Portrait of Sophia de Vervou (c. 1613-71)

The original, unlined canvas support has a herringbone weave pattern. The canvas is attached to the frame construction as follows: a groove was chiselled out along the side of the frame with holes at irregular intervals varying from 4 to 8 cm. The canvas is still stretched with the original string laced through these holes. Ten original horizontal planks are affixed to the back of the frame for protection. The two original wooden hanging strips with a round hole are attached to the back at top left and top right. The ground layer, visible in an area of paint loss in the tiles at lower left, is whitish. The paint was applied broadly with visible brushstrokes, and impasto as highlights.

Verslype/Bruijnen 2006

Fair. The herringbone weave pattern shows through the paint layers, while the lower part of the paint surface is abraded. The varnish is discoloured.

An oak box frame, painted black

? Martenahuis, Franeker; from the Municipality of Franekerdeel to the museum, 1913; on loan to the Martenahuis, Franeker, since 1913

ObjectNumber: SK-A-2693

The woman in this portrait is identified by the family coat of arms and the inscription as Sophia de Vervou, a Gallicization of Saepck van Vervou.¹¹For the coat of arms see De Haan Hettema/Van Halmael 1846, II, no. 136. The date 1630 and the inscription ‘AETATIS SVAE 17’ at the top show that she was born around 1613. Sophia was the only child of Jonkheer Hessel Raes van Vervou (1588-1619), Sheriff of Franekerdeel, and Sjouck Joostesdr van Ockinga.²²De Haan Hettema/Van Halmael 1846, I, p. 270. She and her parents lived in the Martenahuis in Franeker with her father’s parents, Frederick van Vervou (c. 1551-1621), an army commander in the war against Spain, and Jel van Oostheim (?-after 1631).³³Vermeulen 1914, p. 122. Frederick made his will in 1620, designating his wife as his principal heir.⁴⁴Van Vervou 1841, p. 395. Sophia was named as ‘heir to the title of my immovable goods’, and it was stipulated that she was to be raised by her grandmother.⁵⁵Van Vervou 1841, pp. 395-96: ‘(...) erfgenaem tot de eygendom van mijne onroerlijcke goederen’. So when the portrait was painted Sophia was living in the Martenahuis, which she was to inherit on her grandmother’s death, not long after 1631.⁶⁶De Crane 1839, p. 132. This and the fact that the Martenahuis is the earliest known provenance of the painting makes it likely that her portrait always hung there.⁷⁷It was certainly there by 1839; see De Crane 1839, p. 133.

Some time before 1634 Sophia married Wijtze Sickes van Cammingha (1592-1641), who succeeded his brother Pieter in 1638 as Baron and Hereditary Lord of Ameland.⁸⁸De Jongh in Haarlem 1986, pp. 141-42. Upon his death Sophia laid claim to the government of Ameland, which brought her into conflict with Watso van Cammingha, who eventually bought her off for 30,000 guilders.⁹⁹Houwink 1899, pp. 65-66. Not long after 1645 she married Professor Joachim Martijns van Andrée, who died on 11 May 1655.¹⁰¹⁰De Crane 1839, p. 136; De Haan Hettema/Van Halmael 1846, I, p. 270. Both marriages were childless. One salient detail in her biography is that in 1664 she cared for Prince Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen for a while after he had an accident on a bridge in Franeker.¹¹¹¹De Crane 1839, pp. 138-39. She died in Franeker on 28 January 1671.

There are two other known portraits of Sophia. Wybrand de Geest painted a monumental full-length of her in 1632 that became the pendant to the portrait of Wijtze Sickes van Cammingha of 1634.¹²¹²Wassenbergh 1967, pp. 108-09, pls. 78-79. See also De Jongh in Haarlem 1986, pp. 141-44, no. 24. A half-length portrait of 1667 shows her as a widow.¹³¹³Franeker, Museum ’t Coopmanshûs; photo IB, no. 64045.

In the Rijksmuseum portrait Sophia is wearing a costly gown with a lavish display of jewellery and accessories.¹⁴¹⁴For a description see Vermeulen 1914, p. 123. In view of the naive composition, expressionless face and fairly coarse style, the merits of the painting lie in the depiction of the details of the costume and the sitter’s historical background. This portrait owes some of its interest to the fact that the unlined canvas is stretched in the original frame with the original cord, which is a rare survival.

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. 348.

De Crane 1839, p. 133; Vermeulen 1914; Wassenbergh 1948, p. 16; Wassenbergh 1967, p. 45

1976, p. 613, no. A 2693; 2007, no. 348

Y. Bruijnen, 2007, 'L.J. Woutersin, Portrait of Sophia de Vervou (c. 1613-71), 1630', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.7928