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Portrait of Constantijn Huygens and his (?) Clerk:
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Entry details

Full title
Portrait of Constantijn Huygens and his (?) Clerk
Artist
Thomas de Keyser
Inventory number
NG212
Author
Neil MacLaren and Christopher Brown
Extracted from
The Dutch School, 1600-1900 (London, 1991)

Catalogue entry

, 1991

Extracted from:
Neil MacLaren; revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, The Dutch School 1600–1900 (London: National Gallery Publications Limited, 1991).

Plate 184

Vol. 2, p. 194, Plate 184

Thomas de Keyser, Portrait of Constantijn Huygens and his (?)Clerk (No. 212) © The National Gallery, London

In the background hangs a tapestry with many figures, apparently representing St Francis before the Sultan; in the centre of its upper border is a coat‐of‐arms: aux 1 & 4 d’argent au pal d’azur; aux 2 & 3 de gueules à deux lions léopardés d’argent (see below). Above the fireplace is a painting of a vessel in a rough sea, in the style of Jan Porcellis, and below it a small bust portrait of a man.

On the table, which is covered by a Turkey carpet, are a pair of terrestrial and celestial globes, a chitarrone, books, an ink‐pot, a paper with architectural plans, a pair of compasses and a chronometer.

Signed on the front of the chimney‐piece: Tdk an 1627 (Tdk in monogram); very faint.

Vol. 2, p. 462, 4

De Keyser (No. 212) © The National Gallery, London

Oil on oak, 92.4 × 69.3 cm (36⅜ × 27¼).

Cleaned in 1964. There is some wearing in the darks.

Discussion

Constantijn Huygens the Elder, lord of Zuylichem, was born on 4 September 1596 in The Hague. He was secretary to the Dutch embassy in Venice, 1620, and London, 1621–4, and was knighted by King James I in 1622. He was appointed secretary to the Stadholder, Prince Frederik Hendrik of Orange, in 1625, and after the latter’s death in 1647 to his son and successor, Prince Willem II. When Willem II died in 1650 he continued as adviser to the Prince Frederik Hendrik’s widow, Amalia van Solms, and was often entrusted with the affairs of the House of Orange. Finally, he was first councillor and reekenmeester to the Stadholder‐King William III, until his death in The Hague in 1687.1 He had very considerable and varied talents and was particularly interested in the fine arts. He worked with the architect, Pieter Post, on the plans for his own house in The Hague.

The identity of the sitter was established by F. Schmidt‐Degener2 and is put beyond doubt by comparison with the many authenticated portraits of Constantijn the Elder, for example Willem Delff’s engraving of 1625 after Michiel Miereveld,3 Paul Pontius’s engraving in the Iconographie after a portrait by van Dyck probably painted in 1632,4 and Adriaen Hanneman’s composite portrait, finished in 1639, in the Mauritshuis in The Hague.5 Further, the arms of the tapestry are obviously intended for those of Constantijn Huygens, who quartered the Huygens arms with those of Bacx:6 aux 1 & 4 d’argent à deux pals d’azur (= Huygens); aux 2 & 3 d’argent au chef de gueules chargé d’un lion, léopardé du champ (= Bacx).7 They are rendered inaccurately in the picture; the nature of the principal differences — one pale instead of two in the Huygens quarters and two lions instead of one in those of Bacx — suggests that the painter confused his instructions. In any case it will be noted that, unlike the rest of the accessories, the coat‐of‐arms is rather carelessly painted.

The chitarrone and the globes are clearly references to Huygens’s interest in music and astronomy. The plans on the sheet of paper are architectural drawings and, together with the compasses, are intended to illustrate Huygens’s studies in this art (see above). Huygens is shown spurred in reference to the knighthood conferred on him by James I five years earlier. The identity of the young man with Huygens is not known. A 1785 inventory describes him as Huygens’s clerk or page (see PROVENANCE).

