Johannes Vermeer and His Neighbours
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Johannes Vermeer and his neighbours By H.G.Slager This paper is for academic purposes only (public domain) H.G. Slager, independent researcher Ommen, The Netherlands, october 2017 Cover image: detail of Vermeer’s Woman in blue reading a letter, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam General summary A reconstruction of Johannes Vermeer’s predominantly catholic neighbourhoud was possible by aligning several 17th century house registers and verification via individual archival records like sales deeds. Information in the (Delft) archives on catholics is hampered by the illegality and secrecy of the religion at the time; events may have taken place without a lawyer, notary, Orphan chamber or other official. Such information is prone to loss or at best has survived but dispersed. New information on Vermeer and/or his neighbours may have to come from other places like church archives, private archives or public archives outside Delft as has been the (limited) experience in this study. The reconstruction provides a detailed picture of the house- and owner situation in the 17th century in the so- called Papist corner where Vermeer had lived and died. Reanalyzing old and new data it is concluded Vermeer’s residence from 1663 (or earlier) until 1675 could be different than concluded in the past. The corner house on the other side of the Molenpoort alley has an equal chance to have been Vermeer’s residence. Many houses in the Papist corner harbouring the Jesuit statie (station or mission) were bought by rich catholics as the Jesuits were unable to legally buy property for themselves. Several of these sponsors resided elsewhere and likely only stayed in Delft on occasion. No documentary evidence was found -or had been known earlier- these outside sponsors had direct contact with Vermeer or his mother-in-law Maria Thins. It appears Vermeer’s (non-biblical) work was not popular in catholic circles in his time as persons known to have owned a painting in the 17th century were all protestant or remonstrant: Van Buijten, Van Ruijven/Knuijt, Van Assendelft, De Helt, Van Berckel, Paets in Leiden, Van Swoll- and Renialme in Amsterdam. Duarte in Antwerp had Portuguese- jewish roots and may only have been a ‘pretend’ catholic. Given the secrecy surrounding the catholic community and the imaginable loss of records this may be a filtered view though. Principal Delft-based sponsors of the Jesuits owning houses in the Papist corner (and providing shelter elsewhere) were the families Van der Velde, Van der Dussen/Post, Camerling, Van Swieten, Sandeling, Van der Wiel and Beest/van Nerven. Maria Thins was related to the Camerling family and had connections with/through Machtelt van Beest/van Nerven who was found to have family connections with the painters Mierevelt and Delff. Other persons known in Vermeer’s life who are addressed (to a degree) are: Pieter Claesz van Ruijven for whom it will be suggested it may have been his wife Maria de Knuijt who was the primary friend to Vermeer; Hendrik van der Eem, guardian over Vermeers children, married to a catholic Van der Dussen but a protestant himself and lastly Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, hard-line curator of Vermeer’s estate. By combining published genealogical data with names in the Papist corner some family inter-relationships have been reconstructed and various additions and corrections to Montias’s monumental ‘Vermeer and his milieu’ are given throughout the text and in addenda. Lastly, the name Nederveen/Vogel is known in conjunction with windows featuring in a few of Vermeer’s paintings but since 1942 nothing more was published. The analysis of the names led to some initial observations on windows in 17th century paintings that suggest Vermeer had a relationship with painters in Leiden. The focus of the article is not Vermeer’s paintings but the author thought it a waste to exclude the findings. The article provides much data and is probably best qualified as an additional factsheet to Montias’ work on Vermeer and it is hoped it is of value to art historians, Delft historians and Vermeer enthousiasts in general. ------- Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................. 1 Method .................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Errors in the Huizenprotocol 1648 .......................................................................................................................... 4 House OLD-E1: Serpent ......................................................................................................................................... 5 House OLD-E2: Klein Serpent ............................................................................................................................... 9 House OLD-E3: Jan Geensz Thins’ house ............................................................................................................ 12 House OLD-E4/5: the Jesuit church...................................................................................................................... 14 House OLD-E 6/7: the school for catholic girls .................................................................................................... 17 House OLD-E 8/9 and BW-E8: the former brewery ‘t Heck ................................................................................ 19 House OLD-E10/11 and 13: the Bank of Loans ................................................................................................... 20 House OLD-E14: the bakery ................................................................................................................................. 21 House OLD-W1-5: the Trapmolen and Swanenburg ............................................................................................ 23 House OLD-W6 .................................................................................................................................................... 28 House OLD-W7: the Paternoster inn .................................................................................................................... 30 House OLD-W8 .................................................................................................................................................... 31 House BW-E1: the Rode Meebael ........................................................................................................................ 32 House BW-E2 ....................................................................................................................................................... 32 House BW-E3/4 .................................................................................................................................................... 34 House BW-E5 ....................................................................................................................................................... 35 House BW-E6 ....................................................................................................................................................... 35 House BW-E7 ....................................................................................................................................................... 35 House BW-E8 ....................................................................................................................................................... 37 House BW-E9/10 .................................................................................................................................................. 37 House BW-W1 ...................................................................................................................................................... 38 House BW-W2: the painters Delff ........................................................................................................................ 38 House BW-W4: the Vette Henne .......................................................................................................................... 39 House BW-W10 .................................................................................................................................................... 39 Addendum 1: House owners/inhabitants around the Molenpoort ................................................................. 42 Addendum 2: Schematic plot of houses east of the Molenpoort ................................................................... 51 Addendum 3: Schematic plot of houses west of the Molenpoort .................................................................. 52 Addendum 4: The house ‘Fonteijn’ in the Annabogert bought by Maria Thins ........................................... 53 Addendum 5: The Camerling family in Delft ............................................................................................... 56 Addendum 6: House purchase by Georgius & Aefge van de Velde for the Jesuits ...................................... 58 Addendum 7: Demolition of sheds on the Nieuwe Kerkhof, taxation Papist corner ..................................... 60 Addendum 8: Relationships Vermeer, Dussen, Camerling, Eem, Stock, Swieten ........................................ 62 Addendum 9: Relationships Machtelt van Beest, Mierevelt, Delff, Oem, Maria Thins, Bock ..................... 63 Addendum 10: Clerical errors in the Huizenprotocol 1648 .........................................................................