The support consists of three vertically grained oak planks and is bevelled on all sides. The plank on the right, as seen from the front, must have been planed down during a repair, as a small portion of the collar is missing. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1586. The panel could have been ready for use by 1597, but a date in or after 1603 is more likely. The support was prepared with a beige ground layer. Impasto was used for the highlights, and some brushmarking is visible in the face.

Fair. There is a difference in level between the leftmost and central planks as seen from the front. The painting has two small cracks at upper left and bottom centre. There are small paint losses in the beard. The beard and hair are abraded and have discoloured retouchings. The hair has become transparent at the top of the head. The varnish is very discoloured.

…; from the dealer C.S. Roos, fl. 400, as P. Moreelse, with three other paintings, to the museum, 30 August 1800¹¹Moes/Van Biema 1909, pp. 33, 161, 208, where it is incorrectly stated that the painting was sold by the museum in 1828; Van Thiel 1981a, p. 188, no. 3.

Object number: SK-A-257

Johan van Oldenbarnevelt studied law at, among other places, Bourges, Cologne and Heidelberg. In 1569, he became an advocate at the Court of Holland in The Hague. After serving in various other positions, including Pensionary of Rotterdam, he was appointed to the most powerful legal office in the Republic in 1586, that of Advocate of the States of Holland. In this capacity, he played a central role in the government of the northern Netherlands and the revolt against Spain. For example, Van Oldenbarnevelt was instrumental in Maurits’s appointment as Stadholder of Gelderland, Utrecht and Overijssel in 1590, and the creation of the alliance between the Dutch Republic, England and France in 1593. On the question of churchstate relations he sided with the Arminians and came into conflict with Prince Maurits over the issue of local militias. These conflicts led to Van Oldenbarnevelt’s incarceration in 1618 and his execution on 13 May 1619 at the Binnenhof in The Hague.³³For Van Oldenbarnevelt’s biography see NNBW V, 1921, cols. 384-93.

This is one of a number of bust-length studio replicas after a lost prototype by Van Mierevelt. Another bust-length copy in the Louvre is dated 1617.⁴⁴Paris, panel, 63 x 51 cm; coll. cat. Paris 1979, p. 91, no. INV. 1574. The prototype, however, was probably executed in or before 1616, as some of the replicas, including a knee-length one, bear the date 1616.⁵⁵Canvas, 116.8 x 94.6 cm; sale, Sotheby’s (New York), 5 October 2001, no. 70 (as Dutch School). The prototype probably also showed Van Oldenbarnevelt at knee-length. Although none of the replicas are signed, the inscription on Willem Jacobsz Delff’s 1617 engraving⁶⁶Hollstein V, 1951, p. 190, no. 54. states that Van Mierevelt painted the original. Van Oldenbarnevelt is shown wearing a tabbaard, a garment that was closely associated with him and his faction.⁷⁷De Winkel 1995, pp. 150-51. From eye-witness accounts, it seems likely that he was wearing this very garment when he was put to death.⁸⁸For these accounts see De Winkel 1995, p. 150, note 21.

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. 193.

Van Kretschmar 1966, p. 73, no. 14 (as Van Mierevelt); Stevens in Amsterdam 2000a, pp. 185, 187, no. 24 (as Van Mierevelt)

1801, p. 47, no. 11 (as Paulus Moreelse); 1809, p. 46, no. 193 (as Van Mierevelt); 1843, p. 40, no. 199 (as Van Mierevelt; ‘the oak showing through very prominently’); 1853, p. 18, no. 177 (as Van Mierevelt; fl. 150); 1858, p. 89, no. 196 (as Van Mierevelt); 1880, p. 206, no. 222 (as Van Mierevelt); 1887, p. 110, no. 925 (as Van Mierevelt); 1903, p. 175, no. 1587 (as Van Mierevelt); 1934, p. 187, no. 1587 (as Van Mierevelt); 1960, p. 206, no. 1587 (as Van Mierevelt); 1976, p. 385, no. A 257; 2007, no. 193

J. Bikker, 2007, 'workshop of Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, Portrait of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (1547-1619), in or after c. 1616', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20027065