(b. 1639, Prague, d. 1684, The Hague)

Portrait of Suzanna Huygens 1667-69 Oil on oak panel, 45 x 35 cm Private collection

The sitter is Suzanna Doublet-Huygens, Vrouwe van St. Annaland (1637-1725). She was the fifth and last child of Constantijn Huygens and Suzanna van Baerle, and their only daughter. In 1660 she married her cousin Philips III Doublet, Heer van St. Anneland and Moggershil (1633-1707) who like his father and his father-in-law, held high office in the United Provinces, and was a patron of the arts, and was influential in the spread of French taste in The Netherlands. He also sat to Netscher in a picture usually considered a pendant to the present picture, now in the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig. Netscher painted six portraits of members of the Huygens family between 1667 and 1672, evidence that by the late 1660s he was sufficiently highly regarded to capture the attention of the most influential dynasty of the Dutch patriciate.

Suzanna Huygens is depicted standing three-quarter length in white satin with an evening landscape in the background.

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Author: NETSCHER, Caspar Title: Portrait of Suzanna Huygens Time-line: 1651-1700 School: Dutch Form: painting