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Maria Thins

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Maria Thins

Maria Thins (c. 1593 – 27 December 1680) was the mother-in-law of Johannes Vermeer and a member of the Gouda Thins family. She was raised in a devout Dutch Catholic family with two sisters and a brother. Outliving her parents and siblings, she received inheritances over the years, making her a wealthy woman. She married a prosperous brickmaker, Reynier Bolnes, in 1622. They had three children together, Catharina, Willem, and Cornelia. By 1635, Bolnes verbally and physically abused his wife and daughters. Thins moved to Delft with her daughters. Her son Willem stayed with his father. Thins was a wealthy woman due to the separation settlement of her husband in 1649 and the estates she inherited from her family.

Her daughter Catharina married Johannes Vermeer, an artist, art dealer, and operator of the family's inn in Delft. Vermeer and Catharina lived at Thins house by 1660. The couple had fifteen children, four of whom died in infancy. Raising nearly a dozen children strained Vermeer financially. He relied on the support from his mother-in-law. During the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1674), Vermeer became impoverished. Thins reduced the money she provided to Catharina and her husband due to the loss of income during that period. Vermeer died in 1675, and Thins died five years later. Catharina was the only one of Thins' children to survive her. Thins drew up her will to maximize what she could provide for her grandchildren and their education, while limiting how much might be taken by Catharina's creditors. Catharina died in 1687.

Maria was born c. 1593 in Gouda to a prominent Dutch Catholic family, Catharina van Hensbeeck (d. 1633) and William Thin (d. 1601). They lived in the house named De Trapjes (The Little Steps) in Gouda. Maria had three siblings, none of whom were married. Her sister Elisabeth became a nun. She also had a sister Cornelia and a brother Jan. Since none of her siblings married, Thins ultimately inherited a large estate. The family conducted mass in their home, while at the time it was illegal for a group of Roman Catholics to assemble in Gouda. The local sheriffs broke up a religious meeting at their house in 1619.

Garrit Camerling (d. 1627) of Delft became her stepfather in 1605 when he married Catharina van Hensbeeck. She was related to Abraham Bloemaert (1566–1651) through her cousin Jan Geensz Thins. Before her marriage, Thins lived in Delft with a prosperous young woman who was her friend.

In 1622, Maria Thins married Reynier Bolnes (ca. 1593–1676), a prominent and prosperous brickmaker. Thins was an heiress when she married, and she collected art, including several in the style of Utrecht Caravaggists.

Thins had three children, the youngest of whom was Catharina Bolnes (c. 1631–1688), nicknamed Trijntge. She also had a son Willem, and a daughter Cornelia. Around 1635, Reynier became verbally and physically abusive with her and her children. At the age of nine, Catharina ran to neighbors because she thought that Reynier's abuse of Cornelia could kill her. Reynier confessed that he physically abused Cornelia and would do it again if Thins beat their son Willem. Reynier and Willem began eating separately from the female members of the family, and the father encouraged his son to be abusive and noncompliant with Thins.

Thins moved to Delft in 1642 to get away from her abusive husband. Jan Geensz Thins, who was her guardian and cousin, purchased a home for her there the prior year. Jan became Thin's guardian following the early death of her father. Thins attained custody of her daughters in 1641 and moved with them to Delft. William stayed with his father, whose business began to fail. Thins lived on Oude Langendijk next to the Jesuit Catholic Church in the Catholic section of Delft called paepenhoek (the Papists' Corner).

Thins received half of her husband's assets, a substantial amount, in 1649. By 1653, Reynier Bolnes was bankrupt. Thins derived income from annuities, interest income, and property rentals, including farmland. She also lived off of the capital of her investments. Thins and her sister Cornelia Thins (d. 1661) received a sizeable inheritance from their brother Jan Willemsz Thins following his death in 1651. Thins attained a comfortable standard of living of 15,000 or more guilders a year in the 1660s.

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