Anna van Ewsum (1640 - 6 November 1714) was a rich Dutch noblewoman.

Biography

Anna van Ewsum was born in 1640 as the only child of Willem van Ewsum (1601 or 1608–1643) and Margaretha Beata von Freitag zu Gödens. Her mother was a descendant of a wealthy German family from the

County of East Frisia The County of East-Frisia ( Frisian: Greefskip Eastfryslân; Dutch: Graafschap Oost-Friesland) was a county (though ruled by a prince after 1662) in the region of East Frisia in the northwest of the present-day German state of Lower Saxony. Coun ...

. Her father was Lord of Nienoord, Vredewold and Noordwijk: upon his death in 1643, Anna van Ewsum became the Lady of the same. In 1645, her mother remarried to Rudolf Wilhelm zu Innhausen und Knyphausen (1620-1666), a diplomat of the

States General of the Netherlands The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The States ...

with whom she had three children. In 1657, Anna van Ewsum married Carl Hieronymus von Inn- und Knyphausen (1632-1664), the brother of her stepfather. He changed his name to the Dutch equivalent of his German name, Carel Hieronymus van Inn- en Kniphuisen. When he died, Anna ordered a sepulchral monument for her husband and herself from the sculptor

Rombout Verhulst Rombout Verhulst (15 January 1624 – buried 27 November 1698) was a Flemish sculptor and draughtsman who spent most of his career in the Dutch Republic. An independent assistant of the Flemish sculptor Artus Quellinus the Elder in the sculpt ...

, to be placed in the local church of Midwolde. In 1665 Anna remarried to Georg Wilhelm van Inn- en Kniphuisen (1635-1709), a nephew of her stepfather and her late husband. They had one son, Carel Ferdinand van Inn- en Kniphuisen (1669-1717), who after her death becomes Lord of Nienoord etc. In 1694

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

Georg Wilhelm was made Count by the Holy Roman Emperor. When he died in 1709, Anna ordered a sculpture by

Bartholomeus Eggers Bartholomeus Eggers (c. 1637Bartholomeus Eggers
at the

to be added to the monument. In 1714, Anna van Ewsum died in 1714 and is buried in the church together with her husbands.

Patroness of the arts

Anna van Ewsum is remembered as a patroness of the arts, who employed some of the best Dutch artists of the period.

Jan de Baen Jan de Baen (20 February 1633 – 1702) was a Dutch portrait painter who lived during the Dutch Golden Age. He was a pupil of the painter Jacob Adriaensz Backer in Amsterdam from 1645 to 1648. He worked for Charles II of England in his Dutch exil ...

painted portraits of her and her second husband, while

Herman Collenius Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minnes ...

was hired in 1679 to make 3 large panel paintings for the walls of the dance hall. The garden of the castle was enhanced with a sculpted gate and around 1700 with a monumental shell cave, the

Shell Grotto A shell grotto is a type of folly, a grotto decorated with sea shells. The shell grotto was a popular feature of many British country houses in the 17th and 18th centuries. It suited the Baroque and Rococo styles (which used swirling motifs sim ...

. Interieur, overzicht grafmonument Anna van Ewsum, van bovenaf gezien - Midwolde - 20358492 - RCE.jpg, Overview of the sepulchral monument of Anna van Ewsum, with her first husband lying down and her second husband standing to the left of her Interieur tuinkoepel, overzicht van de hoek linksachter, behandeld als schelpengrot - Leek - 20530006 - RCE.jpg, Detail of the Shell Grotto Coenders - Nienoord.png, Nienoord castle in 1678

Biography

Patroness of the arts

Notes

Further reading