Jacob Nienhuys

Jacobus Nienhuys was the first Dutch tobacco planter in the former Dutch East Indies. He returned to the Netherlands after he was indicted over the death of 7 plantation workers. Back in the Netherlands, Nienhuys commissioned the Amsterdam city castle Herengracht 380-382 by the architect Abraham Salm. NIOD, the Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, now uses the building. Nienhuys held a private art collection in Aerdenhout (Bloemendaal). He was advised by art historian Frits Lugt. Some of his artworks, Nienhuys purchased from the renowned Amsterdam based Kunsthandel Van Wisselingh & Co.

He is mentioned in the provenance of the painting “Portrait of a woman” by Gabriel Metsu. The painting was sold by Adolphe Schloss before 1910. Jacobus or his son Jacobus ‘Jaap’ Nienhuys Junior (1804-1968) acquired the painting.