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The renowned general Marten van Rossem commissioned the building that is now Cannenburch Castle in 1543. He introduced the Renaissance style to Gelderland, as seen here in the decoration of the entrance tower and the triangular pediments above the windows. Successive generations of the Van Isendoorn à Blois family expanded the castle and modified it to the demands of the time. Around the mid-eighteenth century, the castle had its heyday, during the residence and art patronage of Frederik Johan van Isendoorn and his wife Anna Margaretha van Renesse. The castle’s interior was decorated on an ambitious scale, including a grand reception hall with oak paneling that incorporated portraits of the couple and their ancestors.

Cannenburch Castle is furnished and open to the public as an eighteenth-century nobleman’s house with a large part of its original inventory, including flower still lifes by Justus van Huysum I, portraits, furniture, tableware, silver, embroidered textiles, and a sixteenth-century coconut cup. Several rooms still boast their original paneling with paintings. In addition, many of the works in the portrait collection of the Brantsen van de Zyp Foundation – by artists including Jan van Ravesteyn, David Bailly, Nicolaes Maes and Michiel van Mierevelt – are displayed in the castle.

Cannenburch Castle is one of seven castles and country houses administered by the provincial trust Geldersch Landschap & Kasteelen and open to the public.

Marieke Knuijt, Curator of Gelders Landschap en Kasteelen (January 2023)