Johan Hulshout (1623–1687)

This panel and its pendant in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (Portrait of Anna Splinter; NGI.267), were separated at the Amsterdam auction of the Daniel Hooft collection in 1860. According to the auction catalogue, the paintings had passed from the family of Slingelandt to that of Hooft. On the basis of this information and genealogical research, Ekkart (1992) identified the sitters and traced the pictures' continuous descent to the Hooft sale.

Johan Hulshout was the son of Wouter Hulshout, a wine merchant in The Hague, and Margriete Rottermondt. The younger Hulshout studied law at the University of Leiden and, in 1650, became secretary to the Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland, which supervised the regional system of canals, dikes, and dams. He held the post until his death in 1687 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Johannes Hulshout (1652–1713). In 1650, Hulshout married Anna Splinter (ca. 1630–1694), the daughter of a pharmacist and burgomaster in The Hague, Pieter Splinter, and his wife, Catharina van Onderwater. During the 1650s, the young couple lived in a rented house (now no. 51) on the Rapenburg in Leiden. In 1668, Hulshout purchased property from the city and built an imposing town house (now Rapenburg 8), which was probably designed by the prominent architect Pieter Post (1608–1669).

The portraits may be dated on the basis of costume and hairstyles to the first few years of the Hulshouts' residence in the new house, that is, about 1670 or slightly later. Especially fashionable for the time is the man's elaborate lace collar in gros point de Venise. The collar and cuffs are extraordinarily detailed, with countless eyelets visible under magnification, and a painstaking use of highlights and shadows to suggest the relief of the lace pattern. These passages, which probably represent treasured items of the sitter's own attire, recall Arnold Houbraken's remark (see De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, Amsterdam, vol. 3, 1721, p. 162) that Slingelandt would work for four to six weeks to describe a single band of lace.

The garden architecture in both portraits bears a general resemblance to Post's designs; the archway in this picture recalls Slingelandt's admiration for the Renaissance architect Sebastiano Serlio (1475–?1553/55).

[2016; adapted from Liedtke 2007]

Inscription: Signed (lower left): P·V· Slingeland fecit

the sitter, Johan Hulshout, Leiden (about 1670–d. 1687); his son, Johannes Hulshout, Leiden (1687–d. 1713); his daughter, Anna Hulshout, Leiden (1713–d. 1766); her daughter, Elisabeth Dorothea de Raet, Leiden (1766–d. 1780); her widower, baron Nicolaes van den Boetzelaer, Leiden (1780–d. 1796); their daughter, Magdalena Anna Elisabeth van den Boetzelaer, Leiden (1796–d. 1808); her daughter, baroness Diederica Catharina van Slingelandt, Leiden (1808–d. 1838); her widower, Daniël Hooft, Leiden (1838–d. 1860; his estate sale, Amsterdam, October 30, 1860, no. 2, as "Portrait en pied d'un magistrat," for 445 florins to Brack); J. P. Gilkinet, Liège (until 1863; his sale, Hôtel des Commissaires-Priseurs, Paris, April 18, 1863, no. 38, as "Portrait d'un magistrat," for Fr 700); comte Cornet de Ways Ruart, Brussels (until d. 1870); [Étienne Le Roy, Brussels, and Léon Gauchez, Paris, 1870]; William T. Blodgett, Paris (from 1870; sold half share to Johnston); William T. Blodgett, Paris, and John Taylor Johnston, New York (1870–71; sold to The Met)

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.

F[ritz von]. Harck. "Berichte und Mittheilungen aus Sammlungen und Museen, über staatliche Kunstpflege und Restaurationen, neue Funde: Aus amerikanischen Galerien." Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 11 (1888), p. 76.

C[ornelis]. Hofstede de Groot. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. Ed. Edward G. Hawke. Vol. 5, London, 1913, pp. 460–61, no. 144; p. 464, no. 156, catalogues it as two separate pictures: no. 144, as "Portrait of a Dutch Burgomaster," in the Metropolitan Museum, and no. 156, as "Portrait of a Councillor," in the Hooft and Gilkinet sales.

Millia Davenport. The Book of Costume. New York, 1948, vol. 2, pp. 629–30, no. 1677, ill. (cropped).

Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 91.

Edith Appleton Standen. "The Grandeur of Lace." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 16 (January 1958), p. 160, ill. (detail), identifies the lace of the collar as Venetian gros point.

Peter C. Sutton. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1986, p. 184.

Homan Potterton. Dutch Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Paintings in the National Gallery of Ireland: A Complete Catalogue. Dublin, 1986, pp. 142–43, under no. 267, fig. 215, as a pendant to Slingeland's "Portrait of a Lady" in the National Gallery of Ireland.

R. E. O. Ekkart. "Twee Portretten door Pieter van Slingelandt." Leids Jaarboekje (1992), pp. 92–98, ill., identifies the sitter as Johan Hulshout (1623–1687) and the sitter in the pendant in the National Gallery of Ireland as his wife Anna Splinter (born about 1630, died 1694); gives the complete provenance of the pictures; dates them about 1670.

Rudolf E. O. Ekkart in Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht. Ed. Th. H. Lunsingh Scheurleer et al. Vol. 6a, Het Rijck van Pallas. Leiden, 1992, p. 27, fig. 18 (with pendant).

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 341, ill.

Katharine Baetjer. "Buying Pictures for New York: The Founding Purchase of 1871." Metropolitan Museum Journal 39 (2004), pp. 197, 203–4, 245, appendix 1A no. 67, ill.

Walter Liedtke. Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, vol. 2, pp. 825–27, no. 192, colorpl. 192.