Van Der Hagen, Johann

Van Der Hagen, Johann , (variously, ‘Vander Egan’) (fl.1720–36), painter, was born in The Hague, where he studied art. He moved first to London and then to Ireland, where he worked in Dublin and other towns, particularly in the south of the country. While he is best known for his land- and sea-scapes, one of his earliest dated works (1720) is a small portrait on copper (now lost) of Turlough Carolan (qv), from which two early-nineteenth-century copies and engravings were made, one of which was published by Edward Bunting (qv) in 1840. Another portrait of Carolan, signed ‘V.H.’ and sold in 1913 to the Revd Francis Carolan (d. 1947) of Co. Meath, may also be by Van der Hagen. In 1728 he was employed by Robert Baillie, upholsterer to the government, to make views of six places to be represented in tapestries for the Irish house of lords. While it is not known how many of the scenes Van der Hagen executed, only two tapestries were completed; his painting, ‘Landing of King William III at Carrickfergus’, now in Curraghmore, Co. Waterford, may be a design for one. An altarpiece in St Patrick's, Waterford city, is by him, as is a ‘View of Waterford’ (1736), which hung in the town hall. Others of his paintings were in private collections, including those of Thomas Christmas of Whitefieldstown, Co. Waterford, Francis Johnston (qv), Thomas Berry, and Henry Brocas (qv). Besides the Carolan portrait, engravings were made of others of his paintings, such as ‘A view of Powerscourt waterfall’ (by John Brooks (qv) in 1745) and ‘A sea storm’ (by James Watson (qv)). Van der Hagen was probably resident in Dublin in 1730, as his sons John and Thomas were baptised in St Andrew's church, Suffolk St., on 22 May of that year. He is known to have painted scenery for a production in the Smock Alley theatre in 1733. His date of death is not certain: in a 1745 catalogue he is described as ‘the late Mr Vander Egan’ [sic], while elsewhere it is stated that he was ‘relieved by the Artists' Society in 1768 and died in Dublin soon after’.