- Museum number
- 1848,1125.1
- Description
-
View of the Rhine, west of Arnhem; a village right amid trees on the bend of a river, several boats moored near the shore, a horse and cart at left and a man seated in the foreground. 1661-3
Pen and brown ink with watercolour; framing line in pen and brown ink.
Verso: see Inscriptions.
Watermark: arms of Amsterdam, with crowned and rampant lion (resembles Heawood 432 [of 1686]).
- Production date
- 1661-1663 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 150 millimetres
-
Width: 230 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Entry from Martin Royalton-Kisch, ‘Catalogue of drawings by Rembrandt and his school’, 2010, Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, cat. no.14:
Van den Eeckhout drew a second view of the same part of the Rhine, in a sheet now in the Teyler Museum in Haarlem,[1] from a viewpoint close to the low shed towards the right of the present drawing. The Haarlem sketch, which is dated 1663, includes the same boats near the trees, as does a drawing by Lievens (here cat. no.25, 1949,0411.96) and they are likely to have been made on the same journey.
Other, similar views of this section of the Rhine by Anthonie van Borssom (Plymouth) and Jacob Esselens (National Gallery of Scotland)[2] suggest that in 1663 these artists may have travelled together with van den Eeckhout.[3] (Lievens produced a second view as well, for which see under cat. no.25, 1949,0411.96). Eeckhout's 'View of Rhenen' (Rijksmuseum), also dated 1663, must date from the same journey.[4] He also drew a 'Bridge in Gelderland' (now in Dresden),[5] a version of which by Esselens also survives (Amsterdam, Historisch Museum),[6] so that these could also have been made in the same year. However, that van den Eeckhout had visited the region earlier is proven by his drawing of the 'Rhine near Arnhem' in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, which is dated 1661.[7]
It has been suggested that the colour in this and other watercolours by van den Eeckhout was added in the eighteenth century,[8] but in view of the restricted palette, which is typical of early watercolours, this seems unlikely in the present case.[9]
NOTES:
[1] Haarlem, 1997, no.126, repr.; Sumowski no.690.
[2] Inv. D1154; see Edinburgh, 1985, p.26, where reference is also made to a drawing of the same area by Esselens in the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Muller (Inv.73 kl.2) and to that by van Borssom in Plymouth (Sumowski 290, repr.).
[3] Amsterdam, 1942, p.79; Schneider, 1932, p.300, refers to a letter of 1664 by Lievens in which he mentions a voyage to Cleves.
[4] Inv. A2868; Sumowski 692, repr.
[5] Inv.C1452; Sumowski 673, repr.
[6] Inv.A10155; Amsterdam, 1981, no.32, repr..
[7] Inv.PD.283-1963; Sumowski 683, repr..
[8] See Lit. below, Exh. Brussels-Rotterdam-Paris-Bern, 1968-9.
[9] See Royalton-Kisch, 1991.
LITERATURE :
London, 1915, p.76, no.6, repr. pl.XLII; Hofstede de Groot, 1915[II], p.62 (not Zandenburg, as suggested by Hind in London, 1915, but a hill to west of Arnhem); Van Dyke, 1927, p.61 (attribution questionable); Parker, 1928, p.46 (compares drawing of same location in Teyler Museum, noted by Hind, and that by Lievens, here cat. no.25, 1949,0411.96, then in Campbell Dodgson collection); Exh. London, 1929, p.243 and 1929[I], p.218, under no.649 (as Parker, 1928); Amsterdam, 1942, p.78, under no.15 (relates to Amsterdam 'View of Rhenen', inv.A2868 [S.692], perhaps done on same journey); Exh. Brussels-Rotterdam-Paris-Bern, 1968-9, under no.48 and p.98, under no.98 (c.1660-65; colour possibly added later; otherwise as Parker 1928, but also noting that same location drawn by Esselens [N.G. of Scotland, inv.D1154]; the artists may have travelled together); Roy, 1972, p.196; Exh. Rotterdam-Paris, 1974, p.50, under no.34; Sumowski, 1979 etc., III, 1980, no.691, repr. (dates to c.1663, with the Haarlem sheet); Amsterdam, 1981, p.122, under no.32, n.4; Edinburgh, 1985, under no.D.1154; Royalton-Kisch, 1991, p.12, repr. in colour, pl.VII (compared with other Rembrandt circle watercolours); Haarlem, 1997, under no.126 (with provenance details); Exh. Paris-Haarlem, 1997-8, p.208, under no.92.
EARLIER NOTE:
The location is possibly Zandenburg to the N of the Neder Ryn, about 8 miles W of Arnhem. If this is the same as the old Santberg, the view probably shows the bend of the Neder Ryn at Renkum.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
London, 1956, p.29, no.4;
1992, BM, Drawings by Rembrandt and his Circle (not in catalogue).
- Condition
- Generally good; some discolouration near upper edges.
- Acquisition date
- 1848
- Acquisition notes
- 1848,1125.1 to 562 comprises the first part of the purchase from the print collection of William Beckford, consisting of 18 drawings and 544 prints. The selection had been made by Carpenter from the collection offered (to quote his report dated 8 November 1848) 'from a choice and most extensive collection formed during a long series of years by a connoisseur distinguished for his taste and judgement [he then lists some of the principal works in his selection].' The acquisition register identifies this as the Beckford collection. W&G Smith were acting as agents for the Beckford estate (Beckford having died in 1844). For the second part of the purchase see 1849,0512.1 to 942. It seems that William and George Smith had purchased the whole Beckford print collection outright, and after selling the two blocks to the BM, sold the remainder under their own name in the great series of Smith auctions in May and December 1849.
[This drawing] A.L. Tolling; his sale, Amsterdam, de Winter and Yver, 21 etc. November, 1768, Kunstboek M, no.781 ('Een gezicht van de Zandbergen buiten Arnhem, met de pen en kleuren getekend'), sold for f.1; Louis Metayer; his sale, Amsterdam, van der Schley and Roos, 16 etc. December, 1799, Kunstboek E, no.21; William Beckford (according to register; not identifiable in his 1848 sale catalogue); Messrs Smith, from whom purchased.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1848,1125.1
