Jacoba Bicker Explained

Jacoba Bicker (Amsterdam, January 2, 1640 - June 29, 1695) was from the Bicker family, which was one of the leading pro-state families in the Dutch Golden Age.

Biography

Jacoba Bicker was born as the daughter of Jan Bicker and his cousin Agneta de Graeff van Polsbroek, one of her sisters was Wendela Bicker, the wife of Grand pensionary Johan de Witt.^[1] She had many well-known and important relatives; Andries de Graeff and the brothers Andries and Cornelis Bicker were her uncle, and Johan and Cornelis de Witt were her cousins. The protagonists of the patriciate were closely related,^[2] and in 1663, at the age of 22, she married her other cousin Pieter de Graeff at Ilpenstein Castle. Grand pensionary De Witt was also present there and gave the wedding speech.^[3] The poets Jan Vos,^[4] Joost van den Vondel^[5] and Gerard Brandt,^[6] who were present, "sang about" this wedding.

The couple had three children:^[2]

• Agneta de Graeff (1663–1725) married Jan Baptiste de Hochepied II (1669–1709), deputy to the General Accounting Chamberlain. She owned the cityhouse "Korte Vijverberg 3" in The Hague, the current cabinet of the king and at her death she had a fortune of 867,000 guilders, of which she left 525,000 guilders to her cousin Gerard Bicker (II) van Swieten^[7]
• Cornelis de Graeff (1671–1719), Free Lord of Purmerland and Ilpendam, canon in the cathedral chapter of St. Pieter in Utrecht
• Johan de Graeff (1673–1714), Free Lord of Zuid-Polsbroek, Purmerland and Ilpendam, Amsterdam regent

In 1663 Jacoba Bicker was painted together with her husband Pieter by Caspar Netscher and alone by Jurriaen Ovens. Wallerant Vaillant painted her in 1674 and Emanuel de Witte together with Pieter and daughter Agneta de Graeff in 1678. When her sister Wendela died in 1668, her husband Pieter and her brother-in-law Jean Deutz were appointed guardians of their nephews and nieces and were responsible for handling the estate.^[8] In 1695 Jacoba Bicker was one of the 250 richest persons from the Dutch Golden Age and was assessed for a taxable capital of 491,811 guilders.^[7]

References

1. https://books.google.com/books?id=8Lc5AAAAcAAJ&q=Jacoba+Bicker+de+Graeff Biography Pieter de Graeff at "Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden", volume 7, byA. J. van der Aa
2. http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/molh003nieu02_01/molh003nieu02_01_1046.php Pieter de Graeffs Biography at digitale bibliothek voor de nederlandse letteren, part II (dutch)
3. https://books.google.com/books?id=gpeU029OwOcC&q=Jacoba+Bicker+de+Graeff Het Huis te Ilpendam en deszelfs voornaamste bezitters, p 33 / 34, by Gerrit van Enst Koning
4. http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/vos_002alle01_01/vos_002alle01_01_0338.htm#378 Jan Vos’ Vers Huwelyk van den Eed. Heer Pieter de Graaf, Iongheer van Zuidt-Polsbroek, En Mejuffer Jakoba Bikker
5. Web site: Joost van den Vondel, De werken van Vondel: Ter bruiloft van den weledelen heer Peter de Graef, Jongkheer van Zuitpolsbroek en de weledele mejoffer Jakoba Bikker, Deel 9. 1660-1663 · dbnl. dbnl.org.
6. http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_gid001183701_01/_gid001183701_01_0064.htm Pieter de Graeff at Het Huis te Ilpendam en deszelfs voornaamste Bezitters, p 327
7. https://books.google.com/books?id=iCUGEAAAQBAJ&q=Pieter+de+graeff+1.000.000+Gulden De 500 Rijksten van de Republiek: Rijkdom, geloof, macht en cultuur, von Kees Zandvliet (see #16, Johan de Graeff)
8. https://johandewitt.nl/?p=1165 www.johandewitt.nl "De verkoop van een aantal van Wendela’s juwelen door Jacoba Bicker", Gepubliceerd op 24 oktober 2020 door Saskia Kuus