Wybrand de Geest

Portrait of Hendrickje Uylenburgh (1600-c. 1682)

1629

Inscriptions

  • date, top right, in dark green:M.DC.XXIX
  • inscription, on the reverse, in white paint:HENRIKIEN ULENBVRGH / GEBOREN INT’ IAER / 1600. / DEN 3 VAN MEERT.(Henrikien Ulenburgh, born in the year 1600, the 3rd of March.)

Technical notes

The oak support consists of three planks with a vertical grain and is bevelled on all sides. The left side is irregular, indicating that it was sawn by hand. The paint was applied from edge to edge. The white ground layer is thin. X-radiography and infrared reflectography show that beneath the present paint layers there is a first painted version in which the head of Hendrickje was positioned somewhat lower and more to the right. As a result of this change of position, her head was placed at the same height as that of the sitter on the pendant. There is no visible underdrawing. The green paint layer for the background was executed on top of a brown layer, used to indicate shadow.

Scientific examination and reports

  • X-radiography: SKRA, no. 1786, 1999
  • infrared reflectography: SKRA, no. 1786, 1999
  • paint samples: SKRA, nos. 1786 D1-D3, 5 oktober 1999
  • technical report: Y. Bruijnen / K. Kirsch, RMA, 12 augustus 2003

Literature scientific examination and reports

Van den Berg 2001, no. 4

Condition

Poor. See the description of the condition of the pendant.

Original framing

Oak truncated box frames1De Bruyn Kops in Amsterdam 1984b, p. 98; De Bruyn Kops in Van Thiel/De Bruyn Kops 1995, p. 144.

Provenance

...; from Dr R. Hoornsma Cannegieter, Donkerbroek, fl. 120, to the museum, 1898; on loan to the Museum Het Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam, 1946-48; on loan to the Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, since 1948

ObjectNumber: SK-A-1781

The artist

Biography

Wybrand de Geest (Leeuwarden c. 1592 - Leeuwarden 1661/65)

Wybrand de Geest was probably born in Leeuwarden on 16 August 1592, going by the inscription on the back of his self-portrait (SK-A-1780) in the Rijksmuseum. It is likely that he received his initial training from his father, Simon Juckes de Geest, a glasspainter. It emerges from the contributions to his album amicorum that he trained with Abraham Bloemaert in Utrecht in 1613-14, and the same source shows that he travelled for seven years after completing his apprenticeship, and visited Paris and Aix-en-Provence. He spent most of his time in Rome, however, where he stayed from 1616. In the Schildersbent (Band of Painters) there he was given the nickname ‘The Frisian Eagle’, according to Houbraken because of his ‘high flight in art’. He was still in Rome in 1620, but was back in Leeuwarden in 1621, for in that year he painted the group portrait of the local Verspeeck family.2Illustrated in Wassenbergh 1967, p. 95, pl. III. He was to spend the rest of his life in Leeuwarden. A Catholic, he married before the magistrate on 19 October 1622, his bride being Hendrickje Uylenburgh. One of Hendrickje’s cousins was the father of Saskia, Rembrandt’s wife. De Geest moved in lofty circles, was himself not without means, served as a regent of a charitable institution in 1639, and bore a coat of arms. His children and grandchildren even felt that they belonged to the Frisian aristocracy. His praises were sung by the poet Joost van den Vondel while he was still alive, and several eulogies were written about portraits of his. It is not known when he died, but it was between 1661 and 1665. His last works date from 1660, and there is also a letter he wrote in 1661. In 1665 his wife was recorded as being a widow.

Although Houbraken called him a ‘fine history and portrait painter’, almost all his surviving works are portraits. After his return from Rome he became the favourite portrait painter of Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Dietz (later Stadholder of Friesland) and his wife Sophia Hedwig of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, of their son Hendrik Casimir, and of the landed aristocracy of Friesland. Fragments from the diaries of Hendrik’s brother, Willem Frederik, record that he visited De Geest on more than one occasion ‘to have myself painted’. De Geest must have had a studio with assistants, given the many commissions he received, of which copies were often made. His pupils included Jacob Potma (c. 1610-80) and his son Julius Franciscus de Geest (?-1699). In the course of 40 years his portraiture evolved from the solemn, formal manner of Van Mierevelt and Van Ravesteyn to a more modern, fashionable style.

