Portrait of a Girl Dressed in Blue

Johannes Verspronck (signed by artist), 1641

Why is this portrait so popular? Because it depicts an adorable child dressed in her Sunday best? As was the custom of the day, the young girl is portrayed as a small adult lady. That she is playing a role is betrayed only by her facial expression. Unfortunately, we know nothing about her identity or her family. Perhaps she resided in Haarlem, like the portraitist Verspronck.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-3064
  • Dimensionssupport: height 82 cm x width 66.7 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on canvas

Identification

  • Title(s)

    Portrait of a Girl Dressed in Blue

  • Object type

  • Object number

    SK-A-3064

  • Description

    Portret van een meisje in het blauw. Staande, ten halven lijve, in de handen een veren waaier.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    signature and date, bottom left (‘ver’ ligated): ‘J verSpronck an° 1641:’

  • Part of catalogue

Creation

  • Creation

    painter: Johannes Verspronck (signed by artist)

  • Dating

    1641

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Material and technique

  • Physical description

    oil on canvas

  • Dimensions

    support: height 82 cm x width 66.7 cm

This work is about

  • Subject

Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt

  • Acquisition

    gift 1928-11

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    …; ? collection Von Hendorff;{O. ter Kuile, ‘Twee portretten uit de zeventiende eeuw in het Rijksmuseum Twenthe te Enschede’, _Antiek_ 3 (1968), pp. 9-13, esp. p. 9; Ekkart in J.B. Bedaux and R.E.O. Ekkart (eds.), _Pride and Joy: Children’s Portraits in the Netherlands 1500-1700_, exh. cat. Haarlem (Frans Hals Museum)/Antwerp (Royal Museum of Fine Arts) 2000-01, p. 174; R.E.O. Ekkart, _Johannes Verspronck and the Girl in Blue_, Amsterdam 2009, p. 38. According to H.W. Keiser, _Gemäldegalerie Oldenburg_, coll. cat. Oldenburg 1966, p. 11, Von Hendorff was a Danish major and ducal postmaster, in which case he would have been Johann Georg von Hendorff (1744-1800). Another candidate is his elder brother Friedrich Wilhelm von Hendorff (1738-1798).} ? his posthumous sale, Oldenburg (auction house not known), 1800, to Peter Friedrich Ludwig, Grand Duke of Oldenburg (1755-1829), Augusteum, Oldenburg;{R.E.O. Ekkart, _Johannes Verspronck and the Girl in Blue_, Amsterdam 2009, p. 38. That sale is not documented, however.} first documented in his collection in 1805;{F. von Alten, _Verzeichnis der Gemälde, Gypse und Bronzen in der Grossherzoglichen Sammlung zu Oldenburg: Mit einem Anhange der auf den Gemälden befindlichen Monogramme, Bezeichnungen und Inschriften_, coll. cat. Oldenburg 1881, p. 86, no. 211.} by descent to Friedrich August, Grand Duke of Oldenburg (1852-1931); from whom purchased by Mari Paul Voûte (1856-1928), Amsterdam, through the mediation of the dealer A.W.M. Mensing, in or before 1922;{P.J.J. van Thiel, ‘Verkregen met de steun van de Vereniging Rembrandt: 1928 Johannes Verspronck: _Portret van een meisje in het blauw_’, _Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum_ 31 (1983), pp. 210-11, esp. p. 210; R.E.O. Ekkart, _Johannes Verspronck and the Girl in Blue_, Amsterdam 2009, pp. 7-8.} from whom on loan to the museum, 1922-28; from whom, with SK-A-3065 and SK-A-3066, fl. 100,000, to the Vereniging Rembrandt, 1928;{P.J.J. van Thiel, ‘Verkregen met de steun van de Vereniging Rembrandt: 1928 Johannes Verspronck: _Portret van een meisje in het blauw_’, _Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum_ 31 (1983), pp. 210-11, esp. p. 210. The sum of fl. 100,000 was actually paid for Rembrandt’s _Old Woman Reading_ (SK-A-3066), the other two paintings being donations; see P. Hecht, _125 jaar openbaar kunstbezit met steun van de Vereniging Rembrandt_, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Van Gogh Museum) 2008-09, pp. 70-72, 75.} donated to the museum by the Vereniging Rembrandt, November 1928

Documentation

    • R.E.O. Ekkart, 'Johannes Verspronck, een Haarlemse portretschilder uit de zeventiende eeuw', Antiek XIV (1979), p. 110, afb. 1 p. 105.
    • T. Borcius, 'Die Holländische Ausstellung in Londen', Pantheon (1929), p. 137, afb.
    • Marja Supinen, 'Sinebrychoff and Verspronck', Bulletin Art Museum of the Ateneum and Sinebrychoff Art Museum (Helsinki) 1979, p. 35, afb. 4.
    • A. Blankert, What is Dutch seventeenth century genre painting?, in: Jahrbuch Preussischer Kulturbesitz dl. 4. Holländische Genremalerei im 17. Jahrhundert, Berlijn 1987, p. 15-16, fig. 7.
    • O. ter Kuile, 'Twee portretten uit de zeventiende eeuw in het Rijksmuseum Twenthe te Enschede', Antiek III, 1968, p. 9-12, afb.
    • Pieter de Dreu, 'Oud & Nieuw : oude kunst als inspiratiebron voor nieuwe kunst', Kunstkrant (1994) 5 (sept./okt.), p. 20-21, afb.
    • Joost Zwagerman, 'Bron van inspiratie : alles sal reg kom', Oog 3 (2009) nr. 5, p. 74-75.

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