TheJ.Prul Getty Museum Journal Volume11 /1983 For Loekie,Ditke, and Baruch 197 Jur van der Heyden and the Huydecopers of Maarsseveen udr\ Jcnwdrtzr\l the Getty Mu- From the 1620's on, Joan Huydecoper I was aware of Jan van der Heyden's country scene in to Maarsseveen:architecture to seum is not as unassuming as it looks (fig. 1).1The small what art could contribute to advertise it, and poetry to im- riverside inn where gentlemen pass the time of day while beautify it, mapmaking patronage he wielded in Amster- maidservants scrub the wash in a canal is not simply a pret- mortalize it. He used the and publishers to work for him ty view on the Vecht River. The inn displays the sign of the dam to put artists, scholars, less vigorous figure than his black pig, the arms of Maarsseveen,and it was there that in Maarsseveen. Joan Il, a the artists of Amster' the local sheriff, aldermen, and secretary met to dispense father, had clients of his own among (1637-l7 lZ). justice, law, and administration in the name of the lord of dam. One of them was Jan van der Heyden Heyden painted fourteen Maarsseveenand Neerdijk. When van der Heyden painted Between 1666 and 7674, van der (No other Dutch his panel in the latter half of the 1660's,the lordship was views in Maarssen and Maarsseveen. century is know to have worked occupied by the second Joan Huydecoper (1625-1704)' painter of the seventeenth protection to van whose father had acquired the title in 1641 and the land there at all.) In return, Joan ll bestowed public career, on which the inn stood in 1649. der Heyden in Amsterdam in the artist's his art, as head of the The Huydecopers were a powerful Amsterdam family' which was much more lucrative than terms firefighting and street lighting services in Amsterdam. Joan Huydecoper father and son served nineteen cultivated the between them as burgomaster of Amsterdam, from 1651to Huydecoper and van der Heyden both as well as the city fathers of Amsterdam' 1693. lt was thanks to Joan the elder's political influence in House of Orange more sucessful,and in the the city that he was able to get and keep the lordship of At this, the artist was apparently was toppled from power, he Maarsseveen, which in turn lent him added distinction early 1690's,when Huydecoper with van der Heyden in among the burgher fathers of Amsterdam. Both Huyde' seemsto have used his relationship the stadholder. copers worked hard to turn Maarsseveen from a backward a vain attempt to regain the íavor of to reconstruct the un- farming area into a sophisticated country paradise for the This article is a first attempt two famous Amster- Amsterdam elite, especially the members of their widely mapped paths of patronage linking years. No documents extended family. The place was important to them for damers over a period of twenty-five have yet been found. The status and profits-but also for the pleasure it added to concerning their relationship prints, and suggestive coin- their lives. The Huydecopers'own estateof Goudestein on known clues are paintings, laid down here the Vecht became a Dutch byword for gracious country cidences.lt is hoped that the broad lines living. can later be corrected and filled in. leít center); V Helde (V and Vith thanks to Burton Fredericksen of the Getty Museum, who, the upper wooden beam of the embankment, is from B. Fredericksen's entry on the following a visit to Maarssen in 1979, sent me a photograph oíthe paint- H in monogram). This information of the catalogue of paintings in the Getty ing in figure 1, asking me to see if anything could be discovered about it' I painting íor a new edition am also indebted for indispensable help to D. Dekker' president of the Museum. and Maarsseveen, see below, note ó2. The Historische Kring of Maarssen' who identified the site depicted in the For other views oíMaarssen three times: by Smith painting, to Vallie Smits, and to the staff oí the Rijksarchief Utrecht' works ofJan van der Heyden have been catalogued (see Groot (see notes 7 and B) and Helga E.A.J. van der Wal was extremely generous in sharing with me his un' text at note 9), Hoístede de Amsterdam-Haar)em, 197 l. In equalled knowledge of Maarsseveen under the Huydecopers' Wagner, )an van der Heyden, 1637-1712, we will refer to van der Heyden's paintings by their The manuscript of this article beneíited from corrections by him and the rest of the article numbers, although Hofstede de Groot should always be con- by K. Fremantle. I would also like to thank Derk Snoep for his help, and Wagner Vries for allowing me to