Jacob van Dalen (1570–1644), Called Vallensis

This portrait and its pendant, Margaretha van Clootwijk (born about 1580/81, died 1662) (25.110.12) are late works by Mierevelt, dated 1640 and 1639, respectively. The difference in dates is not unusual in Dutch pair portraits, and probably indicates that the commission was executed in the winter months.

The family crests allowed Moes (1897) to identify the sitters; their gravestones in the Oude Kerk, Delft, bear the same crests. Jacob van Dalen (or Dael), known professionally by the Latinized form of his name, Vallensis, was born in Speyer, Germany. His father was a preacher, Theodorus van Dale, and his mother was Maria van Wassenaer Hanecops. He studied medicine at the University of Leiden from 1589 to 1593, then moved to Delft and became the personal physician of the Stadholders Prince Maurits (1567–1625) and Prince Frederick Hendrick (1584–1647) in the neighboring city of The Hague. The same eminent doctor appears in a group portrait of 1617, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Willem van der Meer (Oude- en Nicuwe Gasthuis, Delft), which bears a Latin inscription to the effect that Mierevelt drew the composition and his son Pieter carried out the painting.

Margaretha van Clootwijk, Van Dalen's second wife, was the daughter of Matthijs van Clootwijk, a burgomaster of Geertruidenberg (North Brabant), and Henrica van Drimmelen.

The 1641 inventory of Mierevelt's estate records that "Dr. Valentius" was to receive four large and two small portraits of himself and his wife that remained in the artist's house. The other versions of the present pictures are now unknown, and it is difficult to say whether The Met's panels are the small pendants or one of the larger pairs. The document also suggests that Mierevelt's grandson and heir to his studio, Jacob Willemsz Delff the Younger (1619–1661), painted the costumes in these pictures.

[2017; adapted from Liedtke 2007]

Inscription: Signed, dated, and inscribed (left): Ætatis.69. / Ao. 1640. / M. Miereveld.

the sitter, Jacob van Dalen, Delft (until d. 1644); ?his widow, Margaretha van Clootwijk, Delft (1644–d. 1662); their son, Dr. Theodoor Vallensis, Delft (until d. 1673); his son, Jacob Vallensis (1673–d. 1725); his daughter, Catharina Maria Vallensis (1725–d. 1745); her son, Nicolaes van der Dussen (1745–d. 1770); his son, Jhr. Jacob van der Dussen, Lord of Zouteveen (1770–d. 1839; his estate, 1839–58; posthumous sale, through the dealer A. Praetorius, Amsterdam, February 16, 1858, no. 129 [with pendant], for fl. 40, the pair bought in by Praetorius); J. Oyens, Baarn, The Netherlands (in 1897); Collis P. Huntington, New York (until d. 1900; life interest to his widow, Arabella D. Huntington, later [from 1913] Mrs. Henry E. Huntington, 1900–d. 1924; life interest to their son, Archer Milton Huntington, 1924–terminated in 1925)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Dutch Couples: Pair Portraits by Rembrandt and his Contemporaries," January 23–March 5, 1973, no. 7 (with MMA 25.110.12).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 18, 2007–January 6, 2008, no catalogue.

New-York Historical Society. "The Armory Show at 100: Modern Art and Revolution," October 11, 2013–February 23, 2014, not in catalogue.

Inventory of the estate of Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt. August 30, 1641 [published in A. Bredius, "Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt, eene nalezing," Oud Holland 26 (1908), p. 8], mentions that Dr. Valentius [the sitter] was to receive four large and two small portraits of himself and his wife, probably including this work and its pendant, 25.110.12; suggests that Mierevelt's grandson and heir to his studio, Jacob Willemsz Delff the Younger (1619–1661), may have painted the costumes.

E. W. Moes. Iconographia Batava: Beredeneerde Lijst van Geschilderde en Gebeeldhouwde Portretten van Noord-Nederlanders in Vorige Eeuwen. Vol. 1, Amsterdam, 1897, p. 217, no. 1886-2, as in the collection of J. Oyens, Baarn.

Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 68.

John Michael Montias. Artists and Artisans in Delft: A Socio-Economic Study of the Seventeenth Century. Princeton, 1982, p. 55, fig. 3.

Walter Liedtke in The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. John Pope-Hennessy and Olga Raggio. New York, 1984, p. 85, compares it with the Linsky "Portrait of a Man, Possibly a Botanist," by David Bailly (1982.60.29).

Peter C. Sutton. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1986, p. 183.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 297, ill., as "Jacob van Dalen (1571–1644)".

Walter Liedtke et al. Vermeer and the Delft School. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2001, pp. 43, 47–48, 55, fig. 45a, states that this portrait and its pendant, or versions of them, were still in the artist's studio when he died in 1641, and that van Miereveld's estate inventory implies that the costumes were painted by the artist's grandson and successor, Jacob Willemsz Delff the Younger.

Walter Liedtke. Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, vol. 1, pp. 476–79, no. 121, colorpl. 121; vol. 2, pp. 573, 608.

Old Master Paintings and Sculpture. Sotheby's, New York. January 28, 2010, p. 44, under no. 258.