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Lot Essay
Born in Harlingen, Vincentia van der Does was the daughter of Simon van der Does (1507-1587) and Lysbeth Breenen (died 1588). 1 Her father, originally from Delft and of noble lineage, was a convoy and excise master who rose to prominence serving in various governmental functions and in a variety of other positions, such as council member of the city orphanage and of the sacraments guesthouse. 2 In 1563 Vincentia married Jan van der Haer (1534-1577), lawyer for the Court of Holland in The Hague. After her husband's death she lived along the Groenmarkt and raised her children, Jan and Elisabeth. She was a woman of considerable means; a tax assessment in 1627 reveals her capital amounted to Dfl. 12,000.-,. At the time of the present portrait she was aged eighty and had been widowed for 46 years.
Standing in an ill-defined space Vincentia lays her right hand on the armrest of a chair covered with green velvet and edged with gold fringes, and between the fingers of her left hand she holds the bow of her girdle. At the age of eighty, she looks the spectator in the eye with a generous smile on her face. Her lively gaze imbues the portrait with a warmth and immediacy that far exceeds her restrained pose and somewhat old-fashioned dress.
Vincentia wears a fur-lined tabbaard or vlieger over a bodice and skirt. Over her rippling under-cap trimmed with lace she wears a so-called vleugelmuts (literally: winged cap) over which another black cap ends in a tip on her forehead. Furthermore, she wears a white, starched ruff with matching cuffs. The large thin circle hovering over her ruff is occasionally seen in female portraits dating from the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th Century, in particular in and around Delft.
As early as 1604, Karel van Mander praised Jan van Ravesteyn as a 'seer goet Schilder en Conterfeyter' (a very good painter and portraitist).3 Signed and dated 1623, the present captivating and naturalistic portrait exemplifies Van Ravesteyn's skills as one of the most accomplished Dutch portrait painters of the early 17th Century.
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1 See for Vincentia van der Does: Nederland's patriciaat, 7, 1916, p. 188.
2 For the family Van der Does, see: C.J. Polvliet, Genealogie van het Oud-Adelijk Geslacht van der Does The Hague 1892.
3 Karel van Mander, Schilderboek, Haarlem 1604, fol. 300.
Standing in an ill-defined space Vincentia lays her right hand on the armrest of a chair covered with green velvet and edged with gold fringes, and between the fingers of her left hand she holds the bow of her girdle. At the age of eighty, she looks the spectator in the eye with a generous smile on her face. Her lively gaze imbues the portrait with a warmth and immediacy that far exceeds her restrained pose and somewhat old-fashioned dress.
Vincentia wears a fur-lined tabbaard or vlieger over a bodice and skirt. Over her rippling under-cap trimmed with lace she wears a so-called vleugelmuts (literally: winged cap) over which another black cap ends in a tip on her forehead. Furthermore, she wears a white, starched ruff with matching cuffs. The large thin circle hovering over her ruff is occasionally seen in female portraits dating from the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th Century, in particular in and around Delft.
As early as 1604, Karel van Mander praised Jan van Ravesteyn as a 'seer goet Schilder en Conterfeyter' (a very good painter and portraitist).
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