read the manuscript of his forthcom- sulted in addition. Lyckle de 'Wagner's dating of the Getty painting to about 1668 (p. 6i) is accep- ing book on Jan van der HeYden. tabie, and íits in with the conclusions of this article' 1. Accession no.78.PB.200. Oil on panel,46.5 x 60'5 cm' Signed (on 198 Schwartz Figure 1. Jan van der Heyden, The Inn of thz Black Pig ('t Zwarte Varken) or The Arms of Maarsseveen('t'Wapen van Maarseueen). Malibu, The J. Paul Getty Museum 78.P8.200. PROVENANCE Heyden has ever been recorded, and since the quality of In the inventoryof Jan van der Heyden'swidow Sarater the existing painting, with its handsome staffage figures, Hiel, who died in 1712,days after her husband,the fol- justifies the high valuation, there is no reason to doubt lowing painting is listed among the goodsto be left to her that the painting in the Getty is the one that belonged to son Samuel: "8. de Vegt met de Herberg vant Swarte the painter's wife and their son Samuel.3 The painting re- Varke. 80" (No. 8. The Vecht with the lnn of the mained in the family for at least twenty-five, and possibly Black Pig. [Value] 80 guilders).2The title incontestably seventy, more years. \íhen Samuel died in 1729, he left all describesthe subjectof the Getty painting, as we shall see. his belongings to his sister Sara; and in the inventory of her Since no other representationof the subject by van der goods, made after her death in 1738, the painting is still 2. A. Bredius, "De nalatenschap van Jan van der Heyden's weduwe," in the inventory are appraised higher than 80 guilders. (1912), Oud-HolIand 30 pp. 129-51, p. 135. The inventory was drawn up 4. l.H. van Eeghen, "De nakomelingen van Jan van der Heyden," on May 18. 1712. MaandblaÀ Amstelod.amrtm60 (1971), pp. 128-34. In an appendix to her 3. The staííage figures have been ascribed since 1812 to Adriaen van de article, on p. 134, van Eeghen identifies the paintings in the inventory oí Velde (1616-72) without anyone ever having cast doubt on the attribu- Sara's goods (September 74,1738) that were in her mother's estate. No. 9 tion. Only nine of the sixty-one evaluated paintings by van der Heyden Jan onn der Helden and the Huydecopersof Maarssgrcen 199 Figure2. The site of íigure 1 in 19B3:the junction of the Zandpad and Machinekade,Maarssen. Photo J.J.van Dijk. listed under the same title. The forty-sevenpaintings in the purchasefor Louis XVI of the van der Heyden view of the estate,most of them by Jan van der Heyden, wereeval- the Dam now in the Louvre. ln Francethe transacrronwas uated by the painter Jan Maurits Quinkhard, who earned retailed as a legend: a wealthy descendantof the painter his fee easilyby parroting the descriptionsand valuations who had no intention oí parting with his ancesror's in the l7l2 inventory. Sara'spossessions were divided by suprememasterpiece was tricked on the floor of the ex- lot between her late brother Jan's daughters and their change into selling at the kingly price of six thousand husbands,Jan Brants and Minister JohannesDeknatel.a guilders.As Miss van Eeghenhas shown, the Dutch rec- The next known owner of the painting was the French ords tells a different versíon of the story. Through a expert, dealer,and collectorAlexandre Paillet,after whose perfectly normal sale,brokered by Jan de Bosch Jerz.,Jan death it wasauctioned in 1814.5During a long careerthat Jacob Brants unloaded for an incredible six thousand flourished under ancien régime,republic, consulate,and guildersan Amsterdam view by his wife'sgrandfather that empire,Paillet made his most famouscoup in 1783with the broker'sbrother later called a run-of-the-milloiece.ó Each of the six issuesoí Maandblad Amstelodamumfor 1973contains an by Joh. C. Br eenín Jaarboek Amstelodamum I I ( 19 13), pp. 79-92, 91- 108, article by van Eeghenon Jan van der Heyden. The new archival informa- and 109-118. tion in thosearticles forms an indispensablesupplement to that published 5- Cataloguedes tableaux de f eu Alex.P aíIlet, par Ch. Paillet,fils, June 2, oí the 1738 inventory is identical to no. 8 in Samuel'sshare of the 1814, lot 8. F, Lugt, Répertoíredes cataloguesd.e ventes publíques, vol. l, mother's estate. The Hague,1938, no. 8531. 200 Schwartz '\ile know that Pailletsold another van der Heyden view in mitted it in thar year to the Jan van der Heyden com- 1799and tradedseveral others in the early 1800's,in addi- memorativeexhibition in Amsterdam.rt tion to the one that he kept.7 It seemsreasonable to According to a note on the copy of the Sotheby auction catalogue of.