Portrait of Adam Wachendorff, with a Putto Blowing Bubbles

• Portrait of a Man. On the Verso a Putto Blowing Bubbles
• Portrait of Adam Wachendorff, with a Putto Blowing Bubbles

SK-A-4046

• signature, date and inscription: ‘CK Anº DNI 1574. AEtatis Suae 35’
• inscription: ‘[Grieks]’
• inscription: ‘Sermo Dei AEternus Caetera Omnia Caduca’

The sitter, Adam Wachendorff, can be identified from the family coat of arms on his watch case. He was the secretary of the London offices of the Hanseatic League, a trading alliance of European cities. The Greek inscription on the original frame (‘Man is a soap bubble’) and the naked youth blowing bubbles on the reverse allude to the transience of human life.

A. Wallert, B. Schoonhoven, E. Metz, 'Becoming a Virtuoso Painter: Cornelis Ketel's Portrait of Adam Wachendorff and Homo Bulla', in: Making Art in Tudor Britain, Abstracts from Academic Workshops (2007-2008), internetpublicatie op: http://www.npg.org.uk/research/programmes/making-art-in-tudor-britain/workshops/workshop-3-abstract-11.php

painter: Cornelis Ketel, London

1574

olieverf op paneel

height 50.3 cm x diameter 48.6 cm

De Bruijn-van der Leeuw Bequest, Muri, Switzerland

bequest 1961

Public domain

Inv.; from Dr. A. Lapp, Frankfürt,fl.6,300, to Isaäc de Bruijn (1872-1953), Spiez and Muri, near Bern, 1927;{Note RMA.} donated to the museum by Isaäc de Bruijn and his wife, Johanna Geertruida de Bruijn-van der Leeuw (1877-1960), Spiez and Muri, near Bern, 1949, but kept in usufruct;{Note RMA.} transferred to the museum, 1961

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.

A. Wallert, B. Schoonhoven, E. Metz, 'Becoming a Virtuoso Painter: Cornelis Ketel's Portrait of Adam Wachendorff and Homo Bulla', in: Making Art in Tudor Britain, Abstracts from Academic Workshops (2007-2008), internetpublicatie op: http://www.npg.org.uk/research/programmes/making-art-in-tudor-britain/workshops/workshop-3-abstract-11.php

To refer to this object, please use the following persistent URL:

https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200109419