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A woman with smooth, pale skin, wearing an ivory-white headdress and a peacock-blue dress, is shown from the hips up in this vertical portrait painting, which has an arched top. The woman’s body and face are angled to our left, and she looks off in that direction with gray eyes. Her smooth cheeks are lightly blushed in her heart-shaped face. She has a high forehead, faint brows, and her full, pale pink lips are closed. Narrow panels of her headdress come down the sides of her face, emphasizing the heart shape. The fabric covers her head and falls in a veil down her back. Her dress comes up high across the back of her neck and then flares out to nearly her armpits across a low, straight neckline. Sheer fabric covers her chest, and the inner part of her neckline has a band of black to each side. The blue dress is lined with gray fur along the neckline, down the front, and on the undersides of voluminous sleeves, which are turned back at her wrists. Black cuffs peek out from under the folds. In her right hand, to our left, she holds a single pink carnation in front of her abdomen with her thumb and first two fingers. She wears a gold ring on the pointer finger of her other hand, in which she holds a string of coral-red beads. A hint of a gold belt is just visible between and behind her hands. The green background behind her glows around her shoulders and deepens to moss green around the arched top of the panel.

Joos van Cleve

Margaretha Boghe, probably 1518

West Building, Main Floor - Gallery 41A

Medium

oil on panel

Dimensions

painted surface: 55.1 x 37.2 cm (21 11/16 x 14 5/8 in.)
overall (panel, rounded top): 57.1 x 39.6 cm (22 1/2 x 15 9/16 in.)

framed: 66 x 48.9 cm (26 x 19 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

Accession Number

1962.9.2

Artists / Makers

Joos van Cleve (artist) Netherlandish, active 1505/1508 - 1540/1541

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

Probably Joris Vezeleer [d. 16 October 1570], Antwerp;[1] probably his widow, Margaretha Boghe [d. perhaps 20 August 1574], Antwerp;[2] Possibly Prince Karl Eusebius of Liechtenstein [1611- 1684].[3] Prince Johann Adam Andreas of Liechtenstein [1657-1712], "Fideikomissgalerie," Vienna; his nephew, Prince Emanuel of Liechtenstein [d. 1771], 1712-1722; Reigning Prince Josef Johann of Liechtenstein [1690 -1732], Vienna, by 1722;[4] his son, Prince Johann Nepomuk [1724 -1748], Vienna;[5] Princes of Liechtenstein; Prince Franz Josef II of Liechtenstein, Vienna, until 1939, afterward Vaduz, Principality of Liechtenstein; sold 1962 through (Marianne Feilchenfeldt, Zurich) to NGA.

[1] This portrait was probably ordered to commemorate the betrothal or marriage of the sitter, as Margaretha Boghe holds a pink in the pendant portrait--the traditional symbol of engagement or conjugal fidelity. An inscription states that Vezeleer and Boghe were married for fifty-two years. Since Vezeleer died in 1570, they must have been married around 1518. At that time, Joris Vezeleer would have been twenty-five years old, which accords well with his appearance in this portrait.

[2] Both portraits are probably mentioned in the inventory of 1574-1575 made at the time of her death. Jan Denucé, The Antwerp Art-Galleries. Inventories of the Art-Collections in Antwerp in the 16th and 17th Centuries, The Hague, 1932, 6: "Een contrefeystel van Joris Veselaer ende Jouffre. Margrieten Boge syner huysvrouwen op twee doeren."

[3] The Getty Provenance Index records that the painting was in Prince Karl's possession "by 1652."

[4] A family contract of 1722 established that the "Fideikomiss" set up by Prince Johann Adam, which included the art collection and property in Vienna, would belong to the reigning princes of the house of Liechtenstein in succession.

[5] When Prince Josef Johann died, his son, Prince Johann Nepomuk, was under age and his uncle Prince Johef Wenzel was appointed guardian. In 1733 Prince Josef Wenzel applied red wax seals bearing the arms of Liechtenstein and the date 1733 to all paintings that were part of the "Fideikomissgalerie." In effect this commemorates the heritage of Prince Johann Adam and separated the works from Prince Josef Wenzel's own collection. See the essay by Wilhelm, "Die Liechtenstein-Galerie," in Meisterwerke aus den Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein, [exh. cat., Kunstmuseum] (Lucerne, 1948), 19-20. Information on this aspect of the provenance given by Dr. Reinhold Baumstark, Director of Collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein, in letters of 28 June 1982 and 28 May 1985 in the NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Boghe, Margaretha
Feilchenfeldt, Walter M.
Liechtenstein, Prince Franz Josef II of
Liechtenstein, Prince Josef Johann Adam of
Liechtenstein, Alois I of Prince
Liechtenstein, Emanuel of, Prince
Liechtenstein, Johann Adam Andreas I of Prince
Liechtenstein, Prince Alois II of
Liechtenstein, Prince Franz I of
Liechtenstein, Prince Franz Josef I of
Liechtenstein, Prince Johann I of
Liechtenstein, Prince Johann II of
Liechtenstein, Prince Johann Nepomuk Karl of
Liechtenstein, Prince Karl Eusebius of
Liechtenstein, Princes of
Vezeleer, Joris

Exhibition History

1948: Meisterwerke aus den Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein, Kunstmuseum, Lucerne, 1948, no. 75.

