A group of Dutch experts in the field of Frisian portrait painting have founded Stichting Het Friese Portret (The Frisian Portrait Foundation). The primary goal of the foundation is to publish a standard work on the extensive body of Frisian portraits from the period 1500–1800.
Nearly a century has passed since Dr. Abraham Wassenbergh’s first significant contribution to the field. He defended his dissertation on sixteenth-century Frisian portraiture at the Sorbonne in France in 1934, and published a volume on seventeenth-century Frisian portraits in 1967.
Het Friese Portret aims to build upon Wassenbergh’s important work by creating a comprehensive follow-up publication. Thanks in part to the digitization of artworks, a large number of portraits have been rediscovered in recent years. The foundation’s new standard work will incorporate these newly identified pieces, along with the latest knowledge about painters working in the region. Attention will be paid to numerous aspects, such as the artists, the subjects and their networks, the clothing and jewelry depicted in the portraits, and the social and economic context in which the portraits were created.
The foundation consists of a team of specialists:
- Chair: Dr. Carla van de Puttelaar, art historian and artist specializing in Netherlandish and British portraits.
- Secretary: Hans Zijlstra, publicist specializing in Frisian portraits.
- Treasurer: André Buwalda, Frisian military portrait specialist.
- Board Member: Dr. Piet Bakker, art historian and author of De Friese schilderkunst in de Gouden Eeuw (Frisian Painting in the Golden Age), published in 2008.
- Board Member: Prof. Dr. Marieke de Winkel, art historian and contributor to the catalogue for the new exhibition on renowned Frisian portrait painter Wybrand de Geest, which recently opened at the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden.
The foundation encourages owners of Frisian portraits to contact them for research and documentation. Doing so will help further map this important aspect of Frisian heritage. You can reach them at hetfrieseportret@gmail.com.