Jacob Lyon

Portrait of Maurits (1567-1625), Prince of Orange

after c. 1612

Inscriptions

  • signature, twice, on the reverse:Jacob Lyon pinx.t / J. Lyon

Technical notes

The support is a copper plate. There appears to be no ground layer, but a grey underpainting for the figure. Brushmarking is visible in the face and impasto was used for the highlights.

Scientific examination and reports

  • technical report: W. de Ridder, RMA, 12 oktober 2004

Condition

Fair. There are a few minor losses, and abrasion throughout. The varnish has been unevenly applied.

Provenance

...; bequeathed to the museum by Arnoldus Andries des Tombe (1818-1902), The Hague, 1903

ObjectNumber: SK-A-2100

Credit line: A.A. des Tombe Bequest, The Hague

The artist

Biography

Jacob Lyon (? Amsterdam c. 1587 - ? Amsterdam c. 1648/59)

Lyon was active in Amsterdam, where he completed some unfinished paintings by Abraham Vinck in 1620. In 1628, he painted Officers and Other Civic Guardsmen of the Xth District of Amsterdam, under the Command of Captain Jacob Pietersz Hooghkamer and Lieutenant Pieter Jacobsz van Rijn for the headquarters of the Amsterdam crossbowmen’s civic guard.1Amsterdams Historisch Museum; illustrated in Haarlem 1988, p. 349, fig. 175. This painting and the two copies after Van Mierevelt in the Rijksmuseum are the only known works from Lyon’s hand.

Jonathan Bikker, 2007

References
Thieme/Becker XXIII, 1929, pp. 494-95

Entry

The Portrait of Prince Maurits (shown here) is a small-scale copy of Van Mierevelt’s 1607 painting in Delft,2Panel, 110 x 98 cm; Delft, Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof; illustrated in New York-London 2001, p. 312. of which there are many versions.3See, for example, SK-A-255. According to a note at the Iconographisch Bureau, the Portrait of Frederik Hendrik (SK-A-2101) is a copy of a 1612 painting by Jan van Ravesteyn.4Panel, 122 x 81 cm; The Hague, Stichting Historische Verzamelingen van het Huis Oranje-Nassau; illustrated in Tiethoff-Spliethoff 1978, p. 96, fig. 8. Van Ravesteyn’s portrait is almost identical to the one made by Van Mierevelt in 1610, which is only known today through studio replicas and copies.5For example the studio replica in Delft, Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof; panel, 110 x 84 cm; illustrated in Tiethoff-Spliethoff 1978, p. 96, fig. 7. Lyon’s copy showing Frederik Hendrik shares with Van Ravesteyn’s portrait the somewhat less voluminous lace ruff.

Copies after Van Mierevelt’s 1607 Portrait of Prince Maurits and his 1610 Portrait of Frederik Hendrik in the collection of the Mauritshuis belong to a series of six copies after portraits by Van Mierevelt of members of the House of Orange.6Copper, oval, 28 x 23 cm; Buvelot and Sluiter in coll. cat. The Hague 2004a, pp. 292-94, nos. 96-101 (ill.). The present two copies by Lyon might also have been conceived as part of such a series.

Jonathan Bikker, 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. 171.

Collection catalogues

1903, pp. 165-66, nos. 1494, 1495; 1934, p. 171, nos. 1494, 1495; 1976, p. 387, nos. A 2100, A 2101; 2007, no. 171

Citation

J. Bikker, 2007, 'Jacob Lyon, Portrait of Maurits (1567-1625), Prince of Orange, after c. 1612', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.7619

(accessed 30 July 2025 23:24:27).

Footnotes

  • 1Amsterdams Historisch Museum; illustrated in Haarlem 1988, p. 349, fig. 175.
  • 2Panel, 110 x 98 cm; Delft, Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof; illustrated in New York-London 2001, p. 312.
  • 3See, for example, SK-A-255.
  • 4Panel, 122 x 81 cm; The Hague, Stichting Historische Verzamelingen van het Huis Oranje-Nassau; illustrated in Tiethoff-Spliethoff 1978, p. 96, fig. 8.
  • 5For example the studio replica in Delft, Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof; panel, 110 x 84 cm; illustrated in Tiethoff-Spliethoff 1978, p. 96, fig. 7.
  • 6Copper, oval, 28 x 23 cm; Buvelot and Sluiter in coll. cat. The Hague 2004a, pp. 292-94, nos. 96-101 (ill.).