THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY BULLETIN VOL. V OCTOBER, 1921 No. 3 THE CITY HALL, NEW YORK, 1826 NEW YORK: 170 CENTRAL PARK WEST PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY AND ISSUED TO MEMBERS ill i H^iiitrt THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 170 CENTRAL PARK WEST. # (Erected by the Society 1908.) Wings to be erected on the 76th and 77th Street comers. OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY Elected January 6, 1920, for Three Years, ending 1923 PRESIDENT FOREIGN CORRESPONDING SECRETARY JOHN ABEEL WEEKES ARCHER MILTON HUNTINGTON FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT DOMESTIC CORRESPONDING SECRETARY WALTER LISPENARD SUYDAM ARTHUR CURTISS JAMES SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT RECORDING SECRETARY WILLIAM CHURCH OSBORN STUYVESANT FISH THIRD VICE-PRESIDENT TREASURER WALTER JENNINGS R. HORACE GALLATIN FOURTH VICE-PRESIDENT LIBRARIAN FRANCIS ROBERT SCHELL ALEXANDER J. WALL* * Elected to succeed Robert H. Kelby, now Librarian Emeritus, PIETER VANDERLYN PORTRAIT PAINTER What may be considered as the origin of the "Hudson River School" of painting is found in the work of Pieter Vanderlyn, a painter of portraits, about whom we know little, whose history is shrouded in obscurity, whose work is stiff" and formal, whose eye lacked the necessary schooling, whose dated portraits, so far as I have seen them, are from 1719 to 1732, and who painted portraits from Kingston to Schenectady. By no stretch of imagination can he be considered a great painter, but from an historical point of view considerable interest attaches to him as being the first painter who worked on the upper Hudson. No dictionary of artists or books of reference on artists, mentions his name, yet he is one of the earliest of the portrait painters of this country, and grandfather of the older John Van­ derlyn (1775-1852). Accounts of him in local histories are meagre, but church and public records furnish proof that after his mar­ riage in New York he made his home in Kingston, Albany, and possibly for a time in Poughkeepsie. Apparently he lived longest in Kingston. His birthplace was in Holland,1 and its location should be ascer­ tained. This should not be difficult, since the name was local to Amsterdam and Alkmaar in the Province of North Holland, prior to and contemporary with Pieter's settlement in New York. The name was represented in official circles by Cornelius Van der Lyn, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, from 1645 to 1659.2 That he was a son of Nicholas van der Lyn of this family seems reasonably certain from the fact that his oldest son was named Nicholas (the usual custom in Dutch families being to name the first-born for the paternal grandparent). In 1715 a Jacobus van der Lyn registered in Jurisprudence at Leyden University,3 and at varying dates the name appears on the university register. 1 Dutch Ref'd Church, Kingston. Marriages, no. 481. 2 Van der Kloot's "De gouyemeurs-generaal en commissarissen-generaal van Neder- landsch-Indie," 1891. Pp. 50-52, and plate 3, arms. 3 Leyden University. Album Studiosorum. 1875. Col. 481, 663, 995. 59 60 T H E N E W-Y ORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY Holland at that time was the seat of the first universities of Europe, leading as well in the medical profession, which Pieter Vanderlyn (or van der Lyn,4 as his father-in-law, Domine Vas, renders it on the occasion of his marriage to Geertruy Vas and the baptisms of his children) had chosen for his own. In Amsterdam he would have had the privilege of attending the lectures of the leading surgeons of that cultured city. There also among his friends would have been those men who were establishing, in art, names that have lived through the centur-ies, which influence would explain his facility with the brush. An anecdote is told of his grandson Henry Vanderlyn, who studied law in New York with the Honorable Ogden Edwards. While a student at Union College, Schenectady, he was dubbed "Count" by his fellow-students and the title clung to him through life, because of his "great suavity and gentlemanly manners." 