CORNELIS VAN DER VOORT | PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN, THREE-QUARTER-LENGTH, IN A BLACK DAMASK DRESS WITH A RUFF AND WHITE LACE HEAD-PIECE

Dr. Hans Wetzlar (1894 –1970), Amsterdam, 1952;

His posthumous sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's Mak van Waay, 9 June 1977, lot 3;

Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 10 May 1994, lot 80.

M.J. Friedländer, Collection Dr. H. Wetzlar, Amsterdam 1952, p. 22, cat. no. 97, reproduced fig. 97;

H.-J. Raupp (ed.), Niederländische Malerei des. 17. Jahrhunderts der SØR Rusche-Sammlung, vol. I, Portraits, Münster/Hamburg/London 1995, p. 152, cat. no. 58, reproduced p. 153;

W. Pijbes, M. Aarts, M. J. Bok et al., At Home in the Golden Age, exh. cat., Zwolle 2008, p. 132, cat. no. 147, reproduced in colour.

Liesborn, Museum Abtei Liesborn, on loan;

Rotterdam, Kunsthal, At Home in the Golden Age, 9 February – 18 May 2008, no. 147.

The SØR Rusche Collection has been exhibited extensively over the last two decades. Please click here for further information.

When catalouged by Max Friedländer in 1952 (see Literature), when this portrait was in the collection of Hans Wetzlar in Amsterdam, it was recorded as being signed by Cornelis van der Voort at the upper left.

By contrast with many other genres of painting produced for the booming open art market in The Netherlands in the 17th century, portraits were almost exclusively commissioned. Although we do not know the identity of the sitter in this work, it is clear from the rich, expensive black fabric of her dress, the fine lace of her head-piece, ruff and cuffs - not to mention her jewellery - that she enjoys some level of wealth and status. The ring on her left hand is displayed prominently, suggesting that she is soon to be, or is recently, married.