Portrait of Eberhardt Hanekrodt (?-1637)

The support is a double-lined canvas, with cusping vaguely visible at the left. The top is probably original, because there is an unpainted tacking edge. The right, left and bottom sides are cut. The ground layer, visible at the edge, seems to be reddish. The paint layers were smoothly applied, with visible brushstrokes in the costume, and impasto as highlights.

Poor. There are some three-cornered restored tears. The painting is badly abraded and there are discoloured areas of retouching. The discoloured varnish has its own craquelure.

? Commissioned by or for Ernst Casimir I (1573-1632); ? estate inventory, Frisian Stadholder’s Court, Leeuwarden, 16 October 1633, large blue room (‘Veertien stuck schildereien van capiteinen’), and the room next to the large room (‘Seeventien schildereien van capiteinen en ritmeisters.’);¹¹Drossaers/Lunsingh Scheurleer II, 1974, p. 53. inventory of paintings Frisian Stadholder’s Court, Leeuwarden, c. 1800, Garde du Corps Hall (‘6. O. LIVT Hanekroot’);²²Tresoar, Leeuwarden, Familiearchief Van Eysinga-Vegelin van Claerbergen, inv. no. 536; Mulder-Radetzky 1997, pp. 197, 203....; Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1876; transferred to the museum, 1885; on loan to the Nederlands Legermuseum, Delft, 1953-2000

ObjectNumber: SK-A-875

It is thanks to the inscription at top right that it is known that this is the portrait of a member of the Hanekrodt family, very probably Eberhardt Hanekrodt.³³A document signed by him is the basis for the spelling of the name followed here. See Vries/Kirmse 1974, fig. 3. He captained a company in the regiment of Count Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Dietz, and was stationed in Moers from 1609 on.⁴⁴The biographical data are taken from Ten Raa/De Bas III, 1915, p. 189, IV, 1918, p. 250, and from Vries/Kirmse 1974. This fortified town on the Rhine had been captured by Prince Maurits in 1601, and was further reinforced from then on. Eberhardt was in charge of the fortification works from 1611 to 1613, for which he was richly rewarded.⁵⁵Vries/Kirmse 1974, p. 83. In 1615 he was passed over for the desirable post of governor of Moers, but was appointed sergeant-major instead. The governorship may have been withheld because of complaints about his behaviour. In 1613 he had brewed beer for his own use and refused to pay duty on it. Burgomaster Henrich Simons even complained to The Hague about this misconduct. In 1629 Eberhardt was promoted lieutenant-colonel,⁶⁶Ten Raa/De Bas IV, 1918, p. 250; Vries/Kirmse 1974, p. 83. the rank given in abbreviated form on the painting (‘overste luitenant’). It cannot be concluded from this that the portrait dates from after 1629, for the inscription is very probably a later addition.⁷⁷On this see the entry on SK-A-877. Eberhardt Hanekrodt died in Moers on 7 July 1637.

The mediocre execution of this portrait currently precludes an attribution to a known master. The ruff suggests a date of around 1610-20.⁸⁸Note IB.

Along with four other officers’ portraits, those of Karel van der Hoeven (SK-A-877), Otto Brahe (SK-A-876), Bartholomeus Andrio Walsdorffer (SK-A-1230) and Ripperda (SK-A-576), this one once adorned the Stadholder’s Court in Leeuwarden.⁹⁹Mulder-Radetzky 1997, p. 197. It is listed as number 6,‘O LIVT Hanekroot’, in an inventory of works in the Garde du Corps Hall.¹⁰¹⁰See Provenance. 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).

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. 408.

Mulder-Radetzky 1997, pp. 197, 203; Zandvliet in Amsterdam 2000a, p. 243, no. 91

1903, p. 19, no. 191; 1976, p. 656, no. A 875; 2007, no. 408

Y. Bruijnen, 2007, 'anonymous, Portrait of Eberhardt Hanekrodt (?-1637), c. 1610 - 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.7039