Lot 56: Isaack Luttichuys London 1616 - 1673 Amsterdam , A portrait of Andries Rijckaert (1636-1716), standing half-length, wearing a brown coat with a white lace collar and purple ribbons; A portrait of his sister Susanna Rijckaert (born 1635), half length,

a pair, the latter signed and dated lower left: J.L. An o i666 both oil on canvas Quantity: 2

measurements note the former: 84 by 70 cm., the latter: 85 by 72 cm.

Andries Rijckaert (1636-1716), who remained unmarried and Susanna Rijckaert-van Wisselt (1635-?), directly commissioned from the artist, 1666 ;
By descent to Cornelia Roëll-Bailli;
Douaire Roëll-Collot d'Escury, The Hague, by 1905;
Collection De Geer-Roëll (according to an inscription on the stretcher);
Thence by descent.

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
The two sitters, Susanna Rijckaert (b.1635) and Andries Rijckaert (1636-1716), were the children of Johannes Rijckaert (1609-1679) and Cornelia Merchijs (1614-1694). This latter, in turn, was the daughter of Pieter Merchijs (1576-1624), a merchant from Amsterdam whose portrait, painted by Cornelis van der Voort, is offered as lot 49 in this sale, along with that of his second wife Maria Florianus (b. 1600). The present sitters are the grandchildren of Pieter Merchijs and his first wife Sara Berrewijns. Little is known of the two sitters' lives but Susanna was certainly married twice, in 1655 to Nicolaes van den Heuvel, who died only one year later, and in 1658 to Jacob van Wisselt. Andries remained unmarried. Although the sitters are brother and sister, they relate to other pendants by Luttichuys, such as the portraits of Adriaen van Loon and Cornelia Hunthum in Museum Van Loon, Amsterdam.υ1

Isaack Luttichuys was born in London of Dutch parents. He began his career as a still life painter working in the studio of his elder brother Simon Luttichuys, but soon turned to portraiture, developing a style influenced by Anthony van Dyck and, after 1638 on settling in Amsterdam, by the portraits of Bartholomeus van der Helst. He married there on 3 April 1643. Almost all of his portraits, like these works, are painted half length and are characterised by the painterly brushwork of their surface and the exquisite finery and jaunty gestures of his subjects.
1. See N. Middelkoop, Kopstukken, Amsterdammers geportretteerd, 1600-1800, Amsterdam 2002, p. 101, no. 10b, both reproduced.