De Keyser is not known to have been in The Hague, where Huygens lived, and it seems highly probable that Huygens sat for this portrait in Amsterdam; it appears from his diary that he was staying there for most of the time between 22 February and 27 April 1627.8 Indeed the present picture may very well be ‘my portrait painted shortly before my wedding’ (which took place on 6 April 1627) about which he wrote some Latin verses on 31 July 1627, but without naming the painter.9 This suggestion has been disputed10 on the grounds that in these verses Huygens cites as evidence of his great joy the unwrinkled brow in the portrait whereas this is not visible in de Keyser’s picture since he is wearing a hat, but Huygens may well have used the expression figuratively. (The portrait mentioned in Huygens’s lines of 1627 cannot be, in any case, that painted by Lievens, probably in 1626 or 1627, in the Rijksmuseum, for that shows Huygens with a serious, almost melancholy countenance.11)

PROVENANCE: It is most probably the full‐length portrait of Constantijn Huygens with his clerk or page which was in the inventory of possessions of Huygens’s last direct descendant, Susanna Louisa Huygens, widow of Baron Willem van Wassenaer van Ruyven, who died in The Hague in December 1785.12It was in the collection of Anna Maria Ebeling (wife of Jonkheer Paul Iwan Hogguer) who died in 1812 and in the sale of her collection in Amsterdam, 18 sqq. August 1817 (lot 37), bought by Coders (275 guilders); John Webb sale, London, 30–31 May 1821 (lot 145), bought by Simmons13 (100 gns). Richard Simmons Bequest, 1847.

EXHIBITIONS: London 1976, No. 65; The Hague 1979, No. 18.

REFERENCES:

General: Oldenbourg, op. cit. , No. 79 and pl. 8; F. Schmidt‐Degener in Onze Kunst, vol. 27, 1915, pp. 113ff; H. E. van Gelder, Ikonographie van Constantin Huygens en de zijnen, The Hague, 1957, No. 6; Adams, op. cit; no. 13 (with full bibliography).

In text:

1. See inter al. , NNBW , vol. 1, cols. 1186ff; F. Bachrach, Sir Constantine Huygens and Britain, Leiden, 1962. (Back to text.)

3. Reproduced in OH , vol. 32, 1914, between pp. 222 and 223, and in Hollstein, vol. 5, p. 172. (Back to text.)

4. F. Wibiral, L’Iconographie d’Antoine van Dyck, No. 53. The original of this engraving is presumably the portrait painted by van Dyck in January 1632 which is mentioned in Huygens’s diary (J. H. W. Unger, Dagboek van Constantyn Huygens, 1885, p. 20). (Back to text.)

6. The Bacx arms are derived from his paternal grandmother, Geertrui Bacx. (Back to text.)

7. See J. B. Rietstap, Armorial général, 1950 reprint, vol. 2, p. 1013. In 1642 Huygens’s arms were altered by the addition of an augmentation: d’azur à une fleur‐de‐lis d’or. (Back to text.)

9. ‘In effigiem meam paulo ante nuptias pictam’ (Momenta desultoria, 1644, p. 68); he put these verses into Dutch, 2 August 1627: ‘Op mijn afbeelding korts voor mijnen Trou‐dagh gemaeckt, uyt mijn Latijnsch’ (Koren‐Bloemen, 1658, vol. 17, p. 1076; De gedichten van Constantyn Huygens, edited by J. A. Worp, vol. 2, 1893, pp. 235–36). (Back to text.)

10. By C. Brière‐Misme in OH , vol. 53, 1936, p. 198. (Back to text.)

11. Published by Brière‐Misme, op. cit. , pp. 193‐200. See also ex. cat. Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich‐Museum, Jan Lievens, ein Maler im Schatten Rembrandts, 1979, No. 17. The portrait (which is on loan from the Douai Museum; Rijksmuseum 1976 cat. no. C1467) is almost certainly the Lievens portrait about which Huygens wrote a quatrain on 5 April 1632 (‘In effigiem meam manu I. Liuii. Picturae nec lingua deest, ne fallere, nec vox; Hugenii facies haec meditantis erat’ etc.) and about which he wrote in his autobiography that many had found the face too pensive (‘cogitabundus’; see J. A. Worp in OH , vol. 9, 1891, pp. 129–30). Although the quatrain was written in 1632 (5 April) and the autobiography 1629–(?)31, Worp has produced good reasons for believing that the portrait then referred to was painted in 1626–27 ( op. cit. , p. 129, note; so also Mme Brière‐Misme, op. cit. , pp. 196–98). The passages quoted by Worp show that Lievens’s portrait cannot be the subject of Huygens’s verses of 1627. (Back to text.)

