with inscription ‘William 1st./ g’ (verso)
black chalk, point of the brush and grey and brown wash, incised for transfer, watermark crowned fleur-de-lys and IHS with letters IR
38.3 x 28.4 cm, oval

Provenance:
Possibly Johan Antony Kingshot; sale, Delft, 21-22 July 1767, part of lot 1 (‘Vier geteekende Pourtraiten door P. Soutman, zijnde Kaizer Karel de V, prins Willem de I, Prins Maurits en Frederik Hendrik’).
M. Carl Schöffer; Frederik Muller & Co., Amsterdam, 30-31 May 1893, lot 367 (‘Pieter Soutman. Portrait de Guillaume d’Orange, dit ‘le Taciturne’. Dessin original pour une gravure. Bistre et encre de Chine.- Ovale. Hauteur 38.5 x 28.5 cent.’).
William Mayor (died 1874), London (L. 2799).
E. Fabricius (died circa 1919), Berlin (L. 847a).
with C.G. Boerner, Berlin, 1961.
Private collection, The Netherlands.
Anonymous sale; Christie’s, Amsterdam, 25 November 1991, lot 48 (as attributed to Pieter Claesz. Soutman).

Literature:
K. Barrett, Pieter Soutman: life and oeuvres, Amsterdam, 2012, no. DL-6 and DL-7 (these probably refer to the same drawing), under no. DA-23.

Hundreds of portraits of the Dutch statesman William the Silent (1533–1584), leader of the Dutch revolt against Spanish Habsburgs rule and known as Father of the Fatherland, have been created since the mid-sixteenth century. His portrait appears in the widest variety of media such as prints, medals, sculptures, drawings, stained glass and paintings through the centuries. However, very few first-hand portraits were produced during William’s lifetime.[1] One of the only known portraits made from life is by Cornelis de Visscher (1520–1586), who painted William around 1577, when he was approximately 44 years old. Although the original is lost, a drawing of William attributed to De Visscher is known through a black-and-white photograph. [2]
The production of portraits of William the Silent continued for decades, with De Visscher’s portrait serving as the prototype. One of the artists who produced paintings after this prototype was the Delft portrait painter Michiel van Mierevelt’s (1566–1641); no fewer than 17 portraits of William from his workshop have survived. [3] These paintings were often painted on commission and one such commission was a series of portraits of members of the House of Orange and notable political and military figures. Commissioned by the Delft City Hall in 1620, this series is regarded as Van Mierevelt’s masterpiece.[4]

Twenty years later, the demand for portraits of members of the House of Orange remained strong, as is attested by a series of etchings from circa 1640 made by Jonas Suyderhoef (1614-1686) after designs by Soutman and Pieter van Sompel (circa 1600-after 1643), showing portraits of members of the House of Orange. One of these prints depicts William the Silent, and the design by Soutman for it is now in the Rijksmuseum. [5] According to Karen Barett, that design is probably based on Van Mierevelt’s painted portrait of William, which Soutman either knew from the original or from the engraving [6] by Willem Jacobsz. Delff (1580-1638) after it. [7] Barrett furthermore suggests that the present drawing is a replica of the drawing in the Rijksmuseum, [8] but she had doubts over the attribution due to the size of the drawing.9 While the sheet is indeed larger than most portrait drawings by Soutman, it can be compared to a drawing of almost the exact same size showing Emperor Charles V, now in the Albertina, Vienna. [10] Furthermore, stylistically and technically the drawing seems entirely in line with other securely attributed drawings by Soutman. The bold use of the pen used to accentuate shadows or highlights around the sitter’s nose, nostrils and eyes are characteristics, for example, that can be found in many of the artist’s portraits, such as in the aforementioned Portrait of William the Silent in the Rijksmuseum and a Portrait of Elisabeth of France, Queen of Spain, also in the Rijkmsuseum. [11] Furthermore, the rather losely applied wash in the sitter’s hair can also be compared to that in other drawings, such as the portrait of Hendrik Goltzius in the Frits Lugt Collection, Fondation Custodia, Paris. [12]

Barrett has suggested that ‘each portrait in Soutman’s series depended on two drawings’, proposing that the artist initially made a tonal drawing based on an engraved or painted model followed by a more linear version to facilitate transfer to the copper plate. [13] Two of such drawings showing Prince Maurits are in the Rijksmuseum; one shows just the head of the sitter and the other is a more linear version that is inscised for transfer and shows the sitter at bust length. [14] These two versions are particularly close to each other, something that cannot be said for the present drawing and the Rijksmuseum’s version of William. This raises the question about the exact function of the present drawing. The fact that it was incised for transfer demonstrates that it was used, or supposed to be used, as a design for a print. Why it was never published remains unclear, but the resurfacing of this drawing adds a valuable piece to the puzzle of Soutman’s working methods, even if it perhaps raises more questions than it answers.



[1] E.A. van Beresteyn, ‘Het portret van Willem I’, [excerpt of an unknown publication, see RKD no. 201005581], p. 369.
[2] ibid., no. 13, p. 371.
[3] A. Jansen, ‘Atelier en atelierpraktijken aan de Oude Delft’, in Portretfabriek van Michiel van Mierevelt (1566-1641), exhib. cat., Delft, Museum Het Prinsenhof, 2011, p. 51.
[4] A. Jansen et al., De Portretfabriek van Michiel van Mierevelt (1566-1641), exhib. cat., Delft, Museum Het Prinsenhof, 2011, p. 141.
[5] See for an impression of the print; inv. RP-P-1944-165 and for the drawing, see; inv. RP-T- 1895-A-3078.
[6] See for an impression; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. RP-P-1898-A-20683.
[7] K. Barrett, op. cit., p. 89.
[8] It should be noted, however, that the rendering of the face differs rather greatly from that in
the Rijksmuseum sheet, posing the question whether the present drawing was not based on yet another prototype.
[9] K. Barrett, op. cit., p. 165, under no. DA-23.
[10] ibid., no. DA-13, colour plate D2; inv. 8371.
[11] ibid., no. DA-14, plate D12; inv. RP-T-1898-A-3517.
[12] ibid., no. DA-34, colour plate D7; inv. 5246.
[13] ibid., p. 91.
[14] ibid., no. DA-25, plate D21 and no. DA-26, plate D22; inv. RP-T-1895-A-3079 and RP-T- 1886-A-611.