D. Jan De Bruijn (1794-1862)

Portrait of Henri Leyssius - 1859

D. Jan De Bruijn was a Dutch painter of portraits and genre scenes. He was born in Amsterdam on 31 August 1794 and died in Amersfoort, near Utrecht, on 11 November 1862. He had his studio in Antwerp.

Henri Jean Louis Leyssius was born in Utrecht on 13 December 1819 and died in Brussels on 27 May 1887. He was a financial controller for the Javanese government from 1838, administrator of the Parakantroes company in Krawang, the Temoeloes in Surakarta, and finally was the founder and chief administrator of the Deli-Batavia tobacco company. He married his first wife, Johanna Frederika Abrahama Botter, in Poerwakarta (Java) in 1843, who died while on a voyage to the Netherlands. They had 9 children. He remarried Joséphine Caroline Sophie Marguerite Gertrude Olijve, from Batavia five years later, in 1853. His father, Pieter Frederik Leyssius (1793-1846), was a municipal government official in Utrecht, elevated to the Dutch nobility by Royal Decree of 10 February 1842, whereby the title was passed down to his descendants.

The Deli-Batavia company he founded in 1875 was considered one of the four major tobacco producing companies of Sumatra dominating the region in the late 19th century. Its first estate was Gedong Djohore in Deli. The company quickly expanded to other plantations, such as Timbang Langkat in 1876, Tandem in 1880, Petani in 1882 and Tandem Hilir in 1883. The Amsterdam head office was located at Herengracht 286-290, building now housing the University of Amsterdam’s Institute of Art History and the Library of Art History.

Note: This portrait is part of a pair with that of her wife Johanna Botter, painted in 1856 by Jan Daniel Beynon (1830-1877).

Sources: Stadsarchief Amsterdam; Nederlands Archief.

Artist: D. Jan De Bruijn (1794-1862).
Signed and dated 1859 on the lower right.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Condition: Very good. Recently relined and professionally restored.
Dimensions: 72,5 x 59.5 cm. / 28 ½ x 23 ½ in.
Frame: 80 x 67.5 cm. / 31 ½ x 26 ½ in. Contemporary, classic style giltwood frame. Excellent condition.
Provenance: France.