Lot 82: Nicolaas Verkolje , Delft 1673 - 1746 Amsterdam A portrait of Jacob Jozias van Bredehoff (1677-1748), seated three-quarter length, wearing a brown coat with a white chemise and a red and orange cloak, in a formal garden oil on canvas, oval

signed lower right: N Verkolje, charged with the sitters coat-of-arms lower left, inscribed and dated on the reverse: Jacob Josias van Bredehoff / oud 50 Jaren A o 1727 oil on canvas, oval

measurements note 60.6 by 53 cm.

Probably E.W. Moes, Iconographia Batavia. Beredeneerde lijst van geschilderde en gebeeldhouwde werken..., Amsterdam 1897, vol. I, p. 124, no. 1075;
C.J. Matthijs, 'De Portretten uit de Families van Bredehoff en de Vicq', Jaarboek van het Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie..., 1983, vol. 37, pp. 151-191, reproduced p. 176, fig. 30;
J.R. Brozius, Nicolaas Verkolje en de 'beminders der konst', Hoorn 2001, p. 21.

Probably Mrs. Quarin Willeumier van Oosthuizen, Utrecht/Oosthuizen;
Mrs G.J.M. Huitema-van Bredehoff de Vicq, Egmond aan den Hoef, by 1983.

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
This elegant portrait belongs to a small group of portraits of members of the Van Bredehoff family, executed in 1727 by the artist Nicolaes Verkolje. Verkolje was a pupil of his father Jan Verkolje before settling in Amsterdam in 1700, where he was greatly influenced by artists such as Gerard de Lairesse (1640-1711) and Adriaen van der Werff (1659-1722). He specialised in mythological subjects, genre scenes and portraits, and, like his father, was an excellent mezzotint artist. Already during his lifetime, Verkolje was widely acclaimed for his history pieces. Between 1720 and 1730 Verkolje visited the city of Hoorn on several occasions, where he was commissioned to paint numerous portraits of upper-class citizens and wealthy regent families,υ1 including the present work.

Jacob Josias van Bredehoff was born in 1677 into a patrician family in the city of Hoorn, where his father held several high offices. He inherited the estate of Hobrede from his father, but did not share his father's nor his brother's political aspirations: he occupied the post of alderman of Hoorn for no more than a year. Verkolje has portrayed Jacob Josias as a grave, distinguished gentleman, at the age of 50, against the background of a classical formal garden, which became a characteristic format for most portraits Verkolje painted in the 1720s and 30s. In the same year, Verkolje also painted portraits of Jacob Josias' older brother Adriaen Bredehoff (1672-1733), together with his servant Tabo Jansz. (fig. 1), and of his daughters Johanna Machteld (1710-1769), at the age of 17 (fig. 2), and Maria Jacoba (1711-1772), at the age of 16. The latter married François de Vicq (1705 - 1780) in 1729, whereupon Verkolje was commissioned to paint De Vicq's portrait as a pendant of Maria Jacoba's portrait. Jacob Josias' wife Catharina van Foreest was never portrayed by Verkolje, because she tragically died in childbirth in 1712.

This painting shows Verkolje as a remarkable portraitist. The modelling of the soft rounded broad areas of flesh, the angularly draped silks, and the crisp light effects are all characteristic of Verkolje's style and although the physiognomy of the sitter with the high forehead is indeed very close to that of his brother, Verkolje has succeeded in portraying two men of completely different character. 1. Including the families of Foreest, Merens and Pompe van Meerdervoort, of whom a family portrait was sold in these Rooms, 13 November 2007, lot 60. See Brozius, under Literature, pp. 17-22.