JAN MIJTENS (1614-1670)
Portrait of Princess Henriette Catharina van Oranje-Nassau (1637-1708)
Standing, small-scale three-quarter-length in a yellow silk dress and pearls by a fountain, with a spaniel drinking from a bowl, a landscape beyond.
Signed lower left: JANMijtens. f
Oil on oak panel: 16 ⅞ x 12 ¾ in. (43 x 32.5 cm.).
PROVENANCE:
Collection of the late Mrs. Barbara Overland of Mont Pellier House, Jersey.
With Rafael Valls Ltd.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, Amsterdam, 7 May 1996, lot 58.
Collection of J.E.W.Twiss Quarles van Ufford-Twiss, Bilthoven (1973).
With A.H. Bies, Eindhoven.
Anonymous sale; Paul Brandt, Amsterdam, 11 May 1971, lot 31.
Mrs. van der Steen van Ommeren-van Beek, Amsterdam.
Nassau-Dietz collection at Castle Oranienburg (Inventory 1726).
LITERATURE:
Alexandra Nina Bauer, Jan Mijtens (1613/14-1670). Leben und Werk, Petersberg 2006, p. 197-198, No. 62 A, Fig 62.
S.W.A. Drossaers and Prof. Theodoor Herman Lunsingh Scheurleer, Inventarissen van de inboedels in de verblijven van de Oranjes en daarmede gelijk te stellen stukken. 3 vols. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1974-1976, Vol. 2, p. 475, No. 398.
This exquisite portrait of Henrietta Catharina by Jan Mijtens formed part of a series of portraits, originally from Castle Oranienburg, portraying the children of Prince Frederik Hendrik, which were separated at the Paul Brandt sale in 1971.
The sitter was the daughter of Prince Frederik Hendrik van Oranje-Nassau (1584-1647) and Amalia van Solms-Braunfels (1602-1675). She married Prince Johan George II von Anhalt-Dessau (1627-1693) in 1659.