Pieter van Ruijven had belonged to the Van Ruijvens, who had built up a large collection of paintings by Vermeer, three by Emanuel de Witte, four by Simon de Vlieger and one by Jan Porcellis. He is depicted as a predatory lecher in Tracy Chevalier's historical novel "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (1999), although there is absolutely no evidence of this. The 2003 film of the book also follows this characterization. Pieter van Ruijven Pieter Claesz. van Ruijven (Delft, 1624 – Delft, August 7, 1674) is best known as Johannes Vermeer's patron for the better part of the artist's career. Van Ruijven was
Cornelia van Nijenroode Cornelia van Nijenroode Cornelia van Nijenroode (Hirado, Japan, 1629 – Netherlands, c. 1692), was a Dutch merchant in the Dutch East Indies, famous for her conflict with her second husband. She is the subject of Leonard Blussé's "Bitter Bonds: A Colonial Divorce Drama of the Seventeenth Century". She was the daughter of Cornelis van Nijenroode (d. 1633), the manager of the Dutch trade station at Hirado, and his Japanese concubine Surishia. She was married in 1652 in Batavia to Pieter Cnoll (d. 1672), manager of trade in Batavia, and in 1676 in Batavia to Johan Bitter (1638–1714), councilor of the