Lot 60: Nicolaas Verkolje Delft 1673 - 1746 Amsterdam oil on panel

signed and dated lower left: N verkolje/ 1724 charged with the coat-of-arms of the family in the centre on the vase oil on panel

measurements note 77.9 by 60.9 cm.

Inventory list Pompe van Meerdervoort, 1753, cat. no. 28 (according to a label on the reverse);
K. van der Leer, Het Eilandje Meerdervoort. Van ridderslot tot tuindorp, Zwijndrecht 1999, p. 18.

Johan Diederik Pompe van Meerdervoort, commissioned directly from the artist, 1724;
D.W. Stoop, Dordrecht, by 1884;
J. Stoop, Zwijndrecht;
By whom sold, Dordrecht, Mak, 16 May 1933, lot 49, for 225 Guilders, bought back by Jhr. Dr. N.J.F. Pompe van Meerdervoort;
Thence by descent to the present owner.

THIS AND THE FOLLOWING LOT ARE THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
Johan Diederik Pompe van Meerdervoort (1697-1749), his wife Johanna Alida (1691-1749) and their eldest daughter Maria Christina (born 1723) are portrayed with a detailed representation of the family's country estate in Zwijndrecht to the background.

The country estate Meerdervoort was built around 1723 and replaced a fortified castle, surrounded by a moat, dating back to the 14υth Century. The family Meerdervoort resided in the castle up to the 17υth Century, but de Meerdervoort lineage ended in 1608, in which year the castle was bought by a rich merchant, alderman and treasurer from Dordrecht: Michiel Pompe. With the estate, Pompe received the noble rank and the privilege to bear the name of Meerdervoort. Throughout the subsequent century, the family's increasing wealth and power was documented in commissioned works of art. In the mid-17th Century Michiel Pompe van Meerdervoort's two grandsons Michiel and Cornelis Pompe van Meerdervoort were portrayed with their tutor in a landscape in a famous painting by Aelbert Cuyp now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (inv. no. 32.100.20).υ1

Johanna Alida Pompe van Meerdervoort inherited the estate and in 1723 married her cousin Johan Diederik. Johan Diederik had a distinguished social status. He carried out different notable executive functions: he was bailiff of the Zwijdrecht Holm, lord of the Cort-ambacht and the Hendrik Ido-ambacht, burgomaster of Dordrecht and lord of Meerdervoort.

These new inhabitants recreated the estate significantly, as is clearly visible to the background in Verkolje's painting. On and around the island gardens were laid out, in many different styles, particularly adjusted to the French taste in gardening: more majestic and wide, with highly trimmed hedges, decorative classical vases, of which good examples are represented in this work, statues, fountains and exotic trees and plants. The living quarters of the family were raised to higher ground, to create a splendid view over the gardens that were a feast for the eyes. Verkolje has portrayed Johan Diederik and Johanna Alida seated directly behind the smaller building with the entry gate (see fig. 1 of the following lot). To the background you can see the stairs with the classical vases of the Meerdervoort house which is clearly depicted in figure 1. Johan Diederik's notable social status is well represented: he is holding a hunting riffle, and a hunting-horn and a hound dog are present. Such references to hunting show the privilege held by the nobility. He is standing next to a vase with the carved coat of arms of Pompe van Meerdervoort. The coat of arms is carved twice for they were not just husband and wife, but also cousins. Johanna Alida is holding a fruit in her right hand and is seated next to a fruit basket, which both could be read as symbols of her virility and devotion to her marriage.


1 See A. Chong, in A. Wheelock (ed.), Aelbert Cuyp, exhibition catalogue, Washington 2002, pp. 35-8, 150, no. 29, reproduced. Their uncle, Michiel Pompe's nephew commissioned family portraits in landscapes from both Jacob Geritsz. Cuyp and Jan Mijtens; idem, p. 37, fig. 2.