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Nicolaes Maes (1634-1693)
Gisbertus Voetius (1589-1676). Canvas, 44 × 34 cm. Model for the painting in the Senate Chamber of Utrecht University.

Utrecht, Universiteitsmuseum (on loan to Rijksmuseum Het Catharijneconvent, Utrecht). Acquired about 1964.

For half a century, Gijsbert Voet, with the zeal of an ayatollah, protected the principles of ' the true Reformed Christian religion' against the influence of Catholicism, Anabaptism, Judaism, Remonstrantism, Cartesianism, Jansenism, Labadism and backsliding leaders of his own creed of Calvinism. He was an ecclesiastical politician, a minister, a dogmatician, and an academic, in that order. When the Utrecht school of higher education became a university in 1636, he was appointed professor of theology, a chair which he accepted with an inaugural address on 'joining piety with science.' Under his unwavering leadership, the Utrecht faculty of theology took over the lead from Leiden as the heartland of intransigent Calvinism.

However over-pronounced his stance, Voetius was not a caricature of a man. He was exceptionally intelligent and clearthinking, had a taste for music and a weakness for Anna Maria van Schuurman. Some traces of his impact on the outside world can be found in the entries above, on Schotanus and Coccejus, and below, on Anna Maria van Schuurman.

His portrait is by one of the best Dutch painters ever to paint an academic portrait, the Rembrandt pupil Nicolaes Maes.

Duker 1897-1915.