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Overview
Houbraken devoted himself almost entirely to portraiture. His work became famous through his collaboration with the historian Thomas Birch and artist George Vertue, on the project entitled Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain, published in parts in London from 1743 to 1752. After that, during the years 1752–59, he worked with the historian Jan Wagenaar (1709–1773) on his 21 part Vaderlandsche historie, working for the publisher Isaac Tirion in Amsterdam. With this project of biographies of celebrated figures, he annotated his work with notes about the original paintings.
Among his best works are scenes from the comedy of "De Ontdekte Schijndeugd", executed in his eightieth year, after Cornelis Troost, who was called by his countrymen the Dutch Hogarth. Houbraken also engraved the portraits for Jan van Gool's Nieuwe schouburg der Nederlantsche kunstschilders (Den Haag, 1750–51).
Houbraken's oeuvre of more than 400 portrait engravings form an important record of provenance as they often, as here, tell us the name and location of the collections they came from at the time. His portraits were often set in an oval frame, with a subtitle with the subject's claim to fame. Under that in small letters, he placed his notes about the original oil portrait.
This engraving accords perfectly with his tried and tested formula. The subject is Maria Reigensbergen, the self-possessed looking wife of the famous Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), portrayed in 1640 when she was aged 50. She is wearing a large tear-drop pearl in her left ear (the ear not visible), and a circular broach at the point where her white collar meets her dark dress. There are several layers of sheer fabric over her collar. The original portrait, as the Dutch inscription at the bottom tells us, was at the time in the collection of 'the gentleman, Mr. Joan van Gheel', but its artist is not identified. Grotius's name is rendered in the main inscription as 'Hujg de Groot'.
See:
Wikipedia, 'Jacobus Houbraken', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobus_Houbraken
Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art March 2019