeuvre peint de Frans Hals. Translated by Simone Darses, no.
165b. Paris, 1976.
Grimm, Claus. Frans Hals: The Complete Work. Translated by Jürgen Riehle. New York. 1990, 46, 268,no. 26. Originally published as from Frans Hals: das Gesamtwerk. Stuttgart and Zürich, 1989.
Russell, Francis. John, 3rd Earl of Bute: Patron and Collector. London, 2004, 193.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Rembrandt and His Time: China and the Dutch Republic in the Golden Age.” In
Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Edited by Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 9;14, no. 61. Translated by Li Ying. Exh. cat. Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing, 2017
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Portrait of Conradus Viëtor (1588–1657).” In Rembrandt and His Time:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 142–43; 187, no. 61. Translatedby Li Ying. Exh. cat. Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing, 2017.
Wang, Jia. “Dutch Painting in Golden Age.” In Journal of National Museum of China 169, no. 8 (2017):
39.
Long Museum, West Bund. Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces fromThe Leiden Collection. Exh. cat. Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund. Shanghai, 2017, 146–47.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “The Leiden Collection and the Dutch Golden Age.” In The Age of Rembrandt
and Vermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 21; 32. Translated byDaria Babich and Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat. Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts; St.
Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum. Moscow, 2018.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Portrait of Conradus Viëtor.” In The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 226–27; 248, no. 80. Translated byDaria Babich and Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat. Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts; St.
Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum. Moscow, 2018.
Blanc, Jan. “Being Modern, Being Dutch: The Seventeenth-Century Invention of the Golden Age.” In
Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age. Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Muséedu Louvre. Edited by Blaise Ducos and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 40, 43. Exh. cat. Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu
Dhabi. London, 2019. [Exhibition catalogue also published in French and Arabic.]
Ducos, Blaise, and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, eds. Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age.
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre. Exh. cat. Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu
Dhabi. London, 2019, 171, no. 87. [Exhibition catalogue also published in French and Arabic.]© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPortrait of Conradus ViëtorPage 8 of 9VersionsEngraved
1. Jonas Suyderhoef (1613–86) after Frans Hals, Portrait of Conradus Vietor, 1657, engraving (in reverse),inscribed F. Hals pinxit. I. Suyderhoef sculpt (Hollstein, XXVIII, no. 127), Fitzwilliam Museum,Cambridge, P.8957-R.

Technical Summary
The support, a single piece of fine-weight, plain-weave fabric with tacking margins removed, has been lined.
Cusping along all four edges indicates the original dimensions have been retained. A hand-lettered inscription
is located along the lining reverse, and three labels, a stencil, and chalk inscriptions are located along thestretcher. There are no wax seals or import stamps along the lining or stretcher.
A warm orange-brown-colored ground, possibly a double ground, has been applied. Under magnification,
large white particles are visible along the ground layer surface and through the surface of thinly painted
passages.[1]The portrait was painted directly. The figure’s face and hair appear to have been painted or left in reserve
before the hat was painted. The flesh tones appear to be painted directly with some wet-into-wet paint. Areasof shadow and contours of forms are sometimes painted extremely thinly, intentionally allowing the coloredground to continue to show at the surface. The background gray tones are extremely thin. Thicker passagesof light-colored paint, which surround and help anchor the figure in space, were painted after the figure. The
costume and hat are painted rather thinly.
No underdrawing or compositional changes are readily apparent in infrared images, in the X-radiograph, oras pentimenti.
The painting has not undergone conservation since its acquisition in 2008 and remains in a good state ofpreservation.[2]Technical Summary Endnotes

1. A phenomenon previously noted in Carol Christensen and Michael Palmer, “Deciphering artist’s intent
in a late portrait by Frans Hals,” AIC Paintings Specialty Group postprits, 1994: 12–17, and in Anne vanGrevenstein, et al. “Aspects of the restoration and technical examination of the Haarlem civic guardgroup portraits by Frans Hals,” ICOM Committee for Conservation, 9th Triennial Meeting, Dresden,© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Portrait of Conradus ViëtorPage 9 of 9

26–31 August 1990: 90–94.
2. Entry based on an examination report prepared by Yvonne Szafran, head of paintings conservation, J.
Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2011.

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