Wendela de Graeff (also known as Wijntje de Graeff; September 22, 1607 – February 27, 1652) was a Dutch patrician and a member of the influential de Graeff family of Amsterdam regents during the Dutch Golden Age.
Biography
Wendela de Graeff was born in Amsterdam as the daughter of Jacob Dircksz de Graeff, an Amsterdam burgomaster, and Aaltje Loen of the Boelens Loen family.
She had a daughter, Margaretha Nooms (1632–1650), from a premarital relationship with Willem Nooms, Lord of Aarlanderveen, whom she acknowledged as her legitimate child.
Wendela first married Pieter van Papenbroeck in 1634; he died on April 17, 1642. After his death, she inherited a fortune of 439,000 guilders. In 1645, she married Willem Schrijver, the son of the prominent Dutch scholar Petrus Scriverius. She lived on the Herengracht in Amsterdam. Six children were born from both marriages, including Jacobus Martinus and Aaltje van Papenbroeck, and Jan and Wilhelmus Schrijver.
In 1655/56, her husband Willem commissioned Rembrandt to paint Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph, which depicts his father Petrus, himself (as Joseph), his late wife Wendela (as Asenath), 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 served as the family grave of the de Graeff family. After her death, Willem Schrijver and the Van Papenbroeck family disputed her inheritance. When Willem died in 1661, Wendela's brother Andries de Graeff took over his position. Most of the fortune passed to the Van Papenbroeck family after an appeals process, though the Rembrandt painting became the property of the de Graeff family.
Coat of arms
Wendela de Graeff's coat of arms of origin was quartered and featured the silver shovel on a red background (representing her paternal ancestors, the Herren von Graben), a silver falcon on a blue background (linked to the Valckeveen/Valckenburg estate in Gooiland), and the motto MORS SCEPTRA LIGONIBUS AEQUAT ("DEATH MAKES SCEPTRES AND HOES EQUAL").
Sources: Wikipedia (English and Dutch), along with various genealogical and biographical references.
