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We detect the last echoes of Rembrandt’s art in the portraits of Jacob Koninck I, who moved to Denmark in 1676, where his son played an important role as landscape painter (to be discussed later). The portraits that can be attributed with some plausibility to the elder Koninck already lead into the elegant portrait style of the following century.¹ One can best recognize the change in taste from the names of artists who now come into their own. In 1664 Jan de Baen (1633-1702) painted the Danish State Minister, Count Anton von Aldenburg, along with his wife [1].² Around 1662 Frans van Mieris (1635-1681) portrayed Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve in Leiden (Copenhagen no. 457) [2]. He had a general predilection for Dutch fijnschilders (painters of minute refinement), such as Adriaen van der Werff (1659-1722) and Toussaint Gelton (c. 1630-1680), who are represented in his collections [3-4]. The Danish David Estevanes (active 1691-1703) painted in the style of the late Maes and of Jan de Baen [5].

1
Jan de Baen
Portrait of Anton I von Aldenburg (1633-1680), dated 1664
Private collection

Beyond that, Dutch influence in portrait painting is a thing of the past. The portraits of the second Jacob Coning (c.1648-1724)³ (as well as the late works of Jacob Koninck I) are hardly Dutch [6-7]. Occasionally, they may be compared to late Netscher portraits, but the majority are relatively coarsely rendered in spite of their French elegance. The third artist of this family, Johan Herman Coning (c. 1679-1737), had only a Dutch-sounding name.⁴

No more do indigenous artists, such as Samuel Duarte (1617-1671), reach a high standard [8-12].⁵ However, Balthasar Denner (1685-1749), who transferred the refined Dutch rendering of a Van der Werff or Jan van Huijsum to his portraits, is rightly classed with the gifted masters. He was briefly in Copenhagen in 1719 [13]. Since he enjoyed a major reputation as a portraitist, several noble Danes did not shun the road to Hamburg to have themselves portrayed by this skilled master.

8
Salomon Duarte
Portrait of Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel (1650-1714) with to the left a view of the city of Kassel, c. 1667
Hillerød, The National Museum of History Frederiksborg Castle, inv./cat.nr. R4

Toussaint Gelton (c. 1630-1680) was a characteristic practitioner of refined genre pictures [14], small portraits [15] and Arcadian landscapes [16].⁶ In short, he was a minor Frans van Mieris. Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve probably had him come from Sweden, where Gelton’s art was greatly admired. He was active as agent of Frederick III in Amsterdam by 1661, but it appears that he first entered the permanent service of Christian V (ruled 1670-1699) in 1674, since it was in that year that he was first paid an annual stipendium of 660 Thalern. In 1675 to 1677 he travelled to Dresden, Heidelberg and Kassel to portray relatives of the royal family. The king appears to have greatly admired his art because, in addition to the works he commissioned, he also acquired the paintings in the artist’s estate.⁷

Gelton had a successor in the Danish Wilken Riboldt (1661-1711) and a predecessor, as far as Poelenburch emulation is concerned, in Daniel Vertangen († 1681), who was probably in Denmark for a short while around 1658 [17].⁸ In 1695 Riboldt painted a pendant to a Frans van Mieris (Copenhagen) [18-19],⁹ but a depiction of Human Vice does not show him to be a worthy rival [20].

17
Daniel Vertangen
The storming of Copenhagen on the night between 10 and 11 February 1659, probably 1659
Copenhagen, The Royal Danish Collection - Rosenborg Castle, inv./cat.nr. 7.27, cat. nr. 703

In 1696 Gelton’s visit to Germany was repeated by two artists, Jan Frans Frans van Douven (1656-1727) and Anthon Schoonjans (c. 1655-1726), who had to portray Christian V as well as his wife and children on commission from and at the expense of the German Emperor Leopold I [21-22]. The princess Sophie Hedwig [23-25] was Archduke’s Joseph’s bride, which explains the family interest. Examples of their portraits, like those of their relatives painted by these artists, are still found in Danish collections.¹⁰

20
Wilcken Riboldt
Allegory on the corrupt world, dated 28 March 1695
Hillerød, The National Museum of History Frederiksborg Castle, inv./cat.nr. A 4373

As one of the last fijnschilders of the 17th century, we must mention Godfried Schalcken’s student and emulator Justus van Bentum (1670-1727), who, incidentally, is also to have portrayed Christian V, like Schalcken.¹¹ A family portrait in Boller Castle is fully signed and dated 1706 [25]. It is remarkable that Johan Friedrich Gerhard (c. 1695-1748), a German artist who died in Copenhagen, composed a few genre pictures in the manner of the Dutch fijnschilders (museum in Würzburg) [26-27].

25
Justus van Bentum
Family portrait, dated 1706
Horsens, private collection Boller Slot