Recent Acquisitions

BOOK ILLUSTRATION. The Truthful Lens (1980) by Lucien Goldschmidt and Weston J. Naef is a reference work describing books, chiefly of the nineteenth century, illustrated with original photographs. It is based on an ex­ hibition held at the Grolier Club in 1974. Our copy of this pioneer­ ing work, one of 1,000 copies, has been presented by the Staff Asso­ ciation of The University of Iowa Libraries in memory of Anne Evans.

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• j a n d e h o n d , b i a n c a m . d u m o r t i e r , a l i e d o t t e va n g e r , j e n n y r e y n a e r t s , f r i t s s c h o l t e n , l u c i n d a t i m m e r m a n s , j e r o e n va n d e r v l i e t • This ivory crucified Christ is shown here alive -eyelids drooping, mouth open, tongue and upper teeth visible -his face raised as he appeals to his father in heaven (Matthew 27:46). The wound in his side inflicted by Longinus, which would lead to his death, is not in evidence (John 19:34). Here, dramatic moment though this is, Christ is not portrayed in violent death throes, but with a certain elegance and tranquillity. The style characteristics we see in this ivory -the slanting eyebrows and the full, thick locks of hair that appear to sit loosely on Christ's head like a kind of wig -are typical of work by the South German sculptor Leonhard Kern in the 1615-25 period. In those early years, the sculptor was still seeking a definitive style and was not afraid to experiment. A passage in a letter Kern wrote to one of his patrons, Count Ludwig-Eberhard von Oettingen-Oettingen in 1626, in which he describes how he recently bound a fine, well-proportioned live model to a cross and then modelled him to create an ivory crucifix around thirty-five centimetres high, illustrates the lengths to which he went: 'Sonsten hab ich neulich ein Cruzifix Model nach einem schönen wollgestalten lebendigen Man gebosiret, den ich auffgehenkt an ein Creutz gebunden und nach solchem Model ein Cruzifix von helffenbein 16 Zol gross gemacht' (Gradmann 1917, p. 200).
Although Kern's oeuvre nowadays contains something over thirty works in ivory, wood and alabaster that are regarded as being by his hand, his output and that of his workshop must have been considerably higher -certainly if we are to go by the high work rate we know of from documen tary sources. These works brought him a great reputation: in 1675 Leonhard Kern was still being lauded as the most famous German artist by Joachim von Sandrart, 'die berühmtiste teutsche Künstlere' (Von Sandrart 1675, vol. 2, book 3, p. 343 The sensitively modelled terracotta was a modello for the marble portrait on Sweers's tomb in Amsterdam (Oude Kerk), which Verhulst made in 1674. Given the shape and ornamentation, it is clear that the pedestal was created especially for the bust around 1700, undoubtedly commissioned by Jacob van Wassenaer. It is unusually elaborate, decorated with plundered flags, canons and other weaponry on both sides and a cartouche of a naval battle on the front. Originally it was painted and gilded. The pedestal with the bust in its entirety are like a small memorial to the admiral who perished at the Battle of the Texel in 1673, similar to tomb monuments for other naval heroes and their painted portraits in ornately carved frames.
Jacob van Wassenaer knew Rombout Verhulst through his wife's parents, Baron Willem van Liere and Maria van Reygersbergh, Lord and Lady of Katwijk, whose magnificent tomb in the church of Katwijk-Binnen was made by the sculptor in 1663. A small web of the sculptor's clients was spun around the Van Reygersbergh family, stretching from The Hague to Groningen (Midwolde), North Holland (Spanbroek) and Zeeland (Aagtekerke). The key figure in this network was Maria's brother, Jacob van Reygersbergh (1625-1675). The Rijksmuseum also holds Verhulst's terracotta portraits of him, his sister and his brother-inlaw (inv. nos. bk-nm-10557; bk-nm-11957-a, b). fs liter ature: M. van Notten, Rombout Verhulst, beeldhouwer (1624-1698 In 1677 the Amsterdam bookseller and publisher Hieronymus Sweerts published his satirical guide for future husbands, De Tien Vermalikheden des Houwelyks (The Ten Pleasures of Marriage), under the pen name 'Hippolytus de Vrye, Weduwnaar', styling himself as a widower. In the Sixth Pleasure he went into great detail about the preparations and requirements for the arrival of a baby. A basic layette (luiermand) was required, as it is today, but the better-off woman also set great store by new curtains, a quilted bed jacket, a cover, and even silver dishes ('Nieuwe Gordijnen, een gewatteerd Bed-of Kraam-jakje, een Doopluier, ja, Zilveren Schalen'). Nine days after the birth saw the start of the lying-in or confinement period, which lasted six weeks, during which the mother would welcome visitors who came to see the new arrival. At the end of this period there was the Kindermaal, when the midwife, family, friends and the godparents were invited to celebrate the baptism and the 'churching' of the new mother. The baby was dressed in fine, new clothes and wrapped in the cover, which was the subject of particular attention. Sweerts describes how previous babies' covers were scrutinized with a jealous eye, and husbands were frequently asked to ensure that the fabric and trimmings -the embroidery, lace and the like -were even more lavish than earlier ones. The primary function, of course, was to protect the infant from the cold outside, so these covers often had a thick, insulating layer of batting or wadding. This cover is rectangular, folded inwards from both sides and secured with a ribbon that protrudes through two openings in the front and can be tied. This example is made of a woven silk material in a satin weave with a shiny finish. It is embroidered with scattered flowers done in backstitch in the same colour as the fabric. These motifs were embroidered individually, so they differ in small details. This stitching or quilting was applied through the outer layer and woven wool batting, not through the plain lining. The lining was blind hemmed. Unfortunately, the original ribbon is missing.
