Lot number 3602 - Auction 155
FAMILIENPORTRAIT (WOHL JOHAN DIMMER , SOLLICITEUR MILITAIRE IM HAAG, MIT FAMILIE

DANIEL MIJTENS THE YOUNGER (AND ATELIER) 1590 Delft - 1647 The Hague FAMILY PORTRAIT (PROBABLY JOHAN DIMMER, SOLLICITEUR MILITAIRE IN THE HAGUE, WITH HIS FAMILY) Oil on canvas (old relined). 100 x 152 cm (F. 135 x 187 cm). Min. old rest., slight old retouching, part. min. surface paint losses and soiling. Elaborate gallery frame of the 18th / 19th century. Large-format Dutch family portrait in the form of a portrait historié. Set within an expansive, landscape-framed scene with an opening sky and putti, a parental couple is depicted together with numerous children. The father appears in historicising military costume with helmet, plume and staff as insignia of rank, while the mother is shown in elegant contemporary dress. The children are not arranged schematically, but grouped into a lively, interacting ensemble; a daughter holding a wreath and shepherd's staff functions as a visual link between the parents and the group of children. Composition, iconography and style clearly point to the circle of the important Hague portrait painter Jan (Johan) Mijtens, whose son Daniel Mijtens the Younger took over the atelier around 1670. Differences in painterly quality - particularly the finely executed physiognomies of certain figures - suggest an atelier work with possible personal participation by Daniel Mijtens the Younger. The identification of the portrayed family as Johan Dimmer and his wife Agneta Cocqueel is highly probable on the basis of archival sources from 1685 as well as iconographic details. Accompanied by an art-historical expert report by Dr Ursula Härting (Hamm), dated 14 January 2026. Dr Härting attributes the painting to the atelier of Daniel Mijtens II, possibly with his own participation. We would like to express our sincere thanks to Dr Härting for her art-historical analysis of the painting offered here. Literature: Alexandra Nina Bauer, Jan Mijtens (1613/14-1670), Petersburg 2006. Provenance: Westphalian private collection; previously: probably originally in the possession of the Dimmer family, The Hague.