WITTENHORST (Willem Vincent van), overl. 4 April 1674, begraven te Horst, zoon van Jan en van Elisabeth van Schagen, was heer van Besoyen, Dronghelen, Gansoyen enz., woonde aanvankelijk te Utrecht nog in 1656, kocht 8 Maart 1660 de halve heerlijkheid Horst van Arnold Wolfgang graaf Huyn van Geleen; werd 28 Sept. 1660, wegens het riddermatig goed ter Horst waarmede hij 7 Mei 1660 beleend was, als lid der ridderschap toegelaten; hij huwde in 1646 Wilhelmina van Bronckhorst; dochter van Nicolaas en van Josina van Amstel van Mijnden, welke 25 Mei 1669 kinderloos te Horst overleed; in 1670 hertrouwde hij met zijn nicht Catharina Cecilia van Bocholtz tot Grevenbroeck, overl. 19 Febr. 1724, dochter van Jan Willem en van Anna, baronnes van Hoensbroek.
Uit het tweede huwelijk o.a.: Anna Maria Alexandrina Theresia (geb. te Horst 2 Aug. 1672, overl. te Horst 15 Aug. 1738), werd 16 Nov. 1716 met de halve heerlijkheid Horst enz. beleend, huwde te Horst 20 Oct. 1714 An-Antoon Udalric graaf van Fresin (overl. 20 Nov. 1724, begr. te Horst 22 Nov.); Johan Willem (geb. te Horst 19 Oct. 1673, overl. te 's Hertogenbosch 16 Sept. 1715, begr. te Horst 19 Sept. 1715), werd minderjarig 22 Sept. 1674 met de halve heerlijkheid Horst beleend, vernieuwde meerderjarig den eed 21 Juni 1710, werd 1695 wegens het huis de Donck te Sevenum tot de ridderschap toegelaten, hij was in hollandschen dienst getreden, werd majoor in het regiment te paard van generaal-majoor graaf van Athlone en kreeg 4 Juni 1705 een commissie als kolonel bij bedoeld regiment: hij stierf als brigadier der cavalerie.
Zijn portret is gegraveerd door Th. Matham naar B. von der Helst.
Zie: Adolf Steffens, Geschiedenis der aloude heerlijkheid en der heeren van ter Horst in het land van Kessel, 84-93; Limburg's Jaarboek (1925), 142-149.
Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek (NNBW)
805 Vonnis van het buitengewoon adellijk gerecht gehouden te Bommel in de zaak tussen Gerard de Wael van Vronesteyn en Cecilia Catharina van Boeckholt, weduwe van Willem Vincent van Wittenhorst, over de Eldense tienden, 1675, met als bijlagen testamenten van Willem Vincent van Wittenhorst en zijn eerste echtgenote Wilhelmina van Bronckhorst, 1660 en 1665, en procesverbaal van de opening van testamenten, codicillen en andere stukken betreffende hun goederenbezit door schout, schepenen en secretaris van Horst, 1669, authentieke afschriften, 1669. [1660-1675] 2 katernen en 1 stuk. NA: Inventaris van het archief van de Familie Heereman van Zuydtwijck, 1360-1880
The Catholic Baron Willem Vincent van Wyttenhorst (I6I3-I674) from Utrecht was an enthusiastic collector of paintings. In his translation of Guarini's Il Pastor Fido, Hendrick Bloemaert even lauded Willem Vincent's 'Lofweerdigh cabinet' (commendable cabinet) of paintings. The inventory Wyttenhorst made of his collection between I65I and I659 affords insight into various aspects of the seventeenth-century art trade. Not only did he record the subject and maker of around I95 paintings, but also the price and often how he had acquired them. Part of the collection - in particular the finely painted works by Cornelis van Poelenburgh and Herman Saftleven - were auctioned in I722. Of Willem Vincent van Wyttenhorst's collection approximately 75 paintings can be traced to Herdringen Castle of the Von Fürstenberg family and several museums, making it possible to establish the relationship between the dimensions and the quality of execution, and the price they commanded in the seventeenth century. Willem Vincent acquired the greatest number of his paintings between I630 and I659, the majority of which were by contemporary masters, some of whom he knew personally. His collection also included several important sixteenth-century pictures by artists such as Cornelis Engebrechtszn, Jan van Scorel and Maerten van Heemskerck, which had come into his possession via his family or via that of his wife Wilhelmina van Bronckhorst. On the one hand, the Wyttenhorst collection is comparable to those of other aristocratic collectors and, on the other hand, to those of well-to-do connoisseurs such as Franciscus de la Boe Sylvius and Hendrick Bugge van Ring of Leiden. Its aristocratic character is evidenced by the prominent place occupied by family portraits: he owned a total of 4I likenesses, 29 of which were made for him and his wife. In I650 Bartholomeus van der Helst needed six weeks to portray Willem Vincent and his wife Wilhelmina van Bronckhorst for the amount of 330 guilders. Wyttenhorst appears to have preferred highly refined small paintings. Not a single genre was overlooked in the collection. Taking pride of place were approximately 90 pastoral scenes and Arcadian landscapes, which added to the collection's aristocratic aura. Furthermore, in keeping with his Catholic background, Willem Vincent had relatively many (25) paintings with religious subjects and devotional works. Striking is also the group of about 20 genre scenes with primarily peasant themes. The II flower and fruit still lifes listed in the inventory were purchased by Wilhelmina van Bronckhorst between I640 and I642 during her first marriage. Regrettably, the inventory only rarely indicates where the pictures hung. On the basis of the scant information, however, it emerges that Wilhelmina van Bronckhorst's cabinet was richly adorned with a variety of paintings. This cabinet also served as the 'Ahnengalerie' (gallery of forefathers) for the I9 family portraits by Cornelis van Poelenburgh. The exceptional status of the Wyttenhorst collection is reflected by the proportionally very modest number of eight anonymous paintings. Moreover, Willem Vincent describes ten copies, most of which he commissioned. The majority of painters mentioned by Wyttenhorst were active in Utrecht, while the overwhelming majority of non-Utrecht masters were active in Haarlem. Wyttenhorst owned about 90 paintings by Utrecht Italianates and related painters such as Poelenburgh, De Heus, Both, Berchem and Saftleven. He maintained intensive contact with Cornelis van Poelenburgh and Herman Saftleven, by whom he owned 57 and I8 paintings respectively. Among the Haarlem artists represented by a few works in his collection were Pieter de Molijn, Adriaen van Ostade and Wouwerman. Interestingly, the vast majority of the painters Wyttenhorst mentioned in his inventory are still known or even famous. The collection also comprised several collaborative efforts, such as Il Contento by Nicolaes Knüpfer, Jan Baptist Weenix and Jan Both. It is notable that Wyttenhorst regularly acquired work by young painters who had just barely begun; a good example is the painting he purchased in I638 from the then at most I8-year-old Nicolaes Berchem. A number of paintings were given to Willem Vincent by relatives and acquaintances. Some works entered his collection through exchange, for example via the Hague collector d'Arminvillers. He also bought the occasional painting from a private individual. In the case of 85 paintings, Wyttenhorst noted that he had bought them directly from a master. He also purchased from art dealers, in particular works by non-Northern Netherlandish painters via Dirck Matham. These were usually small, modestly priced paintings. In a few instances he acquired a painting at an auction, from an estate, at a market, kermis or from a pedlar. Incidentally, he acknowledged that the latter works were not highpoints in his collection. Source: Oud Holland, Volume 117, Numbers 3-4, 2004 , pp. 232-242(11)