Lot 115: JOHAN THOPAS

? ASSENDELFT CIRCA 1630 - CIRCA 1700 PORTRAIT OF DIRCK JACOBSZ. BAS (1569-1637) Black lead, black chalk and black ink wash on vellum; inscribed in brown ink, within the drawn cartouche: Theodorus Bas Jacobi / T 308 by 244 mm

S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, Van Amsterdamse burgers tot Europesche aristrocraten, The Hague 2008, Vol. II, p. 579, fig. 391; P. van den Brink, 'Tussen Rembrandt en Rubens. Jacob Adriaensz Backer als portret- en historieschilder in Amsterdam,' Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis, forthcoming (to be published early 2014)

With Lodewijk Houthakker, Amsterdam; sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 11 November 1997, lot 106

This portrait of Dirck Jacobsz. Bas (1569-1637) belongs to a series of similar works by Thopas, which has been dubbed the ‘Kerckerinck Series,’ named after the portrait of Godert Dircksz. Kerckerinck, sold in these Rooms last year.1 Other drawings from the series, all depicting important Amsterdam citizens, are in the Albertina (three portraits, of Albert Bas, Mathias Bode and Theodor Kerckerinck), the Rijksprentenkabinet (Petronella van Roy Livini) and the Courtauld Institute (Elisabeth Bas). The series dates from around 1650, and all are drawn copies after existing portraits, the sitters in many cases long deceased. Dirck Jacobsz. Bas was one of the founders of the VOC (Dutch East India Company), was twelve times Burgomaster of Amsterdam, deputy in the States General, and was knighted by King Gustav Adolf of Sweden in 1616, because of his role in the peace negotiations between Sweden and Russia. The model for the drawing by Thopas is a painting by Jacob Backer in the Michaelis collection in Cape Town, which, like the present drawing, can be dated shortly after 1645. The designs for the elaborate drawn frames seen on the drawings in this series, and others by Thopas, have sometimes been credited to the silversmith, Jan Lutma, but are likely by Thopas himself. We are very grateful to Peter van den Brink for kindly sharing with us the above information, which he will publish in a forthcoming article (see Literature). 1. London, Sotheby's, 4 July 2012, lot 117