© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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, 2nd ed. Edited byArthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/portrait-of-conradus-vietor/(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 narrativeoccurs.

Conradus Viëtor, a Lutheran preacher from Aachen, was born there in 1588

Comparative Figuresand died 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 Germanand Dutch names for a cooper (barrel maker), so it is likely that Viëtor wasborn Konrad Fassbinder or Küfer. Frans Hals’s portrait, dated 1644, isinscribed with Viëtor’s name and age, fifty-six. The portrait was engraved byJonas Suyderhoef (ca. 1613–86) shortly after the sitter’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 wasFig 1. Jonas Suyderhoef,engraving after Frans Hals,Conradus Vietor, 1657, National© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Conradus ViëtorPage 3 of 9

generally regarded as advantageous for the economic well-being of theDutch Republic, conflicts between Calvinists and Lutherans (which had been

Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.,
Rosenwald Collection,
1943.3.8066

a serious problem in Antwerp before 1585) were viewed as potential threats
to its stability.[2] Other officially Reformed cities and towns of the Northern
Netherlands similarly discouraged Lutherans and other Protestant sects fromworshiping in their communities. In 1615, however, the Haarlem 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 Protestantdissent. Within months of becoming the Lutheran preacher in Haarlem(where the previous one had been shared with Lutherans in Leiden and TheHague), Viëtor entered into a contentious power struggle within his small
congregation. In March 1618 the church council, the General Consistory inAmsterdam, renewed his contract only under outside pressure. By Decemberof that year he embroiled himself in another heated issue, the right of a man
to hit his wife (as had a member of his congregation), which Viëtor defended
on the basis of Scripture. His position flew in the face of Dutch custom, andViëtor found himself in trouble with the church council as well as with someof his parishioners. In 1619 he was sent to Leiden as a second preacher forsix months, a cooling-off period after which the question of his return toHaarlem was to be resolved. In the end, Viëtor’s stature as a properly
appointed representative of the Lutheran Church trumped the marks againsthim. Forty-nine women of Haarlem’s Lutheran community, in fact, wrote apetition 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 thecity council of Haarlem. For example, during the suppression ofRemonstrants (followers of the Protestant theologian Jacobus Arminius[1560–1609]) from 1618 onward, Viëtor placed himself in the vanguard ofLutheran preachers soliciting Remonstrant converts, going so far as todistribute Arminian tracts in 1624.[4] He also opposed the Anabaptist
argument against infant baptism in publications of 1628 and later on.
Although now remembered mainly for his provocative opinions, Viëtor musthave been seen by the Lutheran community in the Netherlands as anindefatigable defender of its faith during a difficult time in its history.
Hals’s portrait of Viëtor is characteristic of his work during the mid-1640s in
its restrained palette and quiet composition, and in the sitter’s sober
expression. The painter had a remarkable gift for characterization, and© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Conradus Viëtor
Page 4 of 9

presumably the mixture of thoughtfulness, sincerity, and perhaps someanxiety that might be discerned in Viëtor’s features faithfully reflects hispersonality. The pose and expression found here are by no means
conventional for portraits of preachers, as is clear from comparisons with themany more standardized portraits of religious figures by other Dutch 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 to suggest highlights, shadows, hair, ruddy flesh and so on, isentirely consistent with Hals’s autograph works of about the same time. The
virtuoso treatment of the hands cradling a Bible seems to suggest bothresolve and slight nervousness. Hals managed to evoke the different surface
qualities of flesh, paper, leather and cloth with exceptional economy. The
highlights and shadows in the ruff re-create its delicacy and volume; thecollar’s recession is effectively conveyed at a proper viewing distance. Asusual, 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 the sheer 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), 3rdEarl of Bute, and to have descended in his family until its sale in 1994. Bute
was one of the great British collectors of the eighteenth century, whose
Netherlandish pictures included many landscapes and genre scenes but very
few Dutch portraits.[7]- Walter E. Liedtke, 2017

