View of a Riverbank

watermark: foolscap (fragment)

…; collection Henri Duval (?-?), Liège;¹¹Copy RKD sale, Charles-Philippe, Marquis de Chennevières-Pointel (1820-99, Paris) and Sir John Charles Robinson (1824-1913, Edinburgh and London), Amsterdam (F. Muller), 20 November 1882 sqq., no. 99, fl. 11, to F. Muller (Amsterdam);²²Copy RKD. sale, Amsterdam (F. Muller), 14 March 1889, fl. 20, to the museum (L. 2228), 1889

ObjectNumber: RP-T-1889-A-1927

The present sheet and inv. no. RP-T-1900-A-4443 are made in a different technique than the other drawings of the encampments of the army of the Dutch States-General under the Stadholder Prince Willem III of Orange (1650-1702). This was already noted by Van Hasselt, who included both drawings as Valentijn Klotz in his overview, but also commented on the different technique (‘fletse acquarellen, andere techniek dan gewoon’).³³R.J.G.M. van Hasselt, ‘Drie tekenaars van topografische prenten in Brabant en elders. Valentijn Klotz, Josua de Grave en Constantijn Huygens Jr.’, Jaarboek Oudheidkundige Kring ‘De Ghulden Roos’ 25 (1965), pp. 145-92, nos. 303-4. Here, the drawing is primarily executed in graphite and some of the outlines are finished in grey ink. Further, the artist used some grey wash for the shadows. The drawing is finished with watercolour. This in contrast to the technique employed in the drawings of Josua de Grave (1643-1712), Valentijn Klotz (c. 1646-1721) and Barend Klotz (?-?), all of whom primarily outlined their compositions in brown ink and refrained from using colour. The present sheet might thus be a copy after a drawing of one of the three artists.

The inscription on the verso of the present sheet and inv. no. RP-T-1900-A-4443, reading int prince quartier (‘in the princes’ quarter’) followed by the date, is similar to, both in terms of its text and the handwriting, to an inscription that appears on the recto of another drawing of the army’s encampment at Bodegraven (inv. no. RP-T-00-171), whose author is also uncertain.

Carolyn Mensing, 2020

R.J.G.M. van Hasselt, ‘Drie tekenaars van topografische prenten in Brabant en elders. Valentijn Klotz, Josua de Grave en Constantijn Huygens Jr.’, Jaarboek Oudheidkundige Kring ‘De Ghulden Roos’ 25 (1965), pp. 145-92, no. 304 (incorrect date; as Valentijn Klotz)

C. Mensing, 2020, 'manner of Valentijn Klotz or manner of , View of a Riverbank, Bodegraven, 1672-08-25', in J. Turner (ed.), Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.54202