Notes

Jacob Toorenvliet was baptized in Leiden on 1 July 1640. His parents were Abraham Toorenvliet (ca. 1610–92) and Maria Willemsdr van der Hulle (d. 1649). Jacob’s father was a drawing master and glass painter, and as of 1636 a member of the Glassmakers’ Guild, of which he was either headman or dean almost continuously between 1645 and 1687.

In 1649 he also became a member of the recently founded Guild of Saint Luke, giving his profession as “Constschilder” (“painter”) in two documents.¹ He was elected headman and dean of the Guild of Saint Luke, presumably for his administrative skills, as he does not seem to have been a particularly productive painter.² He did, however, enjoy a great reputation as a drawing master,³ a skill that benefitted not only his son, but also Frans van Mieris the Elder (1635–81), and Mathijs Naiveu (1647–1726).⁴ A year after Jacob’s mother died in 1649, his father married Geertruy Somers (d. before 1656), the widow of Jan Dou (1609–ca. 1647), a producer of church glass. Abraham and Jan’s brother, Gerrit Dou (1613–75), assumed guardianship of Jan’s surviving young son.⁵