Three portraits of the Stuyver family, from the portrait series of the Wiarda family

General information
Original location Haarlem, at least the three originals for the portraits probably came from Haarlem, since the family Stuyver was from that city. The copies were made for Wiarda State in Friesland.
Current location Leeuwarden, Fries museum, inv. Nos. S07771A, S07771S, S007771.01
Provenance The portraits came from Wiarda State
Commissioner Tiberius Pepinus van Eminga is likely to have commissioned the copies around 1700, since he owned Wiarda State at the time, and the family of his wife was related to Stuyver (see general remarks)
Artist Anonymous
Date End of seventeenth century (copy)
1563; 1595-1604, 1609 (originals, mentioned on painting)
Material Oil on copper (copy)
Dimensions 16 x 13,5 cm (copy)
Visual elements
Short description 28 miniature portraits of members of the related Wiarda, Eminga and Van Cammingha families, owners of Wiarda State. These are copies of older portraits. Three portraits contain attributes related to the Jerusalem pilgrimage.
Number of pilgrims 3 (possibly only 1)
Depicted pilgrims
Personal information
Name Gerrit Stuyver
Social status / profession Burgomaster of Haarlem (1572-1573); Captured by the Spaniards (1573-1574); Member of the Haarlem city council (1577)
Coat of arms Top left: early renaissance shield - in silver a red Jerusalem cross
Top right: early renaissance shield - in black, on natural water a gold beaked silver swan (in zwart op natuurlijk water een zilveren, goud gebekte zwaan); crest: a silver, gold beaked swam between two gold palm branches (helmteken: een zilveren, goed gebekte zwaan tussen twee gouden palmtakken) (Stuyver)
Text On the top of the painted frame: 1563 Aetatis 34
Pilgrimages
Year of pilgrimage to Jerusalem Before 1563 (mentioned on the painting)
Attributes Jerusalem pilgrimage Palm
Death
Year of death 1600
Personal information
Name Hendrik Stuyver
Coat of arms Top left: early renaissance shield - in silver a red Jerusalem cross
Top right: early renaissance shield - in black, on natural water a gold beaked silver swan (in zwart op natuurlijk water een zilveren, goud gebekte zwaan); crest: a silver, gold beaked swam between two gold palm branches (helmteken: een zilveren, goed gebekte zwaan tussen twee gouden palmtakken) (Stuyver)
Additional information related to this person
Personal remarks It is not sure whether Hendrik, Gerrit's father, was indeed a Jerusalem pilgrim (see general remarks)
Personal information
Name Jan Stuyver
Coat of arms Top left: early renaissance shield - in silver a red Jerusalem cross
Top right: early renaissance shield - in black, on natural water a gold beaked silver swan (in zwart op natuurlijk water een zilveren, goud gebekte zwaan); crest: a silver, gold beaked swam between two gold palm branches (helmteken: een zilveren, goed gebekte zwaan tussen twee gouden palmtakken) (Stuyver)
Additional information related to this person
Personal remarks It is not sure whether Jan Stuyver, Gerrit's son, was indeed a Jerusalem pilgrim (see general remarks)
Additional information
General remarks The series of 28 portraits was made around 1700 by the owners of Wiarda State, in order to visually emphasize their lineage. On this occasion, the portraits were made which are copies from older portraits, as indicated by the years mentioned on the panels. The catalogue descriptions of the Fries museum identify the sitters on the three miniatures concerned here as members of the Sytzama/Sijtzema family, possibly Syds, Haring senior and junior, based on the coats of arms. According to Cerutti, however, the coats of arms of the Sytzama family indeed show a swan, but slightly different than the ones displayed here. The Stuyver family from Haarlem does carry the correct coat of arms. Moreover, they can also be linked to Tiberius Pepinus van Eminga, the owner of Wiarda State from 1659 to 1733, through Gerrit's daughter Ermgard and a chain of subsequent marriages. Gerrit is the one displayed with a palm in this series. The other two portraits described here carry the same coat of arms with the Jerusalem cross, next to that of the Stuyver family. Based on the dates, they can possibly be identified as Hendrik and Jan, Gerrit's father and son (who was married into the same family as Ermgard). In this case it is the question whether Jan and Gerrit were Jerusalem pilgrims as well. They do not carry palms, and the only thing that can possibly point at a Jerusalem pilgrimage is the coat of arms with the Jerusalem cross. However, it is very well possible that this was simply copied onto the two portraits because the painter, ignorant of its meaning, thought it was a coat of arms of the Stuyver family, based on Gerrit's portrait.
Literature
  • Cerutti, Wim, Haarlemse Jeruzalemvaarders (Haarlem 2010), pp. 109-112
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