Jan Verkolje the Elder

Possibly commissioned by the ancestors of the Van Nispen family;
By family descent for several generations.

Though born and trained in Amsterdam, Verkolje settled in Delft in 1672, where this portrait was painted.  Delft did not have a strong native portrait tradition and adopted the norms of portraiture that were fashionable in and around the Dutch Court in The Hague, a short distance away. This picture is a splendid example of grand Dutch family portraiture in the last quarter of the 18th century, in which a lavishly attired family pose in a grand garden setting, framed by imposing columns, and attended by their Dalmatian.

Dalmatians are not documented until the 18th century but they occur in portraits executed both in northern and southern Europe in the 17th century. One of the earliest is to be found in Justus Sustermans' portrait of Francesco de' Medici (Uffizi, Florence), which dates from 1622.¹ The latter and the present work, together with other representations, show that Dalmatians were more thickly spotted than they often are today.

The Van Nispen family, originally from Dordrecht, settled in various parts of The Netherlands, including Zeeland and Gelderland.

1. Inv. 1890 no. 4296; see Palazzo Pitti, Sustermans. Sessant'anni alla corte dei Medici, exh. cat., Florence 1983, p. 26, cat. no. 6, reproduced.