The first churching of mother and child was regarded as so important and so much effort was invested in it, it is not surprising that this precious doopluier was kept as a memento. In the seventeenth century, objects with ceremonial significance, like brides' gloves or grooms' shirts, were usually stored away immediately after use to be passed on later. Given the perfect condition of this At a time when the heating of rooms was still dependent on open fires and the temperature was not consistent in every room, it was of great importance to protect a new-born child from the cold. This is why the cot and the bakermat were placed close to the fire, as we see in countless seventeenth-century images. Ordinary woollen blankets were used in the cot, but a quilt in more expensive material was often laid over the top for show. The only surviving undecorated seventeenth-century woollen blankets -albeit in miniature -are in the dolls' house made in 1677 owned by Petronella Dunois, who came from The Hague, but lived in Amsterdam. There is also a silk quilt dating from 1686-90 in the dolls' house belonging to Petronella Oortman of Amsterdam, which is very similar to the recently acquired piece here. Both dolls' houses are in the Rijksmuseum's collection.
The recently acquired full-size quilt has a large central area, edged in red. It is quilted all over in backstitch and stem stitch in green and red silk. The central motif is symmetrically built up of arabesques with green fronds in the central axes.
In the border the arabesques have offshoots with flowers, leaves and fronds. The quilt has a filling of two layers of woven wool, and the coloured embroidery has been worked through the top layer. The back of the quilt consists of a plain weave silk fabric, held with basting stitches. Here, too, there is a large centrepiece, but with a worked shield motif and a border with large scrolls. These motifs have been stitched through the second batting layer. The two layers are joined together with herringbone stitch. As in the doopluier (bk-2017-17) the silk edging is blind hemmed. bdm The Rijksmuseum has one of the largest collections of drawings and paintings by Willem van de Velde and his son. The sketches, in particular, provide an insight into the working methods of both marine painters. Many of these sketches were made along the waterfront or even on the high seas and worked up in minute detail in the studio later. In the painting of the Battle of Scheveningen (sk-a-1365), Van de Velde the Elder (1610-1693) portrayed himself on board a galliot; with a pen in his hand and paper on his lap, he sketches the battle taking place before him. Although there were marine painters who had had experience as sailors, such as Hendrik Cornelisz Vroom and Reinier Nooms, the Van de Veldes, who sailed with the battle fleet, were unique in the seventeenth century as genuinely 'embedded' war artists. It is these first-hand observations that make their work so authentic and credible. Five ships on a calm sea have been sketched on this sheet. The outlines of the ships are rendered with just a few powerful lines; rough hatching gives the impression of volume, shadow and a ripple in the water. Not that there is much movement in this scene. The sails and the flags hang motionless; a breeze only slightly disturbs the pennants. In all the scenes we see the crews, standing on the yards, furling the sails. On the three-master in the centre we can make out a row of gun-ports and a raised anchor. In the bottom drawing a sloop with ten oars is rowed towards a ship. The nationalities of the ships cannot immediately be discerned from the drawings, but the presence of a pennant on each of the foremasts of two of the ships suggests that they are Dutch; as a rule, a pennant was only flown from the mainmasts on English ships (Wilson 1986, p. 22).
Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633-1707) continually improved his technique by making observations of the effect of light and shade, per spective, cloudy skies and the realistic rendition of the refraction of light in water. We know of annotated sketches that he made later in his life which were intended for his assistants in the workshop in London.
Giltaij believes that this sheet of sketches could have been made by Willem van de Velde the The specific geography and climate of the Mediterranean were instrumental in the early and widespread use of triangular lateen sails in conjunction with rowing as a hybrid mode of propulsion. The fast sailing chebec is probably one of the most striking examples of this regional development. Not surprisingly, it was much favoured by merchantmen and corsairs alike, and for the same reasons was soon adopted by the royal navies of France and Spain, too.
