Jan Veth's paintings of Jacobus Kapteyn

TL;DR

This paper examines the history and provenance of two portraits of astronomer Jacobus Kapteyn by Jan Pieter Veth, revealing new evidence about their origins and dispelling the existence of a supposed third portrait.

Contribution

It provides new historical evidence and clarifies the sequence of events regarding Veth's portraits of Kapteyn, correcting previous assumptions about a third painting.

Findings

Confirmed the existence of only two portraits of Kapteyn by Veth.

Supported Blaauw's sequence of events with new documentary evidence.

Disproved the existence of a third portrait of Kapteyn by Veth.

Abstract

Jacobus C. Kapteyn is regarded as one of the coryfees of the University of Groningen. Part of his legacy is two paintings of him by Dutch painter Jan Pieter Veth. One, showing him at his desk, decorates the Kapteyn Room in the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, and the other one, displaying him in academic attire, is in the University's gallery of professors in the central Academy Building. The first was offered to the Kapteyns on the occasion of his 40-th anniversary as professor in 1918 and the second to the University after his retirement in 1921. It has been suggested that there must have been a third portrait that now is lost. Former director Adriaan Blaauw has proposed that the one in the Academy Building actually was first offered in 1918, but at Mrs. Kapteyn's request replaced by the one now in the Kapteyn Room. The first version was then later adapted to the requirements of the gallery of professors by Veth himself by overpainting it with academic attire. A preliminary trial version by Veth, in the possession of Kapteyn's greatgrandson, shows what it would have looked like before the adaption. The following reports on new evidence: the biography of Jan Veth that historian Johan Huizinga, friend of Veth, wrote, and letters Veth wrote to his wife while he was working on these paintings. This provides strong support of Blaauw's sequence of events with a few modifications. No third painting has ever been produced.