The support consists of two vertically grained oak planks and is bevelled on all sides. The ground layer is difficult to see. The original paint layers have been smoothly applied with some impasto used for the costume details.

Fair. A roughly applied overpaint covers the figure’s entire face and cap. The figure’s right shoulder has been extensively retouched. The varnish has discoloured and is blanched, except in the face and cap.

? By descent through the families Briell, De Jonge van Ellemeet, Van Citters to Jonkheer Jacob de Witte van Citters (1817-76), The Hague; or ? by descent through the families De Witte, Ockerse, Van Gelre, De Witte van Elkerzee to Jonkheer Jacob de Witte van Citters (1817-76), The Hague; first recorded in the collection of the De Witte van Citters family, in the library of Kasteel Popkensburg, in the early 19th century;¹¹RAU, PA 26, Des Tombe archive, no. 843, ‘Getekende plattegrond van ruimte waarin familieportretten hangen’, no. 26. bequeathed to the museum by Jonkheer Jacob de Witte van Citters, 1876, but given in usufruct to his sister Carolina Hester de Witte van Citters (1820-1901) and her husband Arnoldus Andries des Tombe (1818-1902), until 1903

Object number: SK-A-2067

Credit line: Jonkheer J. de Witte van Citters Bequest, The Hague

Caecilia van Beresteyn was born in Delft on 8 February 1589, the daughter of Paulus Cornelisz van Beresteyn and Volckera Claesdr Knobbert. In 1614, she married the widower Cornelis Cornelisz Briell, who served numerous civic functions in Delft, including that of burgomaster. Briell died in 1625, and Caecilia married Pieter de Witte (1588-1653), a member of a well-established Zierikzee regent family, two years later. The couple lived in Zierikzee, where Pieter de Witte was burgomaster, among other things.³³For Caecilia van Beresteyn’s biography and those of her two husbands see Van Beresteyn/Del Campo Hartman I, 1954, pp. 171-75.

Mention of the identity of the sitter in the present portrait as Caecilia van Beresteyn can be traced back only to the early 19th century, when a ground plan was made of the library in Kasteel Popkensburg where the portrait hung.⁴⁴See Provenance. The number 26 painted on the reverse of the painting corresponds to this ground plan, and the inscription with the sitter’s biographical information that accompanies it probably dates to this period.⁵⁵See Inscriptions. The owners of Kasteel Popkensburg, the De Witte van Citters family, were descendants of Caecilia van Beresteyn, and the sitter’s age of 51 recorded on the painting does correspond to Caecilia’s in 1640. Although 25 years older, the sitter does resemble the one in the 1615 Portrait of Caecilia van Beresteyn by Van Mierevelt, that has as its pendant a portrait of her first husband, Cornelis Cornelisz Briell.⁶⁶The Netherlands, private collection; Van Beresteyn/Del Campo Hartman II, 1941, p. 49, no. 97, p. 51, no. 101, figs. 30, 31. Unfortunately, the 19 April 1660 inventory of Caecilia van Beresteyn’s estate does not list any paintings.⁷⁷ZA, PA 70, family archive De Jonge van Ellemeet 1534-1764, no. 24, ‘staet, schiftinge ende scheydinge van de naergelaten goederen (...)’, 1 April 1662; written communication, S. den Haan, Zeeuws Archief, Middelburg, 10 February 2004.

Van Mierevelt also portrayed Caecilia van Beresteyn’s parents (SK-A-908 and SK-A-909) and, in 1635, her sister, Margaretha (1583-1639).⁸⁸Private collection, Paris, in 1953; photo RMA. The family resemblance between the present portrait and that of Margaretha van Beresteyn is astonishing. The composition of these two portraits is identical, the sitters being shown seated at half-length and turned in three-quarter profile to the viewer’s right. This orientation is usual for portrait pairs and raises the question whether the present painting had a pendant in the form of a portrait of Caecilia van Beresteyn’s second husband, Pieter de Witte. While no such painting is known today, it can be assumed in any case that the Portrait of Margaretha van Beresteyn did not have a pendant, as she was a widow at the time of its execution.

The heavily overpainted face and cap in this portrait make it difficult to judge whether it is an original by Van Mierevelt or a studio copy. An indication that it is, indeed, an original is the fact that no other versions or copies of the present portrait are known. The rendering of the sitter’s dress, moreover, is of high quality.

Jonathan Bikker, 2007

See Bibliography and Rijksmuseum painting catalogues
See Key to abbreviations and Acknowledgements

This entry was published in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, I: Artists Born between 1570 and 1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2007, no. 188.

Van Beresteyn/Del Campo Hartman 1941-54, II, p. 52, no. 103

1903, p. 175, no. 1590; 1934, p. 188, no. 1590; 1976, p. 384, no. A 2067; 2007, no. 188

J. Bikker, 2007, 'Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, Portrait of Caecilia van Beresteyn (1589-1661), 1640', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20028337