10th Jun, 2026 12:00
Live Sale: Fine Paintings, Works on Paper and Sculpture June 2026
9
FOLLOWER OF MICHIEL JANSZ VAN MIEREVELD (DUTCH 1566-1641)
PORTRAIT OF CORNELISZ. VAN BERESTEYN (1586-1638)
inscribed AEtatis 30 / Ano 1617 centre left
oil on panel
69.5 x 59.5cm; 27 1/4 x 23 1/2in
84 x 73.5cm; 33 x 29in (framed)
Property from a Private Collection, Stockwell
Provenance
Edel and Wanda von Westernhagen, Schloss Oppin, Landsberg, Saxony-Anhalt and South Africa
Rose von Westernhagen, Schloss Oppin, Landsberg, Saxony-Anhalt, daughter of the above (Rose von Westernhagen fled Schloss Oppin with her family and the few possessions she could take with her, including the present work, when the castle was seized by Russian forces and the district became part of the Soviet Occupation Zone, later East Germany, at the end of the Second World War.)
Thence by descent to the present owner, daughter of the above
The present bust length portrait of Cornelisz. van Beresteyn is based on the larger three-quarter length version (114 x 84.5cm) by Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt painted in 1617 also with the family coat of arms upper left, now in the collection of the Holland Museum, Michigan USA. Another version of the present work not inscribed but of the same size and with the van Beresteyn coat of arms top right is recorded on the website of the RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History). A later portrait painted by Rembrandt in 1632 thought possibly to be of the same sitter is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Cornelisz. van Beresteyn was the son of the influential merchant Paulus Cornelisz. van Beresteyn (1548-1625) from Harlem and Volckera Claesdr. Knobbert (1554-1634), daughter of a Delft brewer. Paulus rose to prominence as a member of Delft's influential Council of Forty, and was appointed variously alderman, burgomaster and municipal treasurer amongst other leading civic roles.
Van Miereveld completed a series of portraits of the van Beresteyn family, including those of Paulus in 1612 and Volckera in 1618 (both now in the Kasteel Keukenhof Collection, Lisse, with copies in the Rijksmuseum) and at least three of their children: daughter Caecilia in 1615, Cornelisz in 1617 (Holland Museum, Michigan) and Arend, their youngest son.
Cornelisz was the fifth of Paulus and Volckera's eight children and their second son. He married Jannetje Berckel (1592-1615) in 1613, and subsequently Corvina van Hofdijck (1602-1667) in 1619 with whom he had one daughter.
Sold for £2,400
PORTRAIT OF CORNELISZ. VAN BERESTEYN (1586-1638)
inscribed AEtatis 30 / Ano 1617 centre left
oil on panel
69.5 x 59.5cm; 27 1/4 x 23 1/2in
84 x 73.5cm; 33 x 29in (framed)
Property from a Private Collection, Stockwell
Provenance
Edel and Wanda von Westernhagen, Schloss Oppin, Landsberg, Saxony-Anhalt and South Africa
Rose von Westernhagen, Schloss Oppin, Landsberg, Saxony-Anhalt, daughter of the above (Rose von Westernhagen fled Schloss Oppin with her family and the few possessions she could take with her, including the present work, when the castle was seized by Russian forces and the district became part of the Soviet Occupation Zone, later East Germany, at the end of the Second World War.)
Thence by descent to the present owner, daughter of the above
The present bust length portrait of Cornelisz. van Beresteyn is based on the larger three-quarter length version (114 x 84.5cm) by Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt painted in 1617 also with the family coat of arms upper left, now in the collection of the Holland Museum, Michigan USA. Another version of the present work not inscribed but of the same size and with the van Beresteyn coat of arms top right is recorded on the website of the RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History). A later portrait painted by Rembrandt in 1632 thought possibly to be of the same sitter is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Cornelisz. van Beresteyn was the son of the influential merchant Paulus Cornelisz. van Beresteyn (1548-1625) from Harlem and Volckera Claesdr. Knobbert (1554-1634), daughter of a Delft brewer. Paulus rose to prominence as a member of Delft's influential Council of Forty, and was appointed variously alderman, burgomaster and municipal treasurer amongst other leading civic roles.
Van Miereveld completed a series of portraits of the van Beresteyn family, including those of Paulus in 1612 and Volckera in 1618 (both now in the Kasteel Keukenhof Collection, Lisse, with copies in the Rijksmuseum) and at least three of their children: daughter Caecilia in 1615, Cornelisz in 1617 (Holland Museum, Michigan) and Arend, their youngest son.
Cornelisz was the fifth of Paulus and Volckera's eight children and their second son. He married Jannetje Berckel (1592-1615) in 1613, and subsequently Corvina van Hofdijck (1602-1667) in 1619 with whom he had one daughter.
Auction: Live Sale: Fine Paintings, Works on Paper and Sculpture June 2026, 10th Jun, 2026
L.S. Lowry’s expansive Figures on a Beach (lot 39) is the lead painting in our June sale that ranges from the Old Masters to Modern British and post-War & Contemporary. Many of the works have been in the same collection for decades; a number have fascinating stories attached.
The first seven lots of Dutch and Flemish Old Masters are from the collection of Paul Wertheimer. Acquired almost hundred years ago, Wertheimer brought the works to England when he fled Germany in 1938. Leading the group are 17th century panels attributed to Moses van Uyttenbroeck and Lucas van Uden, the latter a reduced copy of Rubens’ original in the Royal Collection (lots 1 & 4). Another early panel, a portrait of Cornelisz. Van Beresteyn, is by a follower of Michiel Jansz. van Miereveld (lot 9).
Works by fellow artists and friends Augustus John and Edgar Augustus ‘Loben’ Slade (lots 20-25) feature John’s early portrait of Loben and five works on paper by the lesser known Slade, nephew of the founder of the Slade School of Art, one of which is a watercolour of Jessie McNeill, John’s model, muse and mistress.
Also in the sale are seven works by Australian artists, including Jeffrey Smart, William Blamire Young and Leonard French, all from a private collection in Surrey (lots 30-36), and ten paintings from a Cheshire Collection that features the work of Helen Bradley, Edouard Cortes and Marcel Dyf together with bracing coastal views by Campbell Archibald Mellon (lots 40-48).
A small and fascinating work on paper is by Paul Nash. It captures the view of Harry Rocks off Ballard Down from Nash's flat in Swanage where he was living in the mid-1930s and which he incorporated into his Surrealist work ahead of the major Surrealist exhibition in London of 1936 (lot 27).
Beside the Lowry beach scene, other post-War works include an important early sculpture by James Tower (lot 52), a leading sculptor-ceramicist of his generation. Other post-War abstract works include examples by Frank Avray Wilson, James Hull and Etienne Beothy (lots 50, 51, 55 & 57).
For more information please contact us | pictures@olympiaauctions.com | +44 (0)20 7806 5541
Viewing
PUBLIC EXHIBITION:
Sunday 7th June: 12pm - 4pm
Monday 8th June: 10am - 8pm (Drinks 5 - 8pm)
Tuesday 9th June: 10am - 5pm
