Wendela de Graeff


Wendela de Graeff was a Dutch patrician and a member of the de Graeff family.

Biography

Wendela was the daughter of Amsterdam burgomaster Jacob Dircksz de Graeff and Aaltje Loen from the Boelens Loen family.
Wendela had a daughter, Margaretha Nooms, 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.
When she remarried Willem Schrijver in 1645, Wendela de Graeff lived on the Herengracht in Amsterdam. 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, Pieter, Anna, Jan and Wilhelmus Schrijver, married to Margaretha Six.
In 1655/56 Willem commissioned Rembrandt to paint Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph, which depicts his father Petrus, himself with his late wife Wendela 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 the silver shovel on a red background of their paternal ancestors, the Herren von Graben
  • field 2 it shows a silver falcon on a blue background. The origin of the falcon lies in the possession of the Valckeveen estate in Gooiland
  • field 3, same as field 2
  • field 4, same as field 1
  • helmet covers in red and silver
  • helm adornment shows an upright silver spade with ostrich feathers
  • motto: MORS SCEPTRA LIGONIBUS AEQUAT