DIFFICULTY of PROVENANCE
Unfortunately Katrain did not come with a notary signed “certificate of origin”. That’s life but it makes the accuracy of the Provenance very difficult. What we can do though, is to use the known circumstances and secondary facts, combined with common sense and imagination to establish a probable Provenance.
Ref. 31: Burlington 1912/03/ page 342: Inventory of “Tart Hall” 1641 (Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel and Surrey K.G.) lists: Cabinett of Mrss Katherine Howard which hereafter yo" shall find described (old English).
That is it. The “hereafter” is nowhere to be found.
Arundel shipped the majority of his possessions to Holland in 1643. Three years later, the greatest art collector of that time died in 1646 on the 24ᵗʰ of September. The collection fell apart; most of it was sold by the “Weeskamer” in Amsterdam.
Rembrandt van Rijn frequented these Weeskamer auctions. It is also known that his sister Elisabeth van Rijn van Rosendael attended, as well as Rembrandt’s brothers; Adriaen, Willem, Gerrit and Cornelis. In all likelihood, one of them bought Katrain. However, according to our van Rijn family folklore, Rembrandt obtained the Stained Glass portrait where the sitter was known as the famous Lady Ruler from Holland, Jacoba van Beieren (1401-1436). Thanks to Google, it became clear that she was not Jacoba!
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