Daniel Seghers & Jan Cossiers

Bust of Constantijn Huygens Surrounded by a Garland of Flowers (1596–1687)

Daniel Seghers & Jan Cossiers
Bust of Constantijn Huygens Surrounded by a Garland of Flowers (1596–1687)

1644 On view in Room 8

Standing inside an ornate stone niche is a bust of Constantijn Huygens. The niche is decorated with ivy and orange blossom, together with small posies of roses, tulips, carnations and hyacinths. The Antwerp painter Seghers specialised in flower cartouches like this – flower still lifes with a bust in a niche. Seghers did not usually paint the bust himself: here he asked his colleague Jan Cossiers to do the honours.

The Jesuit Seghers and Huygens were friends. As secretary to the Dutch stadholders, Huygens provided the link between the painter and the House of Orange. Seghers gave two flower cartouches to Huygens, who hung them in the Huyghens House on the nearby Plein. The flower cartouche with the bust of the stadholder-king William III, also on display in this room, has long been in the Mauritshuis collection. This cartouche with the bust of Huygens now joins it.

Technical details

WATCH: Lost for two centuries

Daniel Seghers & Jan Cossiers
Bust of Constantijn Huygens Surrounded by a Garland of Flowers (1596–1687)

1644 On view in Room 8

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Details

General information
Artist Daniel Seghers (Antwerp 1590 - 1661 Antwerp) and Jan Cossiers (Antwerp 1600 - 1671 Antwerp)
Title Bust of Constantijn Huygens Surrounded by a Garland of Flowers (1596–1687)
Dated 1644
Object name painting
Inventory number 1216
On view in Room 8
Material and technical details
Technique oil
Material copper
Dimensions 86 x 63 cm
Inscriptions
Signed and dated lower left: D.niel.Seghers. Soc.tis Jesu 1644
Inscription on the base of the portrait bust: CONSTANTER
Bears inscription on the verso: Steen[gracht]
not distinctly legible
Bears inscription on the verso: 30

Provenance

Gift of the painter to Constantijn Huygens, The Hague, in or after 1644; his son, Lodewijk Huygens, 1687-1699; his son, Constantijn Huygens IV, 1699-1739; his daughter, Susanna Louise van Wassenaer-Huygens, wife of Willem baron van Wassenaer van Ruijven, 1739-1785; her inventory, 1785 (under the letter f as ‘Dezelve [Constantijn Huygens] borstbeeld in ’t graauw in een krans van bloemen op koper’); sold by her heirs as part of the Huygenshuis to Jacob Verheye van Citters, 1786; sold as part of the Huygenshuis to Johannes Goldberg, 1800; his sale, Huygenshuis, The Hague, 22 April-3 May 1828 (Lugt 11715), paintings sold on 3 May, no. 6 (as ‘Idem [Constantijn Huygens] in eenen bloemenkrans, door pater Zeghers, op koper, in verg. lijst.’); probably purchased at this sale by jonkheer Johan Steengracht van Oostcapelle, The Hague and Moyland, 1828-1846; his heirs (see Taxation der Gemälde auf Schloss Moyland, 1906, no number, as ‘von Seghers, Blumenstück 1500,-’); private collection, The Netherlands; acquired with the support of the VriendenLoterij and H.B. van der Ven, 2018