Rijksmuseum

Object data

oil on canvas

support: height 123.2 cm × width 93.2 cm
sight size: height 120.5 cm × width 90.5 cm
frame: height 136 cm × width 106 cm (support incl. frame)

Inscriptions

inscription, upper left: CAPN. RIPPERDA

Technical notes

The support is a lined canvas, with cusping slightly visible at bottom left and top. The ground layer has a light colour. The painting was smoothly executed with visible brushstrokes throughout, particularly in the clothing. The contours of the arms were slightly reduced.

Scientific examination and reports

technical report: L. Sozzani, RMA, 18 October 2004

Condition

Poor. There are several tears throughout, while the painting was flattened due to lining. It is badly abraded and has numerous discoloured areas of retouching and overpaint.

Provenance

...; ? estate inventory, Frisian Stadholder’s Court, Leeuwarden, 16 August 1633, large blue room (‘Veertien stuck schildereien van capiteinen’), and the room next to the large room (‘Seeventien schildereien van capiteinen en ritmeisters.’);¹ inventory of paintings, Frisian Stadholder’s Court, Leeuwarden, c. 1800, Garde du Corps Hall (‘13. Capt Ripperda’);²...; first recorded in the museum in 1808;³ on loan to the Nederlands Legermuseum, Delft, since 1953

Object number: SK-A-576

Entry

This portrait was first recorded in the museum in 1808 as a painting by an unknown master,⁴ but was attributed to Frans Hals in the collection catalogue of the following year. In 1827 it was rightly transferred to the list of anonymous artists.⁵ The sitter was identified in the collection catalogue of 1827 as the commander of the Haarlem garrison, Wigbolt Ripperda (c. 1535-73).⁶ Murray Bakker justifiably argued that it was unlikely that this 17th-century portrait of an officer in contemporary dress was intended as a historical portrait of the 16th-century Wigbolt Ripperda.⁷ He suggested three more suitable candidates: Focco Ripperda, in the pay of Friesland, Unico Ripperda or his brother Eggerich Adriaen Ripperda, both in the pay of Overijssel.⁸ At present it is impossible to say which of the three Ripperdas this is, although Focco is the most likely because of his service for Friesland from 1599 to 1617. A fourth possibility is Jurjen Ripperda (1571-1632), who was a captain in the States army and steward of the Frisian court of Ernst Casimir of Nassau. His portrait was painted by Wybrand de Geest in 1625, when he was 54 years old, and the facial features he has in common with the sitter in this portrait are the rather deep-set eyes, the prominent nose and the receding hairline.⁹ Jurjen would be younger in this portrait, placing it around 1615-20, which is not contradicted by the flat, semi-circular standing band.¹⁰

Like four other officers’ portraits, those of Karel van der Hoeven (SK-A-877), Eberhardt Hanekrodt (SK-A-875), Bartholomeus Andrio Walsdorffer (SK-A-1230) and Otto Brahe (SK-A-876), this one once adorned the Stadholder’s Court in Leeuwarden.¹¹ It is listed as number 13, ‘Capt Ripperda’, in an inventory of paintings hanging in the Garde du Corps Hall.¹² For a discussion of this provenance and the relationship between the five portraits, see the entry on the portrait of Karel van der Hoeven (SK-A-877).

This portrait of Ripperda differs from the other four in its looser style and visible brushstrokes, mainly seen in the clothing, and the sitter’s convincing pose. An attribution is not yet possible.

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. 414.

Literature

Murray Bakker 1898, pp. 30-31; Joosting 1916, pp. 133-35; Mulder-Radetzky 1997, pp. 197, 203

Collection catalogues

1809, p. 27, no. 110 (as Frans Hals); 1827, p. 95, no. 420 (without attribution, as Portrait of Wigbolt Ripperda); 1843, p. 24, no. 109 (as Frans Hals, Portrait of Ripperda; ‘in good condition’); 1858, p. 186, no. 413; 1880, p. 379, no. 438 (as Dutch School, 16th century, Portrait of Wigbolt Ripperda); 1887, p. 70, no. 561 (as Portrait of Wigbolt Ripperda); 1903, p. 19, no. 190; 1976, p. 657, no. A 576; 2007, no. 414

Citation

Y. Bruijnen, 2007, 'anonymous, Portrait of a Captain surnamed Ripperda, c. 1615 - c. 1620', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.6939

(accessed 18 June 2024 19:28:05).