In the second half of the eighteenth century the naval version of the three-masted chebec saw its traditional lateen sails gradually being replaced with 'northern style' square sails, although the use of single-piece masts as opposed to stepped masts -another Mediterranean feature -was retained. With an armament of up to forty guns this produced the redoubtable naval 'chebecfrigate' of the late eighteenth century.
The main feature in this unsigned watercolour is such a chebec-frigate, riding at anchor next to a fort in blueish green sea. At the stern flies a large naval flag or ensign with the Spanish royal coat of arms depicted on a white field. This ensign was in use from 1732 until 1785, when it was replaced by the more familiar horizontally striped version of red, yellow and red that we know today. It also links the ship to Cádiz, home-port of the Spanish southern Atlantic fleet.
The ship carries a total of thirty-four guns, eleven of which can be spotted on the main deck and another four in the decorated bulwark of the upper deck. Beside the gun-ports are the smaller oar-ports, here depicted as eleven tiny black squares. In the distance are three more chebecfrigates, showing the same vessel under full sail from different angles. The ship is polacre rigged with the typical long lower masts made of a single piece of wood and carries square sails except at the mizzen where a lateen sail can be set. One typical feature of all chebecs is the elongated poop deck, which extends far beyond the stern and rudder, and to which the lateen sail is attached. Sometimes this sail was latched to an extended boom, as can be seen on the stern of the ship to the right. Unglazed porcelain, or biscuit, was produced for the first time in 1752 in Sèvres in France. Art critics praised the unequalled precision of the details of this porcelain and the evident fragility of the material. These elements, reinforced by the absence of glaze, made biscuit particularly popular throughout Europe in the second half of the eighteenth century. In consequence, many factories began to concentrate on its manufacture. The Loosdrecht porcelain factory, founded in 1774 by the Reverend Joannes de Mol, was no exception. The factory provided a lot of work for the poor, mostly unemployed craftsmen from the village. This merry company is one of their creations.
In the foreground a man with a dog lying at his feet plays a fiddle. Beside him is a woman with a jug in her left hand. With her other hand she passes a newly filled cup to a young man hanging over the dilapidated arch above her. The lively scene with the barrel in the middle is reminiscent of paintings by Flemish masters of the seventeenth century, such as David Teniers ii (1610-1690), which were very popular in the eighteenth century. Prints after Teniers's work were often used as a source for the painted decora tions on Sèvres porcelain. If a print served as a an example for this group, which was probably from Loosdrecht, it has not been found to date.
Most Loosdrecht biscuit sculptures were made in a neo-classical style, but this little group goes well with the company of card-playing peasants also made in Loosdrecht, which was previously acquired for the Rijksmuseum's collection (bk-2005-9). Both have a light-heartedness typical of the Rococo. The arch in the newlyacquired group is both part of the scene and serves as a frame, balancing the composition and at the same time attesting to a significant level of ambition. Although the Loosdrecht factory was only active for ten years, exceptionally high quality was achieved in the execution of this figure group.
lt* * With thanks to Femke Diercks, curator of European ceramics, for the preliminary research into this figure group.
provenance: …; private collection in London; acquired by an art dealer based in London; purchased by the museum with the support of Stichting Hollands Porselein and an anonymous bequest, 2017 (inv. no. bk-2017-39).
7 Attributed to manufactuur oud-loosdrecht Figure Group  In the foreground we see the Cape Plain with a range of hills and Table Mountain behind it. In the right foreground stand two Khoikhoi, the original inhabitants of this region, whom the Dutch called Hottentots. They are barefoot and wear a kaross (sheepskin cloak). One wears a European hat, the other a head covering of goatskin. Before the arrival of the Europeans the Khoikhoi were nomadic shepherds -beyond the horsemen we see a Khoikhoi with a flock of sheep -but by the eighteenth century most of them worked on farms. According to the law they were free, but in practice the white farmers forced them to undertake seasonal labour in poor conditions. Behind the Khoikhoi are two men on horseback. One is white, wears European clothes with riding boots and holds a rifle; he may be the owner of  Table Mountain and Devil's Peak with the Lion's Rump seen in the distance from the Vergenoegd Estate, a property belonging to Mr Lochner, some 8 or 9 hours' journey from the Cape on the way to Hottentots Holland on a broad plain, drawn on 8 June 1786) the farm. Behind him rides a coloured man with a head covering and hat and a blue coat; he is barefoot, a sign of his low social status. He was probably an enslaved man, originally from Asia.
To their left is a covered wagon drawn by a team of ten oxen. On the box a man with a long whip spurs the beasts on, while the voorleier leads them along on a rope. Judging by their clothes -the same blue coats, head coverings and broadbrimmed hats and no shoes -they too were enslaved men. The man beside the wagon is a Khoikhoi. In the distance the land is being ploughed, again with the aid of oxen.
