Laid down; damages and small losses at left border

…; from the dealer F. Muller, Amsterdam, fl. 149.83, to the museum, 1882

Object number: RP-T-1882-A-177

Soon after Johannes Thopas moved to Amsterdam circa 1656-57, he broadened his repertoire with a new type of portrait, depicting the sitter three-quarter length against a backdrop that shows part of an interior.⁶⁶Ibid., p. 55. As in the present sheet, a vista offered by an opening in the wall is often part of the setting, literally providing ‘background information’ on the sitter.

The glimpse of the Amsterdam Town Hall in the background of this portrait suggests that this still unidentified elderly woman probably lived at Herengracht, no. 186, 188 or 190.⁷⁷Information from Peter L. Goutbeek; quoted in ibid., p. 127. Although for stylistic reasons, the drawing was dated by Ekkart to the second half of the 1670s – by which time the artist was living in Assendelft rather than Amsterdam – the presumption that the drawing was made in Amsterdam implies that he still had Amsterdam clients.⁸⁸Ibid., pp. 62 and 127.

Clearly interested in science, the sitter is portrayed seated at a table in front of an open book, whose geometrical illustration implies some sort of mathematical content. In her right hand, she is holding a pair of compasses, as if caught in the midst of her studies. Beyond the book on the table is an armillary sphere, an astronomer’s instrument. A cabinet of books, partly revealed by a drawn-back curtain, further characterizes her as a woman of learning. The most unusual feature, however, is her costume. She is wearing a ‘Japonse rok’, a kind of housecoat imported to the Netherlands by members of the VOC, who had received them as gifts from the Japanese shogun. Made from fine silk and padded with silk wadding, the dressing gowns were particularly popular in paintings depicting well-to-do men, artists and scholars who wore them as working garments or informal housecoats.⁹⁹M. de Winkel, Fashion and Fancy: Dress and Meaning in Rembrandt’s Paintings, Amsterdam 2006, p. 158. From circa 1680, the garment became also popular with women and children.¹⁰¹⁰Cf. C. van Rappard-Boon (ed.), Imitation and Inspiration: Japanese Influence on Dutch Art from 1650 to the Present, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum)/Tokyo (Suntory Museum of Art) 1991-92, p. 91; K.H. Corrigan, J. van Campen and F. Diercks (eds.), Asia in Amsterdam: The Culture of Luxury in the Golden Age, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum)/Salem (MA) (Peabody Essex Museum) 2015-16, p. 195.

Unfortunately, the sitter’s identity remains unknown. She might have been a mathematician or the widow of a scientist continuing his research. Based on information given by the topographical reference, potential candidates include Cornelia Merchijs (?-1694), the wife of Joannes Rijckaert (1609-1679) who lived at Herengracht 188 as a widow from 1679 until her death, and whose her sister-in-law, Maria Florianus (1600-1678), is likely the sitter in a drawing by Thopas in the Stadsarchief, Amsterdam (inv. no. 010097000323).¹¹¹¹R.E.O. Ekkart, Deaf, Dumb & Brilliant: Johannes Thopas, Master Draughtsman, exh. cat. Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum)/Amsterdam (Museum Het Rembrandthuis) 2014, no. 22; cf. I.H. van Eeghen et al., Vier eeuwen Herengracht, Amsterdam 1976, p. 462; and E. Van Houten, Geschied-boukundige beschrijvingen behorende bij het Grachtenboek van Caspar Philips Jacobszoon, Amsterdam 1962, p. 92. The resident of Herengracht 190 at the time was Maria Wtenbogaert (1643-1680), daughter of the Remonstrant preacher Johannes Wtenbogaert (1557-1644), who was portrayed by Rembrandt (1606-1669) in a picture in the Rijksmuseum (inv. no. SK-A-4885); she was outlived by her husband Cornelis van Gheel (1637-1681).¹²¹²I.H. van Eeghen et al., Vier eeuwen Herengracht, Amsterdam 1976, p. 463. Unfortunately, neither female candidate can be specifically associated with scholarly activities.¹³¹³Neither, for instance, is mentioned in T. van Loosbroek (ed.), Geleerde vrouwen, Nijmegen 1988 or in J.A. van Manen, Facets of Seventeenth-century Mathematics in the Netherlands, Utrecht 1987.

Annemarie Stefes, 2018

W.W. Robinson, Bruegel to Rembrandt: Dutch and Flemish Drawings from the Maida and George Abrams Collection, exh. cat. London (British Museum)/Paris (Institut Néerlandais)/Cambridge (MA) (Fogg Art Museum) 2002-03, p. 216, under no. 95; R.E.O. Ekkart, Deaf, Dumb & Brilliant: Johannes Thopas, Master Draughtsman, exh. cat. Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum)/Amsterdam (Museum Het Rembrandthuis) 2014, pp. 62, 127, no. 30; Old Master & British Drawings including French Masterworks from the Dormeuil Collection, sale, London (Sotheby’s), 3 July 2013, under no. 115

A. Stefes, 2018, 'Jan Thopas, Portrait of an Elderly Woman, Seated with Astronomical Instruments, Amsterdam, c. 1675 - c. 1680', in J. Turner (ed.), Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200144594