Michiel van Mierevelt painted these life-size portraits of Johan Camerlin (1567-1640) and his wife Catharina (1572-1633) in 1626 and 1631, respectively. Both sitters are recorded at the age of fifty-nine and have been captured here in three-quarter length poses facing one another, an established formula regularly employed by the Delft artist.¹ Although five years separated the works’ completion, the imposing presence of each sitter is captured with Van Mierevelt’s distinctly confident and characteristic brush.

Van Mierevelt was one of the most accomplished Netherlandish portraitists in the early seventeenth century. In addition to serving as painter to the stadholder court and portraitist to members of the House of Orange, he specialized in portraits of prominent Delft figures, such as the present couple. Johan Camerlin, the son of Nicolaas Cornelis Camerlin and Elisabeth Cornelisdr. van Assendelft, served as the Pensionary of Delft and curator of the University of Leyden. His eminent position within the country’s political realm is affirmed by his selection as part of the Dutch Republic’s ambassadorial delegation to Great Britain from January – April 1621.² During this crucial period, the delegation was tasked with garnering for their country the support of King James I before the end of the Twelve Year’s Truce between Spain and the United Provinces. On 9 April 1621, the day the Truce ended, Johan and his delegation were knighted by the King.

In 1595, Johan married Catharina Wielant, daughter of Cornelis Wielant and Basha van Egmond van Cranenbrouck. Together, the couple had two children, a daughter Elisabeth (b. 1595) and a son Cornelis who died in childhood. In 1618, Elisabeth married Bernard de la Faille, and it was through Elisabeth’s family that these portraits of her parents descended for generations until 1995, when they were acquired by the present collects or.

1. For example, his 1626 portraits of the Burgermeister of Delft Ewout van der Dussen (1574 – 1653) and his wife Catharina van der Hoeff (1600-1666) in the Kasteel-Museum Sypesteyn, Loosdrecht.

2. The group of delegates lodged in a public tavern on Lombard street and included the following: Frederick van Vervou, Lord of The Hague; Jonkheer Jacobus Wyngaerdes, Lord of Bentusen; Jacob Jacobsz Schotte, Lord of Middleburg; Albert Bruyning, Lord of Enchuysen; and Albert Soncq, Lord of Horn. See Dr. R. Anderson in “Foreign Diplomatic Representatives to the Stuart Court during the seventeenth century, Pt. 1: 1603-1625,” in AHDS, 2007.