School of ANTHONY VAN DYCK

Provenance : Swiss private collection Johann VIII, Count of Nassau-Siegen, was the second son of Count Johann "the Middle" and his first wife, Magdalena Countess of Waldeck. His older brother Johann Ernst served as general in the Venetian army, and fell in the battle of Udine in 1617. Like all of his siblings, Johann "the Younger" converted to Protestantism. In 1612, however, he and his family reconverted to Catholicism, and in 1618 in Brussels he married the Catholic princess Ernestine de Ligne. Johann served as general in the Spanish army, imperial war counselor as well as field marshal, and in 1630 was admitted to the Knights of the Golden Fleece. Through the actions of Johann "the Younger," the Nassau-Siegen family split into Catholic and Protestant branches. He mercilessly pressed the inhabitants of his barony to convert to Catholicism, and attempted to dispossess his brothers of their lands. A wealthy man, he spent most of his time in Brussels and in the barony of Renaix, purchased by him. Two portraits of Johann by Sir Antony van Dyck exist. The first shows him seated, surrounded by his family (Trustees of the Firle Estate Settlement, Firle Place, Sussex, cat. rais. no. III.111). The second is a life-size portrait, showing him in armor, presented with the field marshal's baton (Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, Vaduz, cat. rais. no. III.109). Besides the two abovementioned paintings, there is an engraving after van Dyck, engraved by Lucas Vorsterman, depicting Johann half turned towards the right, with receding hairline and goatee. He wears the Order of the Golden Fleece. Under the breastplate he wears a doublet, of which the folds of the sleeves are visible. This engraving was not made after one of the two existing portraits mentioned earlier, but after a third painting, since lost. The portrait offered in this sale, in which Johann is shown looking to the left, in the same breastplate with protruding sleeves, the same lace collar and similar disposition of the Order of the Golden Fleece, is practically the mirror image of the engraving by Vorsterman. From this, one can deduce that the work offered here was painted in the 17th century by an artist in the circle of van Dyck after the third lost portrait, which was also the subject of Vosterman's engraving.