2011: Joos van Cleve: Leonardo des Nordens [Joos van Cleve: Leonardo of the North], Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen, 2011, no. 49, fig. 72.

Technical Summary

The panel consists of two boards joined vertically. Unlike 1962.9.1, the boards seem not to have been separated, and the dowels can be seen in the x-radiograph.

The painting is in very good condition. There is retouching along the join line, most apparent in the lower portion. Scattered areas of retouching are in both cheeks, the throat, the upper bodice, the kerchief, and the sitter's left hand.

At the bottom right there is a resinous circular seal that has been covered with black paint. At the top center of the reverse is a red, resinous seal; this and the seal on the front are the same as the seals of the house of Liechtenstein of 1733 that appear on 1962.9.1. Also on the reverse are a partially destroyed black circular resinous seal, a paper label from the Lucerne exhibition of 1948, and a black stamp.

Bibliography

1767: Fanti, Vincenzio. Descrizzione Completa di Tutto ciò che Ritrovasi nella Galleria di Pittura e Scultura di Sua Altezza Giuseppe Wenceslao ... della Casa di Liechtenstein. Vienna, 1767: 91, no. 405, 451.

1780: Liechtenstein, François Joseph de. Description des Tableaux et des pièces de sculpture que renferme la gallerie de son altesse François Joseph ... de Liechtenstein. Vienna, 1780: 179, 181, nos. 586, 589.

1866: Waagen, Gustav. Die vornehmsten Kunstdenkmäler in Wien. Vienna, 1866: 279-280.

1873: Falke, J. Katalog der Fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bilder-Galerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau, zu Wien. Vienna, 1873: 124, nos. 1077, 1079.

1916: Worp, Jacop Adolf, ed. De Briefwisseling van Constantijn Huygens. 6 vols. The Hague, 1916: 5:162-163.

1924: Friedländer, Max J. Die altniederländische Malerei 14 vols. 1924-1937. Berlin, 1931: 9:53, 144, no. 117. (English ed., 14 vols., 1967-1976. Leiden, 1972: 9:117, pls. 122-123.)

1925: Baldass, Ludwig. Joos van Cleve. Der Meister des Todes Mariä. Vienna, 1925: 21, nos. 37-38, figs. 41-42.

1927: Kronfeld, Adolf. Führer durch die Fürstlich Liechtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie in Wien. Vienna, 1927: 136, 138, nos. 704, 707.

1932: Denucé, Jan. The Antwerp Art-Galleries. Inventories of the Art-Collections in Antwerp in the 16th and 17th Centuries. The Hague, 1932: 6.

1948: Baldass, Ludwig. "Die niederländischen Bilder in der Liechtenstein-Galerie." Meisterwerke aus den Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein. Exh. cat. Kunstmuseum, Lucerne, 1948: xxvii, 75.

1949: Denucé, Jan. Na Peter Paul Rubens. Documenten uit de Kunsthandel te Antwerpen in de XVIIe eeuw van Matthijs Musson. Antwerp, 1949: 127-128.

1955: Cairns, Huntington. "Report on the National Gallery of Art." Smithsonian Institution. Report of the Secretary and Financial Report of the Executive Committee of the Board of Regents (1955): 208, pl. 12.

1955: Gerson, Horst. "Joos van Cleve." Oud Holland 70 (1955): 129-130, figs. 1-2.

1963: "Acquisti della National Gallery di Washington." Domus no. 406 (1963): 57, repro.

1963: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 305, repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 29.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 22, repro.

1973: Regteren Altena, J.Q. van. "Rembrandts Persönlichkeit. Versuch einer Profilierung." Neue Beiträge zur Rembrandt-Forschung. Berlin, 1973: 186, pl. 37, fig. 150.

1974: Kerkhove, A. van den. "Joris Vezeller, Een Antwerps Koopman-Ondernemer van de XVIde Eeuw." Annalen, 63 Congres Sint-Niklaas-Waas 1974: 326-334, figs 1-2.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 72, repro.

1978: Hand, John Oliver. "Joos van Cleve: The Early and Mature Paintings." Ph.D. diss., Princeton University (1978): 18, 147-150, 299, no. 30, figs. 37-38.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 135, no. 130, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 92, repro.

1986: Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolff. Early Netherlandish Painting. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1986: 57-62, repro. 59.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. Joos Van Cleve. The Complete Paintings. New Haven and London, 2004: 61, 129-130, no. 29, fig. 64B.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 124, no. 94, color repro.

2015: Buchanan, Iain. Hapsburg Tapestries. Turnhout, Belgium, 2015: 22, 324 n. 79.

2021: Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. "In Pursuit of Masterpieces: The National Gallery of Art’s Acquisitions from the Prince of Liechtenstein." Artibus et historiae 42, no. 83 (2021): 322, 325, 328, color fig. 13.