Brandes made notes about the cultivation of corn and wine on the back of this drawing. There are also two sketches -one of a pair of turkeys, imported into this area by the Dutch East India Company, and one of a Khoikhoi. He is dressed in a curious combination of African and European clothes. He wears a European hat and long white socks. His footwear is made of goatskin (veldskoen); the fighting stick (kerie) and the loincloth made of beads are Khoi.
The drawing is a realistic depiction of this colonial society and its various ethnic groups with their own legal and social status. As a rule, these different sections of the population were portrayed separately, but here we see them together in their everyday surroundings. The European landowner, the landless Khoikhoi and the enslaved Asians: Brandes recorded them in single drawing, capturing the complexity, stratification and fundamental inequality of eighteenth-century South African society. jdh liter ature: Martine Gosselink, Maria Holtrop and Robert Ropss (eds.), Good Hope: South Africa and the Netherlands from 1600, Amsterdam 2017, pp. 110-11 Mei jet Broers, 'Acquisitions: Jan Brandes, Strandstraat in Cape Town', The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 63 (2015), no. 2, pp. 166-67 M. de Bruin andR. Raben (eds.), The World of Jan Brandes, 1743-1808: Drawings of a Dutch Traveller in Batavia, Ceylon and Southern Africa, Zwolle 2004 provenance: Collection of the artist; by descent through the artist's family to Charlotte Kellberg, Stockholm, Sweden; purchased by the museum, 2017 (inv. no. ng-2017-14).
This charming double portrait shows Bernhard Anthoine Fallée and his wife Anthonia Justina Temminck seated side by side, cheek-to-cheek at a harpsichord. Fallée (1773-1847) wears a black tailcoat and trousers, a white waistcoat and a white cravat and jabot, and has his dark hair combed forward. He plays the keys of the harpsichord with his right hand; his left arm is around his wife's shoulders. Anthonia (1778Anthonia ( -1849 is dressed in a white satin Empire Line gown with short puffed sleeves; she has a lace veil over her head and holds a white glove in her left hand. A red cashmere shawl is draped over the chair.
In the foreground sits a pug with the second glove in its mouth. Around 1815, the painter Louis Moritz surprised the public with a number of double portraits of married couples, in which he was able to show the deep relationship between man and wife far better than in often rather solemn pendant paintings. He worked as a stage manager at the Haagse Koninklijke Schouwburg until around 1810 and afterwards at the Amsterdamse Schouwburg, while making a name for himself as a painter. His clientele included many people from the theatrical world. He exhibited this portrait at the Exhibition of Living Artists in Amsterdam in the autumn of 1813 and again a year later in The Hague.
Bernhard and Anthonia were both involved with the theatre: Fallée was a composer and play wright; Temminck performed as an actress and singer in the theatres of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The portrait shows their harmonious relationship. Such a demonstration of personal happiness is exceptional in the history of portraiture. jr Henriette's portrait, painted by Jan Adam Kruseman, the most popular portraitist of the time, shows her at the age of twenty-nine. She was considered a beauty in Amsterdam society, and Kruseman showed her fresh and lively radiance to the full by keeping her clothes and the setting simple. He recorded the commission in an account book; he charged four hundred guilders and a further forty-five guilders for the frame, which unfortunately is lost. Later in life she and her husband founded the almshouse that bears her name, where she was a governor for many years. After her death the name board that reminds us of this was added to the painting.
Jacob's portrait was painted twenty-three years later by his friend, the equally celebrated portraitist Nicolaas Pieneman. At that time Jacob was fifty-seven. By profession he was an insurance underwriter, but he was clearly more concerned with his cultural and charitable activities: he was a member of many societies that supported the arts and charities, played an active role in the management of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and was on the committee championing a new building for the Rijksmuseum. He also established a Historical Gallery, a small museum with paintings about the history of the Netherlands, in a large summer-house in the garden of his canal-side mansion.
Jacob de Vos's portrait has been hanging in the Rijksmuseum's reading room since 1987 because of his great role as a patron of the arts and the owner of one of the most important collection of drawings of his time. At the sale of this collection in 1883, a group of well-to-do Amsterdam citizens took the initiative, entirely in the spirit of Jacob de Vos, to acquire a large and important part of it and donate it to the Rijksmuseum. These drawings would go on to form the nucleus of the Print Room's collection, and the fund-raising campaign prompted the formation of the Rembrandt Society, to this day the most important supporter of art purchasing in the Netherlands.
In his portrait, Jacob is portrayed in his role as a collector. In his hand he holds a chalk drawing by Anthony van Dyck for the portrait of Lucas Vorsterman, which he had probably acquired shortly before. It is now in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. jr 10 nicolaas pieneman (Amersfoort 1809-1860 Amsterdam) Portrait of Jacob