page_title: Jan Verkolje
section_title: Portrait painting
hierarchical_section_title: Jan Verkolje / Work / Portrait painting
context_page_description: Jan Verkolje or Johannes Verkolje was a Dutch painter, draughtsman and engraver. He is mainly known for his portraits and genre pieces of elegant couples in interiors and, to a lesser extent, for his religious and mythological compositions. He was a gifted mezzotint artist. Trained in Amsterdam Verkolje spent his active professional career in Delft where he had access to powerful patrons.
context_section_description: Verkolje was a prolific portrait artist who created portrait paintings, drawings, and prints. In his portrait work Verkolje was representative of the style then current in The Hague and Amsterdam rather than that in vogue in Delft.  Verkolje was much in demand as a portraitist and was able to fetch high prices for his portraits.  His sitters were a who's who of Delft society of his time: the famous scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (whom he portrayed on canvas and in mezzotint), the prominent lawyer and bailiff Johan de la Faille and his wife (both works are in the Wadsworth Atheneum), the vicar Cornelius van Aken, the painter Pieter Jansz van Asch, and the burgomaster and historian Dirk van Bleiswijk.
  Verkolje also created portrait prints of international celebrities such as Hortense Mancini, Duchess of Mazarin, King James II of England, Willem III, Prince of Orange, and his wife, Mary Stuart. Of these celebrity subjects, only the Delft naturalist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was portrayed by Verkolje in a painting (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) as well as in a print.  His other portraits of famous persons were mezzotint engravings after the work of other artists, such as Peter Lely, Willem Wissing and Godfrey Kneller.  Most of Verkolje's known portrait drawings were made as preparation for his paintings.  These drawings focused either on particular facial features and expressions or on the whole composition.
caption: Elegant couple with musical instruments in an interior
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