Yvette Bruijnen, 2007

References
Houbraken I, 1718, pp. 147-48; Campo Weyerman I, 1729, pp. 377-78; Descamps I, 1753, pp. 402-03; Hofstede de Groot 1889a; Hofstede de Groot in Thieme/Becker XIII, 1920, pp. 331-33; Wassenbergh 1967, pp. 37-40; De Vries 1982, pp. 9-11; Visser/Van der Plaat 1995, pp. 375, 479; De Vries in Turner 1996, XII, p. 233

Entry

The identification of this pendant pair showing the artist himself (see SK-A-1780) and his wife, Hendrickje Uylenburgh (shown here), is based on the inscriptions on the back of both works (figs. a-b), which may date from the 17th century but are probably not in De Geest’s own hand, as De Vries had suggested.3De Vries 1982, p. 59. It is more likely that a later owner recorded the sitter’s identities for posterity. That the inscriptions are reliable is suggested by the statements of the precise dates of birth, coupled with the fact that De Geest’s date of birth fits within the chronological order of Houbraken’s biographies in the Groote Schouburgh.4De Geest comes between Lucas de Waal Jansz and Gerard van Honthorst, who were born in 1591 and 1592 respectively. See Houbraken I, 1718, pp. 147-48. Moreover, the physical resemblance to the (posthumously published) portrait of De Geest in the Groote Schouburgh does nothing to detract from the identification.

The companion portraits have traditionally been attributed to De Geest. Although there is no reason to doubt this, their lamentable condition makes it difficult to assess the style. That being said, the type of portrait fits well within De Geest’s oeuvre. Both works are related to the portraits of Jacob de Witt and Anna van de Corput of 1630,5Private collection; illustrated in Wassenbergh 1967, p. 101, figs. 59-60. while the self-portrait is very comparable to the portraits of Johannes van den Sande and Theodorus Saeckma of 1638.6Leeuwarden, Fries Museum; illustrated in Wassenbergh 1967, p. 111, fig. 85; De Vries 1982, p. 48. The provenance from a Frisian collection also reinforces the attribution to De Geest. There is a striking similarity to the Self-Portrait of Daniel Mijtens, datable around 1630, but there are no indications that the two artists were in touch.7United Kingdom, Royal Collection; Ter Kuile 1969, pp. 82-83, no. 70, fig. 1.

The rather flat, plain oak frames, the broad bottoms of which have a gently curving ogee shape, are probably original. Paint traces in the grain of the wood show that they were originally lacquered black.8See also De Bruyn Kops in Amsterdam 1984b, p. 98; De Bruyn Kops in Van Thiel/De Bruyn Kops 1995, p. 144.

Yvette Bruijnen, 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. 79.

Literature

Van Riemsdijk 1899; Wassenbergh 1967, pp. 33, 34, nos. 15, 16; De Vries 1982, pp. 65-67, nos. 19, 20

Collection catalogues

1903, pp. 102-03, nos. 952, 953; 1976, p. 237, nos. A 1780, A 1781; 2007, no. 79

Citation

Y. Bruijnen, 2007, 'Wybrand de (I) Geest, Portrait of Hendrickje Uylenburgh (1600-c. 1682), 1629', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.7497

(accessed 30 April 2025 23:18:56).

Figures

  • fig. a Inscription on the reverse of Portrait of Hendrickje Uylenburgh .

  • fig. b Inscription on the reverse of Self-Portrait by Wybrand de Geest (SK-A-1780).

Footnotes

  • 1De Bruyn Kops in Amsterdam 1984b, p. 98; De Bruyn Kops in Van Thiel/De Bruyn Kops 1995, p. 144.
  • 2Illustrated in Wassenbergh 1967, p. 95, pl. III.
  • 3De Vries 1982, p. 59.
  • 4De Geest comes between Lucas de Waal Jansz and Gerard van Honthorst, who were born in 1591 and 1592 respectively. See Houbraken I, 1718, pp. 147-48.
  • 5Private collection; illustrated in Wassenbergh 1967, p. 101, figs. 59-60.
  • 6Leeuwarden, Fries Museum; illustrated in Wassenbergh 1967, p. 111, fig. 85; De Vries 1982, p. 48.
  • 7United Kingdom, Royal Collection; Ter Kuile 1969, pp. 82-83, no. 70, fig. 1.
  • 8See also De Bruyn Kops in Amsterdam 1984b, p. 98; De Bruyn Kops in Van Thiel/De Bruyn Kops 1995, p. 144.