JACOB WILLEMSZ. DELFF THE YOUNGER | PORTRAIT OF MICHIEL PAUW (1617–1658), HALF-LENGTH, IN ARMOUR, A SASH AND A WHITE COLLAR

Andreas Joannes Ludovicus, Baron van den Bogaerde van Terbruggen (1787–1855), Kasteelheeswijk, Den Bosch;

Thence by inheritance until sold, Den Bosch, F. Muller & Cie, 19 June 1900, lot 10 (as Aelbert Cuyp);

Private collection, France.

"With his Orange sash, tailored armour and clear-sighted expression as he gazes evenly out at us, De Pauw’s portrait (his name means `Peacock’) is the epitome of Dutch Court style, full of the confidence of an age in which wealth was being created at breakneck speed, its leading citizens building a country that was fit to last."

George Gordon

Michiel Pauw (1617–1658), was a member of a prominent Amsterdam family of patricians. Son of Adriaen Pauw of Heemstede (1585–1636), Michiel was page to Prince Frederik Hendrik of Orange (1584–1647); he was lord of Hoogersmilde and Oosterwijk, and was made captain in the Noord Hollandsche Regiment in 1638 and in the Hollandsche Guards in 1654. He married Anna Maria Fassin (1628–1665) in 1652, and had six children. The present portrait depicts Michiel Pauw as a captain to the House of Orange. Several portraits of the sitter in the same guise exist, including one by Jan van Teylingen, in the Stadhuis Hoorn,¹ and another, apparently inspired by the present work, dated 1651, by Pieter Nason.² A miniature by Alexander Cooper, which may have been painted on the occasion of Pauw's marriage, is in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle.³

Jacob Willemsz. Delff, a contemporary of his fellow citizen Johannes Vermeer, was the grandson and pupil of the great Dutch portraitist of the previous generation, Michiel van Mierevelt (1566–1641). We are grateful to Dr Fred G. Meijer for endorsing the attribution to Delff on the basis of of a digital image.

¹ https://rkd.nl/explore/images/54060

² https://rkd.nl/explore/images/124436

³ https://www.rct.uk/collection/420980/portrait-of-a-dutch-officer-probably-michiel-pauw-1617-1658-0