by Ben Broos

The following is the result of sheer coincidence. On 11 July 1989 the Mauritshuis received a photograph of a drawing belonging to the Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon. It was accompanied by a letter from the curator, Manuela Fidalgo, asking if we could identify the artist. Representing Tarquinius and Lucretia (fig. 1) in black chalk on yellow-brown paper, the sheet measures 41.3 x 36 cm. Neither the drawing's provenance nor the date the Gulbenkian acquired it are known.

Attributing the sketch posed no particular problem, as it is patently the work of Willem van Mieris. One would normally expect to find the artist's signature in the lower left corner, but in this case it may have been erased.[1]

1. Willem van Mieris, Tarquinius and Lucretia, dateable ca. 1700-1710. Black chalk on parchment, 41.3 x 36 cm. Lisbon, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian

Willem van Mieris's virtuosity with pen and brush was recently evidenced by the exhibition Leidse fijnschilders, but especially in an article by Emke Elen-Clifford Kocq van Breugel devoted to drawings that can be linked to paintings by the artist.[2] Mrs Elen, who is preparing a catalogue raisonné of Van Mieris's oeuvre, estimated that 125 of his drawings have been identified, to which the present sheet from Lisbon can now be added. She reports that the number of paintings produced by the Leiden artist is more difficult to calculate. In 1928 C. Hofstede de Groot had already recorded more than 440, dated between 1682 and 1736.[3]

2. Willem van Mieris, Tarquinius and Lucretia, signed at bottom left: "[...] van Mieris fc [...] ", dateable ca. 1700-1710). Panel, 44.3 x 38.5 cm. London, Verner Åmell Ltd, 1991


3. The signature on fig. 2

A few months after Mrs Fidalgo's letter arrived from Lisbon, one of Willem van Mieris's pictures was sold at auction in Amsterdam for 180,000 guilders.[4] Surprisingly enough, that panel also depicts Tarquinius and Lucretia (fig. 2), and its composition is virtually identical to that of the drawing. In 1991 the art dealers Verner Åmell Ltd displayed the picture at the European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht. Measuring 44.3 x 38.5 cm, it is several centimeters larger on all sides than the sheet. Essential parts of the signature and date are no longer legible. What remains is "[...] van Mieris fe [...] " (fig. 3); most of the first initial and the date have been rubbed out. The "M" of the surname is written with a decorative extra loop on the left, as Willem van Mieris, unlike his father Frans, was wont to do.[5] The signature was presumably altered in an attempt to make it look like the father's.

For centuries this small history painting was apparently known only to its successive owners.