Abraham Rutgers

View along the City Wall of Utrecht, from the South, with the Smeetoren (‘Blacksmiths’ Tower’) on the Left and the Mariakerk in the Distance on the Right

Utrecht, c. 1680 - c. 1690

Inscriptions

  • inscribed on verso: upper centre, in an eighteenth-century hand, in graphite, aand Wal te Utreght bij de Maria Kerk; lower centre, in pencil (with 1891 Haden sale no.), 550

  • stamped on verso: lower left, with the mark of Seymour Haden (L. 1227); lower right, with the mark of the museum (L. 2228)

Technical notes

Watermark: None

Condition

Upper left and centre below, some minor stains

Provenance

…; collection Sir Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910), London and Arlesford (L. 1227); his sale, London (Sotheby’s), 15 June 1891 sqq., no. 550, as Allaert van Everdingen (‘On the Ramparts of Utrecht, pen and bistre, washed’); …; possibly collection Johan II, Prince of Liechtenstein (1840-1929), Vaduz;1According to L. 4398. his grandnephew, Franz Josef II, Prince of Liechtenstein (1906-89), Vaduz;2Rotermund-Reynard 2015, p. 137; note RMA. from whom, through the mediation of the dealer W. Feilchenfeldt, fl. 300, to the museum (L. 2228), 1948;3Zürich 1972, unpag. introduction; Feilchenfeldt 2015, p. 137.

ObjectNumber: RP-T-1948-409

The artist

Biography

Abraham Rutgers (Amsterdam 1632-Amsterdam 1699)

He came from a long line of Mennonite textile merchants, who left Antwerp because of religious persecution, settling first in Haarlem and later in Amsterdam.4On Abraham Rutgers and his grandson Antoni, see I.H. van Eeghen, ‘Abraham en Antoni Rutgers. De kunstzin van grootvader en kleinzoon’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 67 (1975), pp. 174-88; and for information on various other members of the family, see https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Rutgers_family&oldid=109376. Abraham followed in the family profession, working as a silk merchant in Amsterdam. He copied drawings by, and was close friends with, fellow silk merchant and amateur artist Jacob Esselens (1626/28-1687), to whose children he was appointed guardian just before Esselens’s burial on 15 January 1687.5For copies after Esselens, see J.W. Niemeijer, ‘Varia Topografica, IV. Een album met Utrechtse gezichten door Abraham Rutgers’, Oud-Holland 79 (1964), p. 129, fols. 42 and 74; and for the documents relating to Ruters’s appointment as guardian to his children, see I.H. van Eeghen, ‘Abraham en Antoni Rutgers. De kunstzin van grootvader en kleinzoon’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 67 (1975), p. 176. He also collaborated with Ludolf Bakhuizen (1630-1708), who added figures to at least one of Rutgers’ drawings, a sheet now in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. no. 10015).6E. Munnig Schmidt, ‘Abraham Rutgers en Ludolf Backhuysen samen op het ijs’, Jaarboekje van het Oudheidkundig Genootschap “Niftarlake”, 2006, p. 57.

Most of all, however, Rutgers is known for his topographical views along the Vecht, near Utrecht, drawn with distinctive brown ink hatching and strong, diagonally receding compositions. Besides three large albums of his drawings, one in the collection of the Museum Simon van Gijn, Dordrecht (inv. no. SIK 10), and two that in 2018 appeared on the Haarlem art market,7Sale, Haarlem (Bubb Kuyper), 1 June 2018, no. 5996. consisting of drawings described as Principale (drawings after life), Inventieve (imaginary scenes) and Copijen (copies after other artists). Another large group was preserved in the Atlas Munnicks van Cleeff, now part of the John and Marine van Vlissingen Art Foundation.

Abraham’s cousin was Agneta Blok (1629-1704), the famous patron, horticulturalist and collector who commissioned artists to record the plants she grew in her garden at Vijverhof, her estate on the Vecht. There were close ties between the two families. Abraham’s father, banker and cloth merchant David Rutgers II (1601-1668), was Agneta’s uncle, and his mother was Susanna de Flines (1607-1677), the aunt of Agneta’s second husband, Sybrand de Flines (1623-1697). Abraham’s grandson Antoni Rutgers the Younger (1695-1778) was a collector and marchand amateur, whose collection of drawings was sold at auction in Amsterdam on 1 December 1778.

