Artwork

Wapenbord met het wapen van Laurens Jacobsz de Witte en zijn acht kwartieren

Wapenbord met het wapen van Laurens Jacobsz de Witte en zijn acht kwartieren is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Unknown. It dates from 1650 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum. This painting is an example of a heraldic display, featuring a coat of arms on a black background.

About this work

Subject & Meaning

The inclusion of the eight quarterings specifically serves to illustrate the family connections and heritage of Laurens Jacobsz de Witte.

The work is a heraldic painting depicting the coat of arms of Laurens Jacobsz de Witte, accompanied by his eight quarterings. As an example of heraldic art, the piece functions as a genealogical statement, visually asserting the subject's lineage and noble status through the arrangement of ancestral symbols. The inclusion of the eight quarterings specifically serves to illustrate the family connections and heritage of Laurens Jacobsz de Witte.

Created in 1650, the painting operates as a formal record of identity and social standing within the context of Dutch 17th-century portraiture and family history.

Technique & Style

Created in 1650, this heraldic artwork is executed in oil paint on a panel support. The piece functions as a formal armorial display, featuring the central coat of arms of Laurens Jacobsz de Witte surrounded by his eight quarterings. As a painting classified within the genre of heraldic art, the composition relies on the precise application of pigments to define the distinct symbols and lineage markers required for such genealogical records.

The use of a rigid panel rather than canvas was a standard choice for this type of durable, commemorative object during the mid-seventeenth century.

History & Provenance

The work is dated 1650, aligning with the sitter’s active period and the heraldic conventions of mid-seventeenth-century Haarlem. It was commissioned to record the armorial bearings of Laurens Jacobsz de Witte and his eight quarterings, reflecting the social practice of displaying lineage through painted heraldic panels in Dutch civic and domestic contexts.

The panel entered the collection of Jacob de Witte van Citters, whose family maintained ties to Haarlem’s regenten elite. By the mid-nineteenth century it was held in an anonymous collection before transfer to the Rijksmuseum, where it remains.

Overview

This painting is an example of a heraldic display, featuring a coat of arms on a black background. The work is executed in oil paint and presents a central shield surrounded by smaller ones, with decorative elements and text.