Maria was a scion of the Overlander van Purmerland family and the daughter of the Amsterdam burgomaster, landlord and shipowner Volkert Overlander and Geertruid Jansdr Hooft (1578-1636),[2] daughter of Jan Pietersz Hooft (1543-1602) and Geertruid Lons. Her relatives included the Amsterdam burgomaster Cornelis Hooft, her great-uncle, and his son Pieter Cornelisz Hooft, who was an important poet and writer. The Overlander and Hooft families belonged to the Amsterdam patrician class. Maria's father was knighted by James I of England in 1620 at the mediation of his brother-in-law Pieter Jansz Hooft,[3] but it is not certain whether the title also referred to his children. Maria Overlander herself had nine siblings; her younger sister Geertruid Overlander van Purmerland (1609–1634) was married to Cornelis de Graeff.[3][4]
Coat of arms of her father Volkert Overlander
Coat of arms of her husband Frans Banninck Cocq
At the age of 27 Maria Overlander married Frans Banning Cocq,[5] who should go down in art history through his depiction as the captain of Rembrandts painting The Night Watch. The wedding portrait of Overlander - Banninck Cocq painted by Wybrand de Geest is in the Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof in Delft.[6] The couple had no children, lived at the house De Dolphijn and resided at their castle Ilpenstein. Jan Vos wrote a poem to Maria.[7] After the death of her mother Geertruid Jansdr Hooft in 1636, she and her husband inherited the Free and high Fief Purmerland and Ilpendam.[8] After her husband's death in 1655, she became the sole owner. In 1674 Maria Overlander had a fortune of 200,000 guilders and was one of the richest people of the Dutch Golden Age.[9] Since Maria Overlander had no own children, her inheritance went in equal parts in 1678 to her cousin Catharina Hooft[10] (daughter of her paternal aunt Geertruid Overlander; 1577–1653) and Catharinas younger son Jacob de Graeff, and after his childless death in 1690/91 to his older brother Pieter de Graeff.[11] Her tomb chapel is located in the Oude Kerk.
