Portrait of Laurens Reael

Cornelis van der Voort, c. 1620

In the early days of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), key administrators debated the deployment of enslaved people. Governor General Laurens Reael, for example, did not see slavery as a solution to the labour shortage. This was not based on moral grounds for, according to him, they would always try to flee, ‘because it is difficult to forget the pleasures of the country where one was born and raised.’

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-3741
  • Dimensionssupport: height 223 cm x width 127 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on canvas

Identification

  • Title(s)

    • Portrait of Laurens Reael (1583-1637)
    • Portrait of Laurens Reael

  • Object type

  • Object number

    SK-A-3741

  • Description

    Portret van Laurens Reael (1583-1637). Gouverneur-generaal van Nederlands Oost-Indië (1616-19), sedert 1625 bewindhebber der Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie te Amsterdam. Staande, ten voeten uit, met een stok in de rechterhand, de linkerhand in de zij. Rechts een tafeltje waarop en helm en handschoenen liggen. Pendant van SK-A-3742.

  • Part of catalogue

Creation

  • Creation

    painter: Cornelis van der Voort

  • Dating

    c. 1620

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Material and technique

  • Physical description

    oil on canvas

  • Dimensions

    support: height 223 cm x width 127 cm

This work is about

  • Person

  • Subject

  • Place

  • Period

    • 1625 - 1637
    • 1616 - 1619

Acquisition and rights

  • Acquisition

    purchase 1949-07

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    ? Commissioned by or for Laurens Reael (1583-1637); ? his daughter Susanna Reael (1637-62), Amsterdam; ? her second husband Hiob de Wildt (1637-1704), Amsterdam; by descent to Maria S.T. de Wildt (1766-1851), with pendant SK-A-3742/no. 428; transferred for safekeeping to the Charter Room in Leiden Town Hall, 13 April 1838;{Note RMA.} removed at the request of Frans de Wildt (1805-69), Amsterdam, 4 May 1839, with pendant SK-A-3742/no. 428;{Note RMA.}…; by descent to Frans de Wildt (1805-69), Amsterdam, with pendant SK-A-3742/no. 428;{Kramm III, 1859, p. 871.} his daughter, Johanna E. Backer, née de Wildt (1831-1908), with pendant SK-A-3742/no. 428;{Meijer 1888, p. 226.} her daughter, Jonkvrouw Anna M. Blaauw, née Backer (1860-1941) ’s-Graveland, with pendant SK-A-3742/no. 428;{Six 1911, p. 130; Amsterdam 1925, p. 25.} her husband, Abraham J. Blaauw (1861-1945) ’s-Graveland, with pendant SK-A-3742/no. 428;…; collection P. van Leeuwen-Boomkamp, Hilversum/Naarden, with pendant SK-A-3742/no. 428; SNK, with pendant SK-A-3742/no. 428; from which on loan to the museum, with pendant SK-A-3742/no. 428, 1948; purchased by the museum, with pendant SK-A-3742/no. 428, July 1949{Provenance reconstructed by Jansen in Amsterdam 1993, p. 598.}

  • Remarks

    Please note that this provenance was formulated with a special focus on provenance research for the years 1933-45 and could therefore be incomplete. There may be more (mostly earlier) provenance information known in the museum. In case this item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45, the Rijksmuseum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.

Documentation

  • Documentatiemap Schilderijen: aantekeningen R. van Luttervelt (voor 1963).

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