5 It is known that his eldest son Nicholas was also a portrait painter, some of his work being in families in Ulster County, and his son was the well-known John Vanderlyn, whose namesake and nephew also did creditable work.6 Pieter Vanderlyn's work showed no improvement with years and this may account for so few late portraits. His best portraits were his early ones and those of his most intimate friends and family connections, whose characteristics he knew best and most sym- .pathetically delineated, as in the instance of Mrs. Vas. Since one of her living descendants bears a striking resemblance to her, hers must be considered a good likeness. At no time does he flatter his subjects. From the faces of some of the women, whose portraits he painted, it can easily be imagined that he must have made lifelong enemies of them; yet this state­ ment does not always apply, as in the case of the hopeful, persist­ ent Catryna Ten Broeck, daughter of a mayor of Albany. She was the victim of his brush more than once. His portraits are characterized by a bold and direct brush han­ dling, which has considerable charm, but not training enough for 4 Dutch Ref'd Church, Kingston: Marriages, no. 481. 1 Galpin, H. I. Annals of Oxford,- N. Y. 1906. Pp. 393-395. 6 Schoonmaker, M. Hist, of Kingston, N. Y. 1888. P. 458. QUARTERLY BULLETIN 61 MRS. ELSIE (RUTGERS) SCHUYLER VAS By Pieter Vanderlyn (Owned by Mrs. Edwin Denyse Shultz of Albany, N. Y.) 62 T H E N E W-Y ORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY variety. There is a stiffness and sameness in the pose of his sub­ jects, which shows a lack of academic training, and a sober color scheme from which he seldorgivaried; with but few exceptions the coats and dresses are always the same light brown. His flesh color is good, his drawing of faces accurate enough to be called a portrait. Where he woefully fails is in his treatment of hands; they are stiff and not nearly so well drawn or modelled as the heads. There are so many portraits in exactly the same position and coloring that at a first glance they seem to belong to the same family, though it may be noted that each head has its character, with consider­ able variety. This cannot be said of the remainder of the por­ traits. Owing to his habit of outlining finger-nails in dark color before painting them, this color has worked through, in time, giving an effect of dirty finger-nails. The general effect of the whole is conventional and somewhat primitive. Most of these portraits are life-size, three-quarter length on canvas short of forty by fifty (40x50) inches. His men are always standing, frequently by an opening through which is seen a landscape of trees and sky; in no case is this open­ ing sufficiently detailed to be called a window, but is so general­ ized that the position would indicate it as such, the walls hav ng no thickness. Some portraits have a plain or neutral background. Some of the men hold a white leather gauntlet in the left hand, as in the Philip Schuyler portrait (No. 135) in the New York Historical Society collection; others have the gauntlet on the left hand, which is closed, and holding the other glove against the hip. The gauntlets of both are stiff and angular. The Catalina Schuyler portrait (No. 136), in this collection, has the typical light-brown dress, while a bird is perched on her finger. This is also characteristic, flowers being, utilized as well as birds. Apparently these two Schuyler portraits are not dated, unless var­ nishing has obliterated the figures of the date. In no case, in the portraits seen, do they bear the signature of Pieter Van­ derlyn. The inscription is usually "Etatis . "and the date; some have disappeared by cutting down the canvas, by an accumulation of dirt, by the paint peeling off, and by repainting. The two latest QUARTERLY BULLETIN 63 PHILIP SCHUYLER (1695-1745) By Pieter Vanderlyn Owned by the Society) 64 T H E N E W-Y ORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY seen had inscriptions in English; one being "Aged 13 Months, 1732" and the other "Born May 26, 1704." The usual frame is a black moulding, with very little relief, three and a half inches wide, the inside half inch gilded. There is evidence of his having painted hanging hotel signs, one in Hurley and two at least in Kingston, all having been de­ stroyed. The hanging sign of the "Crown" tavern in Kingston was shot down, run over and destroyed in 1775.7 We know Pieter Vanderlyn for forty years, 1718 to 1758, from public and church records; earlier or later records of him I have been unable to find. Dates of his birth and death are unknown. The record of his marriage, 1722, describes him as "born in Holland and now residing in Kingston." He' was naturalized in this country. In 1721 and 1722 with another, Thomas Foller (Fuller?) or Thomas Fell, he presented a petition for a tract of land, "4000 acres, lying vacant and unappropriated." 8 Whether this was se­ cured and where it was located, is not known, yet if he did receive this land, the final years of his life may have been spent upon it. One of his sons, Jacobus, lived in Shawangunk,9 in southern Ulster County and Nicholas, his grandson, left property in Delaware County,10 both of which localities would have been wild land in 1722.