12. It is the eighteenth item in the inventory, which contains no less than eleven other portraits (and a print) of Constantijn Huygens the Elder: ‘Dezelve [Huygens] ten voeten uit met zijn klerk of knegt’ (this inventory was published by E. W. Moes in OH , vol. 14, 1896, pp. 176–84; the identification is due to Schmidt‐Degener, loc. cit. It was not in Susanna Huygens’s sale in The Hague, 22 May 1786). (Back to text.)

13. Although this lot is described in the sale catalogue as ‘A. Cuyp Christopher Columbus in his Study’, in the marked copy at the RKD , the painter’s name is crossed out and ‘De Keyser’ substituted in a contemporary hand. Further, Simmons purchased six more pictures at the Webb Gallery (i.e. Huchtenburg No. 211 of this catalogue, G. Herp No. 203 and probably F. Guardi No. 210). (Back to text.)

Glossary

chitarrone
A large, long‐necked bass lute used primarily to accompany solo singing.

Abbreviations

OH
Oud Holland, Amsterdam, 1883—1972, The Hague, 1973–
3 Other Abbreviations
RKD
The Netherlands Institute for Art History (Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie), The Hague. Artists database, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague (online), 2000– (https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists)

List of references cited

Adams 1987
AdamsA.J.The Paintings of Thomas de Keyser (1596/7‐1667): A Study of Portraiture in Seventeenth‐Century Amsterdam (Harvard University thesis, 1985), 4 vols.Ann Arbor 1987
Bachrach 1962
BachrachF.Sir Constantine Huygens and BritainLeiden 1962
Brière‐Misme 1936
Brière‐MismeC., in Oud Holland, 1936, 53
Davies 1959
DaviesMartinNational Gallery Catalogues: The British School, revised edn, London 1959
Davies and Gould 1970
DaviesMartinrevised by Cecil GouldNational Gallery Catalogues: French School Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post‐Impressionists, etc.London 1970
Hollstein 1949–2010
HollsteinFriedrich W.H.et al.Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, ca.1450—170072 volsAmsterdamBlaricumOuderkerk aan den IjsselRoosendaal and Rotterdam 1949–2010
Jan Lievens 1979
Jan Lievens, ein Maler im Schatten Rembrandts (exh. cat. Herzog Anton Ulrich‐Museum, Braunschweig), 1979
Mauritshuis 1977
MauritshuisMauritshuis: The Royal Cabinet of Paintings: Illustrated General CatalogueThe Hague 1977
Moes 1896
MoesE.W., in Oud Holland, 1896, 14176–84
Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek
Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek10 volsLeiden 1911–37
Oldenbourg 1911
OldenbourgR.Thomas de Keysers Tätigkeit als Maler, 1911
Rietstap 1950
RietstapJ.B.Armorial général: précédé d’un dictionnaire des termes du blazon4 volsLyon 1950
Schmidt‐Degener 1915
Schmidt‐DegenerF., in Onze Kunst, 1915, 27
Unger 1885
UngerJ.H.W.Dagboek van Constantyn Huygens, 1885
Van Gelder 1957
GelderH.E. vanIkonographie van Constantin Huygens en de zijnenThe Hague 1957
Wibiral 1877
WibiralF.L’Iconographie d’Antoine van Dyck, 1877
Worp 1891
WorpJ.A., in Oud Holland, 1891, 9129–30
Worp 1893
WorpJ. A., ed., De gedichten van Constantyn Huygens, 1893, 2

List of exhibitions cited

London, National Gallery, Art in Seventeenth–Century Holland, 1976
The Hague 1979
The Hague, Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen Mauritshuis, Zo wijd der wereld strekt, 1979

Explanatory Notes on the Catalogue

SEQUENCE The paintings are arranged alphabetically according to the name of the artist or school.

ATTRIBUTION A picture catalogued under the name of the artist is considered to be by him. ‘Attributed to’ qualifies the attribution. ‘Ascribed to’ indicates a greater degree of doubt. ‘Workshop of’ or ‘Follower of’ are self‐explanatory. ‘Style of’ indicates that the painting is an imitation or copy painted after the artist’s lifetime. A list of attributions which have been changed from the first edition of this catalogue (published in 1960) is given on pages 510–13.

