No.8 -

Jurian Jacobsz (Hamburg 1625-1685)
Portrait of a high-ranking officer with cuirass and commander’s staff, with a marine fortress in the right background, signed at lower left J Jacobsz. fec, oil on canvas, 114 x 92 cm, framed, (Wo)

Trained in Hamburg, Jurian Jacobsz entered the workshop of Frans Snyders in Antwerp around 1640 (Lungagnini, p. 14), whose compositions he was to vary throughout his career. He returned to Hamburg before 1646, where he became one of the most successful artists with his hunting scenes executed in the manner of his master, as well as with highly acclaimed portraits. The portrait of the mathematician Tassius (now Hamburg Kunsthalle) is an example of his early mastership. In 1658 he settled in Amsterdam, where he was held in such great esteem as a portraitist that in 1662 Admiral de Ruyter commissioned him to paint a portrait of his family - and not one of the two leading Amsterdam-based portraitists at the time, Ferdinand Bol or Bartholomäus van der Helst (Lungagnini, p. 17 - today at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). Houbraken writes about him extensively in his Schouburg of 1719. In 1665 Jacobsz was court painter to the governor of Fresia, Prince Henry Casimir II of Nassau-Dietyin Leeuwarden. The present portrait was probably executed during his stay in Amsterdam, when Jacobsz numbered among the town’s most renowned portraitists. It clearly shows the subtle characterisation based on Flemish models. The delicate rendering of textures and the high degree of realism reveal a Netherlandish influence that is palpable in the Hamburgian painter’s entire oeuvre, comprising only a few secured portraits.
We are grateful to Dr. Henrik Lungagnini, Gut Schierensee, author of the catalogue raisonné on Jurian Jacobsz, for his assistance in writing this entry.
Literature: comp. Henrik Lunganini, Der Hamburger Maler Jurian Jacobsz 1624-1685. Leben und Werk, Hamburg 1970.
Provenance: Appleby Brothers, London (with a gallery label on the reverse); F. Leedham, London (stamped on the reverse)

estimate €15.000,- to €20.000,-

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