Joris Vezeleer
Joos van Cleve·probably 1518
Historical Context
Joos van Cleve's 1518 portrait of Joris Vezeleer depicts an Antwerp merchant in the prime of his career, the pendant companion to his wife Margaretha Boghe's portrait. Vezeleer was a prosperous cloth merchant and civic figure, and his commission of a diptych portrait was both a personal statement and a social marker. Van Cleve places him three-quarter length against a neutral ground, his hands holding a glove and documents that signal his mercantile identity. The painting exemplifies the Antwerp portrait tradition: sober elegance, meticulous rendering of fabric and flesh, and a psychological directness that conveys the self-assurance of a rising bourgeois class in the commercial capital of Northern Europe.
Technical Analysis
Van Cleve's oil on panel demonstrates his refined portrait style with precise rendering of facial features, careful attention to costume, and the soft, luminous modeling that distinguishes his work from the harder Netherlandish tradition.
Provenance
Probably Joris Vezeleer [d. 16 October 1570], Antwerp;[1] probably his widow, Margaretha Boghe [d. perhaps 20 August 1574], Antwerp;[2] Possibly Prince Karl Eusebius of Liechtenstein [1611- 1684].[3] Prince Johann Adam Andreas of Liechtenstein [1657-1712], "Fideikomissgalerie," Vienna; his nephew, Prince Emanuel of Liechtenstein [d. 1771], 1712-1722; Reigning Prince Josef Johann of Liechtenstein [1690 -1732], Vienna, by 1722;[4] his son, Prince Johann Nepomuk [1724 -1748], Vienna;[5] Princes of Liechtenstein; Prince Franz Josef II of Liechtenstein, Vienna, until 1939, afterward Vaduz, Principality of Liechtenstein; sold 1962 through (Marianne Feilchenfeldt, Zurich) to NGA. [1] This portrait was probably ordered to commemorate the betrothal or marriage of the sitter, as Margaretha Boghe holds a pink in the pendant portrait--the traditional symbol of engagement or conjugal fidelity. An inscription states that Vezeleer and Boghe were married for fifty-two years. Since Vezeleer died in 1570, they must have married around 1518. At that time, Joris Vezeleer would have been twenty-five years old, which accords well with his appearance in this portrait. [2] Both portraits are probably mentioned in the inventory of 1574-1575 made at the time of her death. Jan Denucé, _The Antwerp Art-Galleries. Inventories of the Art-Collections in Antwerp in the 16th and 17th Centuries_, The Hague, 1932: 6: "Een contrefeystel van Joris Veselaer ende Jouffre. Margrieten Boge syner huysvrouwen op twee doeren." [3] The Getty Provenance Index records that the painting was in Prince Karl's possession "by 1652". [4] A family contract of 1722 established that the "Fideikomiss" set up by Prince Johann Adam, which included the art collection and property in Vienna, would belong to the reigning princes of the house of Liechtenstein in succession. [5] When Prince Josef Johann died, his son, Prince Johann Nepomuk, was under age and his uncle Prince Josef Wenzel was appointed guardian. In 1733 Prince Josef Wenzel applied red wax seals bearing the arms of Liechtenstein and the date 1733 to all paintings that were part of the "Fideikomissgalerie." In effect this commemorates the heritage of Prince Johann Adam and separated the works from Prince Josef Wenzel's own collection. See the essay by Wilhelm, "Die Liechtenstein-Galerie," in _Meisterwerke aus den Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein_, [exh. cat., Kunstmuseum] (Lucerne, 1948), 19-20. Information on this aspect of the provenance was given by Dr. Reinhold Baumstark, Director of Collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein, in letters of 28 June 1982 and 28 May 1985, in the NGA curatorial files.
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