watermark: none

Foxing; minor loss in lower right corner

…; collection Jacob de Vos (1735-1833), Amsterdam;¹¹According to the catalogue for the sale Jacob de Vos Jbzn, Amsterdam (C.F. Roos et al.), 22 May 1883 sqq., no. 220. his sale, Amsterdam (J. de Vries et al.), 30 October 1833 sqq., Album K, no. 5 (‘J. Hackaert. Een ruim en bergachtig Landschap aan een rivier, de voorgrond rijk met struiken en planten begroeid. Zonachtig van toon en als de voorgaande behandeld [uitvoerig en tender met o.i. inkt]’), with one other drawing, fl. 382, to the dealer J. de Vries, Amsterdam;²²CopyRKD. …; collection Jacob de Vos Jbzn (1803-82), Amsterdam (L. 1450);his widow, Abrahamina Henrietta de Vos-Wurfbain (1808-83), Amsterdam; sale, Jacob de Vos Jbzn, Amsterdam (C.F. Roos et al.), 22 May 1883 sqq., no. 220, fl. 305, to the dealer J.H. Balfoort, Amsterdam;³³CopyRKD. through the mediation of the Vereniging Rembrandt (L. 2135), to the museum (L. 2228), 1884

Object number: RP-T-1884-A-341

Credit line: Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt

A large portion of Jan Hackaert’s drawn oeuvre consists of Italianate landscapes. These are imaginary, since Hackaert visited Switzerland but probably never travelled on to Italy.⁴⁴Cf. G. Solar, Jan Hackaert: Die Schweizer Ansichten, 1653-1656: Zeichnungen eines niederländischen Malers als frühe Bilddokumente der Alpenlandschaft, Zurich 1981, p. 15. The present sheet is a typical example of such works, probably made shortly after the artist’s return from Switzerland in 1658. Although not topographical, these scenes may nevertheless have been based on real visual experiences. In case of the present sheet, the landscape resembles the formula recorded in what are presumed to be actual nature studies made during his Swiss travels, with a road similarly framed by slender trees and a stretch of water, such as two drawings in the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (inv. nos. [1915-541]https://online-sammlung.hamburger-kunsthalle.de/de/objekt/1915-541){target="_blank"} and 1915-546).⁵⁵A. Stefes, Niederländische Zeichnungen, 1450-1800, 3 vols., coll. cat. Hamburg 2011 (Die Sammlungen der Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kupferstichkabinett, vol. 2), I, nos. 405.15 and 405.17.

There are many variations of this type of landscape within Hackaert’s oeuvre, including a painting in the Rijksmuseum (inv. no. SK-A-692).

Contours in brown ink combined with grey wash create a warm and luminous effect, perfectly fit for rendering southern scenery. Considering the amount of extant drawings in this manner – examples found, among others, in the Print Room at Windsor Castle (inv. nos. RCIN 906303 and RCIN 906302) and the Frits Lugt collection, Fondation Custodia, Paris (inv. nos. 3600 and 97)⁶⁶C. van Hasselt, Landschaptekeningen van Hollandse meesters uit de XVIIe eeuw uit de particuliere verzameling bewaard in het Institut Néerlandais te Parijs, 2 vols., exh. cat. Brussels (Koninklijke Bibliotheek Albert I)/Rotterdam (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen)/Paris (Institut Néerlandais)/Berne (Kunstmuseum) 1968-69, nos. 73, 74. – it becomes clear that Hackaert must have recognized and met a demand among collectors. Here, as in his paintings, he followed the path of Jan Both (c. 1618/22-1652).

Though undated, the present drawing was clearly made as an independent work of art. In contrast to later drawings such as inv. no. RP-T-1899-A-4257 that were subsequently embellished by other artists, the rather minuscule staffage of the present drawing appears to be in Hackaert’s own hand.

Annemarie Stefes, 2019

A. Stefes, Niederländische Zeichnungen, 1450-1800, 3 vols., coll. cat. Hamburg 2011 (Die Sammlungen der Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kupferstichkabinett, vol. 2), I, p. 264, under no. 408 (n. 3)

A. Stefes, 2019, 'Jan Hackaert, Mountain Landscape with Travellers near a Waterfall, Amsterdam, c. 1658 - c. 1660', in J. Turner (ed.), (under construction) Drawings 2, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200140169