Mevrouw van Aerden, née Maria Ponderus (January 27, 1672 – April 20, 1764), was an 18th-century art collector and

hofje {{inline refs needed, date=May 2012 A hofje (diminutive of 'hof', 'court') is a Dutch word for a courtyard with almshouses around it. Hofjes have existed since the Middle Ages. A hofje provided housing for elderly people (mostly women). T ...

founder from the Northern Netherlands.

Biography

She was born in

Monster, South Holland Monster is a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Westland, and lies about south-west of The Hague. The village of Monster has a population of around 11,580.Statistics Netherlands (CBS)''Statline: Kern ...

as the daughter of a surgeon and Latin school director. She married the wealthy notary Pieter van Aerden in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

in 1692.Maria Ponderus
in the

1001 Vrouwen uit de Nederlandse geschiedenis ''1001 Vrouwen uit de Nederlandse geschiedenis'' is a compilation of 1001 biographies of famous women of the Netherlands spanning roughly 1700 years. Project The book is the result of a research project called the Digital Women's lexicon of the N ...

After he died in 1719, Maria inherited his wealth, his art collection, which she kept, and his "shell cabinet", which she sold the same year. Maria lived to a great age, outliving her three children and decided to found a

in perpetuity for her poor female relatives of The Hague rather than distributing the estate in equal shares. She had purchased some land for this purpose north of the Maliebaan, but by the time she died however, most of her poorer relatives were no longer living in the Hague, but were located in

Leerdam Leerdam () is a city and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. The municipality was merged with the municipalities of Vianen and Zederik on 1 January 2019. The name of the new municipality is Vijfheerenlande ...

and upon her passing, the regents she had chosen to execute her wishes decided to build the hofje in

. Women who could prove their relation to her were welcome to live there and received an allowance and were given turf blocks (a form of fuel like coal). The hofje still exists and is called

Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden The Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden is a museum and former hofje in Leerdam, Netherlands, on the Kerkstraat (numbers 57 and 89). It was built during the years 1770-1772 on the former location of the "Kasteel van Leerdam", a castle that was destroye ...

. Like her contemporaries

Aleida Greve Aleida Greve (1670–1742) was an 18th-century painter from the Northern Netherlands known for founding the Vrouwenhuis, Zwolle. Biography She was born in Zwolle as the daughter of the largest beer brewer in Zwolle, Geurt Greve (1634-ca.16 ...

and Maria Duyst van Renswoude, Maria Ponderus made many stipulations in her will to preserve her property in perpetuity. The regent's room still has the entire art collection left to her by her husband and is interesting as an example of 18th-century tastes in art. Maria van Aerden-Ponderus died in her home in the Hague and was buried in her family grave at

's-Gravenzande s-Gravenzande is a town in the province of South Holland, in the Netherlands. It is a part of the municipality of Westland, and lies about southwest of The Hague. Until 2004 it was a separate municipality and covered an area of 20.77 km2 (of ...

References

1672 births 1764 deaths Art collectors from The Hague People from Monster History of The Hague Hofje founders {{Netherlands-bio-stub