Pair of portraits of Jan van Egmond and Magdalena van Waardenborgh

General information
Original location Egmond?
Current location Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv. nr. SK-A-1547 (Jan van Egmond) and SK-A-1548 (Magdalena van Waardenborgh)
Provenance Private collections; donated by Jonkheer Victor de Stuers to the Rijksmuseum 1891; on loan to Paleis Het Loo, Apeldoorn, since August 1994
Artist Anonymous
Date After ca. 1510
Material Oil on paper on panel
Dimensions 19,5 x 13,5 cm
Visual elements
Short description Pair of portraits of a couple, both turned to the left, half-length. The man (Jan van Egmond) carries a palm in his hand, the woman (Magdalena van Waardenborg) a rosary.
Depicted pilgrim (left panel)
Personal information
Name Jan van Egmond
Social status / profession Count of Egmond, nicknamed "Lame Jan" (Manke Jan); Lord of Bahr and Lathum, Purmerend (after 1486 count), Hoogwoud en Aartswoud (1490); Steward (landdrost) of Zutphen (1473-); Judge of the council of Holland (1477); Steward of Gorinchem and the land of Arkel and Gorinchem (1480-1516); Stadholder of Holland and Zeeland (1483-1515); Bailiff of the Veluwe (until 1487); Knight of the Holy Sepulchre; Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece (since 1491)
Coat of arms Upper left: semicircular shield - quarterly, I, IV: in red a gold lion; II, III: in red five fusils conjoined in fess; a gold inescutcheon with three black chevrons (gevierendeeld, I, IV: in rood een gouden leeuw; II, III: in rood vijf zilveren aanstotende spitsruiten naast elkaar; een gouden hartschild met drie zwarte kepers) (coat of arms of Renesse, later addition)
Other known portraits Master of Alkmaar, Portrait of Jan (1438-1516), Count of Egmond, ca. 1505 (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art). Part of a pair of portraits with his wife, Magdalena van Waardenberg († 1538)
Jan van Scorel (workshop of), Lamentation over the Dead Christ with portraits of the Van Egmond family, 1535-1540 (Centraal Museum, MeMO Memorial Object ID 665) also portrays Jan.
Pilgrimages
Year of pilgrimage to Jerusalem 1462-1463
Attributes Jerusalem pilgrimage Palm
Death
Date of death 21 August 1516
Location of grave Egmond aan de Hoef, Castle Chapel (Slotkapel)
Image of grave MeMO Memorial Object ID 3148
Additional information
General remarks A striking feature of these portraits is that both are facing in the same direction (left), whereas normally double portraits face each other, as was done in the panels now in the New York. This makes it very likely that these portraits were copies of a larger portrait series where all portrayed persons were facing in the same direction, as in a procession. Moreover, the signs of Jerusalem pilgrimage in this portrait, displayed in no other portrait of him, suggests that it could have been copied from a now lost series of Jerusalem pilgrims.
Literature
  • Damen, Mario, De staat van dienst. De gewestelijke ambtenaren van Holland en Zeeland in de Bourgondische periode (1425-1482). Hollandse studiën 36 (Hilversum 2000), pp.456-457
  • Gent, M.J. Van, 'Jan van Egmond: een Hollands succesverhaal', Handelingen van den koninklijken Kring voor Oudheidkunde, Letteren en Kunst van Mechelen 95:2 (1991), pp. 259-269
  • Hoogewerff, G.J., De Noord-Nederlandse schilderkunst, 5 vols. (Den Haag 1936-1947), vol. 2, p. 414
  • Thiel, P.J.J.van et al., All the Paintings of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam: a completely illustrated catalogue, 2 vols. (Haarlem 1976), p. 652
Catalogue descriptions on the website of the Rijksmuseum:
Jan van Egmond
Magdalena van Waardenborgh
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