Wendela de Graeff



Wendela de Graeff, also called Wijntje de Graeff (Amsterdam, September 22, 1607 - there, February 27, 1652, ibid in childbirth) was a patrician of the Dutch Golden Age.

Biography
Wendela was a daughter of Amsterdam burgomaster Jacob Dircksz de Graeff of the De Graeff family and Aaltje Boelens Loen of the Boelens Loen family. Wendela has a daughter, Margaretha Nooms (1632 - 1650), from a premarital relationship with Willem Nooms, lord of Aarlanderveen, whom Margaretha recognizes as her natural daughter. Her baptismal record has not been found and Margaretha will undoubtedly have been baptized a Roman Catholic; in the faith of her father. The parents never got married, probably due to opposition from Wendela's family. Financial arrangements had been made for Margaretha Nooms, but the child no longer benefited from it, because it appears to have died before January 21, 1650.



Wendela's first marriage in 1634 was to Pieter van Papenbroeck († 17 April 1642); after his death she inherited a fortune of 439,000 guilders. In 1645 she married Willem Schrijver, son of the philologist Petrus Scriverius and Anna van der Aarund. When she remarried Willem Schrijver in 1645, Wendela de Graeff lived on the Herengracht. There her mother-in-law Elisabeth Jacobsdr Pancras, widow of Marten van Papenbroeck, had bought two adjacent houses and yards in 1644 for 38,000 guilders: the present numbers 210 and 212, close to burgomaster Cornelis de Graeff, who lived in no. 216. Six children were born from both marriages: Jacobus Martinus and Aaltje van Papenbroeck (married Gerard Bicker (I) van Swieten), Pieter (died at a young age), Anna (died at a young age), Jan and Wilhelmus Schrijver (1651-1673), married to Margaretha Six (1653-1704).

In 1655/56 Willem commissioned Rembrandt the painting Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph, which depicts his father Petrus, himself (as Joseph) with his wife Wendela (as Asnath) and their two sons from her first and second marriage as biblical characters. Wendela de Graeff-Schrijver died in 1652 and is buried in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, in the Sint Cornelis choir, which was the family grave of the De Graeff family. After Wendela's death, Willem Schrijver and the Van Papenbroeck family fought for this inheritance. When Willem died in 1661, Wendela's brother Andries de Graeff took over his position. Most of the fortune went but after the appeals process to the Van Papenbroeck. However, the painting from Rembrandt became the property of De Graeff.

Coat of arms


Wendela de Graeff's coat of arms of origin was quartered and showed the following symbols:
 * field 1 (left above) the silver shovel on a red background of their paternal ancestors, the Herren von Graben
 * field 2 (right above) it shows a silver falcon on a blue background. The origin of the falcon lies in the possession of the Valckeveen estate (later the Valckenburg estate) in Gooiland
 * field 3 (left below), same as field 2
 * field 4 (right below), same as field 1
 * helmet covers in red and silver
 * helm adornment shows an upright silver spade with ostrich feathers (Herren von Graben)
 * motto: MORS SCEPTRA LIGONIBUS AEQUAT (DEATH MAKES SEPTRES AND HOES EQUAL)