Editing Abel Tasman (section)

===Portraits and depictions===
[[File:Portrait of Abel Tasman, his wife and daughter (adjusted).jpg|thumb|right|Portrait of disputed provenance held by the National Library of Australia, purported to depict Tasman and his family ]]
A drawing titled ''Abel Janssen Tasman, Navigateur en Australie'' is held by the [[State Library of New South Wales]] as part of "a portfolio of 26 ink drawings of 16th and 17th century Dutch admirals, navigators and governor-generals of the VOC".{{sfn|Mack|2019|p=47}} The portfolio was acquired at an art auction in [[The Hague]] in 1862.{{sfn|Mack|2019|p=48}} However, it is unclear if the drawing is of Tasman and its original source is unknown, although it has been said to resemble the work of Dutch engraver [[Jacobus Houbraken]].{{sfn|Mack|2019|p=49}} The drawing has been assessed as having the "most reliable provenance" of any depiction of Tasman with "no strong reason to doubt that the drawing is not genuine".{{sfn|Mack|2019|p=61}}

In 1948, the [[National Library of Australia]] acquired from [[Rex Nan Kivell]] a portrait purporting to depict Tasman with his wife and stepdaughter, which was attributed to [[Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp]] and dated to 1637.{{sfn|Mack|2019|p=58}} In 2018 the painting was exhibited by the [[Groninger Museum]] in the Netherlands which identified it as "the only known portrait of the explorer".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.groningermuseum.nl/en/art/exhibitions/portrait-abel-tasman-comes-home-groningen|title=Portrait of Abel Tasman in Groningen|publisher=Groninger Museum|access-date=1 August 2024}}</ref> However, the [[Netherlands Institute for Art History]] has instead attributed the painting to [[Dirck van Santvoort]] and concluded that the painting does not depict Tasman and his family.{{sfn|Mack|2019|p=61}}

The [[provenance]] provided from Nan Kivell for the family portrait has been unable to be verified. Nan Kivell claimed that the portrait was passed down through the Springer family – relatives of Tasman's widow – and was sold at [[Christie's]] in 1877. However, Christie's records indicate that the portrait was not owned by the Springer family or associated with Tasman, and was instead sold as "Portrait of an astronomer" by "[[Anthonie Palamedesz.|Anthonie Palamedes]]" [sic].{{sfn|Mack|2019|p=58}} Nan Kivell additionally claimed that the portrait was sold at Christie's a second time in 1941, however no records exist to support this. A survey of portraits of Tasman published in 2019 concluded that the provenance was "either invented by Rex Nan Kivell or by the unnamed art dealer who sold it to Rex Nan Kivell", and that the painting "should therefore not be considered a portrait of Abel Tasman's family".{{sfn|Mack|2019|pp=59–60}}

Outside of the Nan Kivell painting, another purported portrait of Tasman was "discovered" in 1893 and eventually acquired by the Tasmanian government in 1976 for the [[Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery]] (TMAG).{{sfn|Mack|2019|pp=53–55}} The painting is unsigned and was attributed to [[Bartholomeus van der Helst]] at the time of its discovery, but this attribution was disputed by Dutch art historian [[Cornelis Hofstede de Groot]] and Alec Martin of Christie's. In 1985, TMAG curator Dan Gregg stated that "the painter of the life-sized portrait is unknown [...] there is some uncertainty as to whether the portrait is really of Tasman".{{sfn|Mack|2019|p=56}}