INVENTORY NUMBER The National Gallery inventory number is to be found to the left of the picture title.

MEASUREMENTS These are given in centimetres, followed by inches in brackets. Height precedes width.

RIGHT and LEFT These indicate the viewer’s right and left, unless the context clearly implies the contrary.

BIOGRAPHIES MacLaren’s biographical notes on painters have been expanded and brought up to date when there is no accessible and reliable modern literature. Where such literature exists, these notes have been kept to a minimum.

REFERENCES The bibliographical references, though selective, include publications which appeared before mid‐1989. References to books and articles which appeared subsequently and which the author considered to be of importance are referred to within square brackets but could not be taken into account in the catalogue entries themselves.

LISTS AND INDEXES At the back of this volume are lists of paintings acquired since the last edition of this catalogue and changed attributions. There are also indexes to religious subjects, profane subjects, topography, previous owners, years of acquisition and inventory number.

ILLUSTRATIONS The plates of the paintings included in the catalogue are in the second volume, together with all the signatures which could be reproduced. The comparative plates are included in Volume 1.

VAN ‘van’ has been used in lower case throughout in accordance with The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors. The ‘van’ has been omitted for certain artists as is customary, e.g. ‘Jacob van Ruisdael’, but ‘Ruisdael’.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES op. cit. ’ may refer back to books and articles referred to under the artist’s biography (rather than in the particular catalogue entry).

CHRISTIE’S AND SOTHEBY’S Unless another location is mentioned, the sales referred to took place in London.

CLEANING The cleaning of paintings which took place before 1945 is not referred to, unless the circumstances were exceptional.

CONDITION All the paintings have been examined during the preparation of this catalogue. In many cases the condition is described, sometimes in considerable detail. If the condition is not described, the painting can be presumed to be in good condition.

PROVENANCE AND EXHIBITIONS There are separate headings for provenance and exhibitions in individual catalogue entries. In certain cases, when nineteenth‐century paintings were included in dealers’ exhibitions for example, these two sections have been conflated , .

VAN GOGH The National Gallery’s four paintings by Van Gogh (Inv. nos. 3861, 3862, 3863 and 4169) are not catalogued in this volume but in The French School by Cecil Gould.

CORNELIUS JOHNSON The one painting (Inv. no. 6280) in the National Gallery by Johnson, who was born in London of Dutch parents but moved to the Netherlands after the outbreak of the Civil War, is not included in this catalogue but in The British School by Martin Davies.

Explanatory note

This volume contains the illustrations for the catalogue of the Dutch School published in Volume 1.

The pictures and their attributions are discussed in detail in the catalogue; in this volume only the title, the artist (or attribution) and the inventory number are given.

At the end of the volume are plates of all the signatures that could be reproduced. In the interest of clarity some of these have been enlarged.

About this version

Version 2, generated from files NM_CB_1991__16.xml dated 17/02/2025 and database__16.xml dated 16/02/2025 using stylesheet 16_teiToHtml_externalDb.xsl dated 03/01/2025. Entries for NG212, NG221, NG830, NG871, NG990, NG1674, NG1675, NG2531, NG4503, NG6350, NG6442, NG6444 and NG64835 proofread following mark-up and corrected.

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Chicago style
MacLaren, Neil and Christopher Brown. “212 Portrait of Constantijn Huygens and his (?)Clerk”. 1991, online version 2, February 17, 2025. https://data.ng.ac.uk/0DFB-000B-0000-0000.
Harvard style
MacLaren, Neil and Brown, Christopher (1991) 212 Portrait of Constantijn Huygens and his (?)Clerk. Online version 2, London: National Gallery, 2025. Available at: https://data.ng.ac.uk/0DFB-000B-0000-0000 (Accessed: 29 March 2025).
MHRA style
MacLaren, Neil and Christopher Brown, 212 Portrait of Constantijn Huygens and his (?)Clerk (National Gallery, 1991; online version 2, 2025) <https://data.ng.ac.uk/0DFB-000B-0000-0000> [accessed: 29 March 2025]