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Conradus ViëtorPage 5 of 9Endnotes

1. Seymour Slive, Frans Hals, 3 vols. (London, 1970–74), 3: 78, wrongly asserts that theinscription on Suyderhoef’s print gives biographical information about the sitter. Instead, it isa 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
van vrouwen 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. This was undoubtedly meant to reveal parallels in the views of Luther andArminius.
5. Seymour Slive, Frans Hals, 3 vols. (London, 1970–74), 3: no. 126; 2: pl. 204, engraved sevenor eight years later by Suyderhoef.
6. Claus Grimm, in various publications (see References) has described this portrait as aworkshop product, without much explanation. As in dozens of other cases, this designation iswidely regarded as unconvincing.
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; by descent 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© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Conradus Viëtor
Page 6 of 9London, Bethnal Green Branch Museum, “The Collection of Paintings Lent for Exhibition by
the Marquis of Bute, K. T.,” 1883, no. 94; Glasgow, 1884, no. 69; Manchester, 1885, 27, no.
180.
Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum, on loan with the permanent collection, August
2009–January 2012.
Istanbul, Sabanc? Üniversitesi Sak?p Sabanc? Müzesi, “Where Darkness Meets Light . . .
Rembrandt and His Contemporaries—The Golden Age of Dutch Art,” 21 February–10 June2012 [lent by the present owner].
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
Leiden Collection,” 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 [lentby the present owner].
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection,” 28 March 2018–22 July 2018 [lent by the presentowner].
St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection,” 5 September 2018–13 January 2019 [lent by thepresent owner].
Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age.
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre,” 14 February–18 May
2019 [lent by the present owner].

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 gebeeldhouwde 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.
© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Conradus ViëtorPage 7 of 9

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 andTranslated by Edward G. Hawke, 3: 70, no. 236. 8 vols. London, 1907–28.

Originallypublished 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.
Valentiner, Wilhem R. Frans Hals, des Meisters Gemalde in 322 Abbildungen. Stuttgart,
1923, 214, 319.
Blok, Petrus Johannes and Philip Christian Molhuysen. Nieuw Nederlandsch BiografischWoordenboek. 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. Stuttgartand 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 theGolden Age.” In Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Editedby 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. Translated by 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 from The 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 ofRembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina
Lyubimova, 21; 32. Translated by Daria Babich and Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat. Moscow, The© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of Conradus ViëtorPage 8 of 9Pushkin 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 by Daria Babich and Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat. Moscow, The Pushkin State Museumof Fine Arts; St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum. Moscow, 2018.
Blanc, Jan. “Being Modern, Being Dutch: The Seventeenth-Century Invention of the GoldenAge.” In Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age. Masterpieces from The Leiden
Collection and the Musée du 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 GoldenAge. Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre. Exh. cat. AbuDhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi. London, 2019, 171, no. 87. [Exhibition catalogue also published inFrench and Arabic.]VersionsEngraved

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, hasbeen 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 chalkinscriptions are located along the stretcher. There are no wax seals or import stamps along thelining or stretcher.
A warm orange-brown-colored ground, possibly a double ground, has been applied. Undermagnification, large white particles are visible along the ground layer surface and through thesurface of thinly painted passages.[1]© 2020 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Portrait of Conradus ViëtorPage 9 of 9

The portrait was painted directly. The figure’s face and hair appear to have been painted or left inreserve before the hat was painted. The flesh tones appear to be painted directly with some wetinto-wet paint. Areas of shadow and contours of forms are sometimes painted extremely thinly,
intentionally allowing the colored ground to continue to show at the surface. The background graytones are extremely thin. Thicker passages of 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 Xradiograph, or as pentimenti.
The painting has not undergone conservation since its acquisition in 2008 and remains in a goodstate of preservation.[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 van Grevenstein, et al. “Aspects of the restoration and technicalexamination of the Haarlem civic guard group portraits by Frans Hals,” ICOM Committee forConservation, 9th Triennial Meeting, Dresden, 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.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection