RKD STUDIES

The separation into history and portrait painters that we propose for the sake of clarity has its problems insofar as almost all of the mentioned history painters also rendered fine and important portraits in Denmark. Even before Pieter Isaacsz, several Netherlandish portraitists, such as Gerrit Cornelisz van Haarlem (died 1601) and Claesz Jansz [Nicolaus Johansen] of Utrecht, as well as the tapestry designer Johan van Wijck († 1611/13), resided in Copenhagen.¹ The documents give us a clear picture of their activity. In addition to courtly portraits for Frederick II (died 1588) and the Queen-Regent Sophie (died 1631),² they were charged with many subservient works, such as the painting of coats of arms and ship decorations. We also have all sorts of stiff mannerist allegories and epitaphs by them, or at least attributed to them. Gerrit Cornelisz. was a pupil of Pieter Pietersz, and pictures of the nineties (for instance in Gaunø) [1-4] still cling to the latter’s style, though they are otherwise stiffer and less accomplished than those of the Amsterdam teacher.

Nothing appears to have survived of Claes Jansz’s histories and applied decorations, and we have only one engraving by Johan van Wijck, a view of Copenhagen which he rendered after a painting of his [5].³Johan von Enum II was also entirely under the influence of Netherlandish mannerists. His Raising of the Brass Serpent [6] in Nyborg church in Copenhagen,⁴ which is an epitaph for Peder Jensøn, is nothing but an enlarged composition by Cornelisz. van Haarlem, with donor figures in un-Dutch stiffness placed before it.⁵

We will pass by other more or less Dutch-looking portraits by a Van Zelven⁶ [7] and an Anthonius Clement [8], as well as by the Stettin artist Daniel Block (1580-1660) (whose father had come from Utrecht), who painted the then so beloved family trees for Mecklenburg dukes and Christian IV.⁷

It is of greater importance that Jacques de Gheyn twice drew a portrait of the famous Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) after a picture by Tobias Gemperle, who repeatedly painted the scholar [9-11].⁸

With De Gheyn we arrive at the miniature painters, and in this connection we must mention Jacob van Doort (†1629), to whom we owe many portraits of members of the Danish royal house [12-15]. He was born in Hamburg, and we have seen that he worked for the Holstein court, but his family probably came from the Netherlands.⁹ Even his life-size portraits [16-18] do not shed the careful, almost fearful manner that we know from his miniatures. He is never truly free from the ‘embroidered’ style that is so characteristic for the Elizabethan miniature.¹⁰

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Jacques de Gheyn (II) after Tobias Gemperle
Portrait of Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) with a hat, 1595/1596
Copenhagen, SMK - The Royal Collection of Graphic Art, inv./cat.nr. KKSgb5254

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Jacques de Gheyn (II) after Tobias Gemperle
Portrait of Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) with a hat, c. 1595
Amsterdam, Rijksprentenkabinet, inv./cat.nr. RP-P-1909-2761

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Jacques de Gheyn (II) possibly after Tobias Gemperle
Portrait of Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), c. 1595
Amsterdam, Rijksprentenkabinet, inv./cat.nr. RP-P-OB-9945

It is again Pieter Isaacsz who introduced Dutch portrait painting to Denmark in a worthy way. He repeatedly rendered the king in full-length, large, proud and free, though also a little heavy and solid. One can still discern the artist’s origins in the Ketel tradition, but one also sees how he progressed in the direction of a more natural and realistic conception of portraiture. One of his most successful creations is a Portrait of Christian IV in Frederiksborg [19], which exists in several versions, and a ten-year-later Portrait of Palle Rosenkrantz and His Wife of about 1622 (same location) [20-21].¹¹ Sundry nobles [22] as well as Prince Christian, the King’s short-lived son [23], had themselves portrayed by the Dutchman.¹² One can best compare his position as court painter with that of Daniel Mytens’ in England, with Isaacsz having the good fortune not to encounter rivals. Beyond that, Isaacsz is old-fashioned compared to Mytens, if only because he belongs to an earlier generation.

Isaacsz must have run a small shop with assistants and students. In any case, one often sees pictures in his style which did not originate with him. They include portraits of the sons of Christian IV, born in 1609 and 1611 (no. 551 and 553),¹³ in Frederiksborg [24-25], which I believe are wrongly given to Jacob van Doort and Remmert Pietersz, being much too good for them. Remmert Pietersz (c.1575-1649), a Netherlander, happens to be a weak artist of the Isaacsz school, who often settled for copying old models. A double portrait of the King with his spouse Anna Catharina hangs in Rosenborg Castle [26]. It is probably assumed with good reason that the pictures were originally separate and that Pietersz added the portrait of the queen to that of King Christian IV, which is by a better hand (though it remains undecided whether this half of the pair is an original by Isaacsz or a workshop copy). A great variety of pictures are attributed to Pietersz. Three portraits of the Skeel family, which are signed, belong to his best work [27-29].¹⁴

We further know that Frantz Klein was paid for portraits of Christian IV and his eldest son. Beckett believes he can identify such a work in a portrait of Christian IV that now hangs in Frederiksborg Castle [30]. If this supposition is correct, one can say that Klein was still another artist who slavishly adopted the portrait type of Isaacsz.¹⁵

We do not know of any work by Abraham de Kyster [31], who had already been appointed ‘Contrafejer’ [painter or portraitist] of Christian IV in 1605.¹⁶ The attributions of pictures to Carel Swerius (c. 1600-in or after 1653) of The Hague also lack a firm foundation.¹⁷ There is some evidence that Karel van Mander II, the tapestry weaver, and his brother-in-law Engel Rooswijk probably also painted portraits on occasion. A handsome Portrait of Laurids Ulfeldt of 1638 in Frederiksborg (no. 684) [32] is supposed to have carried Rooswijk’s signature at one time.¹⁸

It is possible that David Bailly (1584-1657) passed through Copenhagen in 1627, as we have a child portrait of Duke Ulrik of that year [33] and a portrait of Christian IV of about the same time [34].¹⁹ Bailly later frequently portrayed Danish nobles staying in Leiden. A portrait of 1641 of one Rosenkrantz (new acquisition, Frederiksborg) [35] belongs to the best small pictures in Denmark.²⁰

30
Pieter Isaacsz
Portrait of Prince Christian (1603-1647), son of King Christian IV of Denmark, c. 1620
Fredensborg (Denmark), Fredensborg Slot