Jane Shoaf Turner, 2019

References
U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler: Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 37 vols., Leipzig 1907-50, XXIX (1935), p. 239; J.W. Niemeijer, ‘Varia Topografica, IV. Een album met Utrechtse gezichten door Abraham Rutgers’, Oud-Holland 79 (1964), no. 2, pp. 127-34; I.H. van Eeghen, ‘Abraham en Antoni Rutgers. De kunstzin van grootvader en kleinzoon’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 67 (1975), pp. 174-88; E. Munnig Schmidt, ‘Abraham Rutgers en Ludolf Backhuysen samen op het ijs’, Jaarboekje van het Oudheidkundig Genootschap “Niftarlake”, 2006, pp. 57-58; J. Turner and R.-J. te Rijdt (eds.), Home and Abroad: Dutch and Flemish Landscape Drawings from the John and Marine van Vlissingen Art Foundation, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum)/Paris (Fondation Custodia) 2015-16, p. 132, under nos. 54-56 (text by J. Shoaf Turner)

Entry

The Smeetoren (‘Blacksmiths’ Tower’) on the city walls of Utrecht, whose spire was truncated in 1642 (when it was converted into an observatory), can be seen at left; what is assumed to be the former Zadelaerstoren (‘Saddlers’ Tower’) at the end of the Zilverstraat is in the middle; while the roof of the church dedicated to the Virgin is visible behind the trees at right. With this composition, Rutgers draws the viewer into the scene, creating the illusion of us standing with him on the ramparts.

Several sheets with views of the Utrecht city walls can be found in the Rutgers album preserved in the Museum Simon van Gijn Dordrecht (inv. no. SIK 10, fols. 39, 47-49, 59-62 and 67-69).8J.W. Niemeijer, 'Varia Topografica IV Een album met Utrechtse gezichten door Abraham Rutgers', Oud-Holland 79 (1964), no. 2, pp. 128-29, 134, fig. 2. One of these drawings (fig. a) shows strong similarities to the Rijksmuseum’s drawing, only the artist’s vantage is moved slightly to the left and closer to the Smeetoren, directly in front of the door to the tower. Another drawing from the album (fol. 47) shows the Mariakerk behind the city wall, with the Smeetoren at the far right.9J.W. Salomonson, “Op de wal agter St. Marye”. Topografische aantekeningen bij een onbekend schilderijtje van Herman Saftleven, Amsterdam 1983, pp. 79-81, fig. 52.

Rutgers drew the same part of the city wall – though from across the Singel and from the opposite direction – on a sheet in the Frits Lugt Collection, Fondation Custodia, Paris (inv. no. 241).10C. 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)/Bern (Kunstmuseum) 1968-69, no. 130. There, the Zadelaerstoren appears on the left, the Smeetoren (clearly missing its spire) in the middle, and Bijlhouwerstoren (‘Joiners’ Tower’) is the distance at far right. All of these towers and the church are now lost.

Exactly the same view as the present sheet is represented in a drawing by Louis Philippus Serrurier (1706-1751), whose whereabouts are unknown, of which a reproduction is in Het Utrechts Archief (inv. no. 35006).

Ingrid Oud, 2000/Jane Shoaf Turner, 2019

Literature

Tentoonstelling van aanwinsten uit de verzameling van de Vorst van Liechtenstein, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksprentenkabinet) 1953, no. 76; J.W. Niemeijer, ‘Varia Topografica, IV. Een album met Utrechtse gezichten door Abraham Rutgers’, Oud-Holland 79 (1964), no. 2, p. 129; C. 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)/Bern (Kunstmuseum) 1968-69, pp. 132-133, under no. 130 (n. 7)

Citation

I. Oud, 2000/J. Shoaf Turner, 2019, 'Abraham Rutgers, View along the City Wall of Utrecht, from the South, with the Smeetoren (‘Blacksmiths’ Tower’) on the Left and the Mariakerk in the Distance on the Right, Utrecht, c. 1680 - c. 1690', in J. Turner (ed.), (under construction) Drawings 2, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.59746

(accessed 15 June 2025 10:57:54).

Figures

  • Abraham Rutgers, View along the City Wall of Utrecht, from the South, with the Smeetoren and the Mariakerk, c. 1686-1687. Pen and brown ink, brown wash, 117 x 188 mm. Dordrecht, Huis Van Gijn, inv. no. VGB1000.50 (fol. 49).

Footnotes

  • 1According to L. 4398.
  • 2Rotermund-Reynard 2015, p. 137; note RMA.
  • 3Zürich 1972, unpag. introduction; Feilchenfeldt 2015, p. 137.
  • 4On Abraham Rutgers and his grandson Antoni, see I.H. van Eeghen, ‘Abraham en Antoni Rutgers. De kunstzin van grootvader en kleinzoon’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 67 (1975), pp. 174-88; and for information on various other members of the family, see https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Rutgersfamily&oldid=109376.
  • 5For copies after Esselens, see J.W. Niemeijer, ‘Varia Topografica, IV. Een album met Utrechtse gezichten door Abraham Rutgers’, Oud-Holland 79 (1964), p. 129, fols. 42 and 74; and for the documents relating to Ruters’s appointment as guardian to his children, see I.H. van Eeghen, ‘Abraham en Antoni Rutgers. De kunstzin van grootvader en kleinzoon’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 67 (1975), p. 176.
  • 6E. Munnig Schmidt, ‘Abraham Rutgers en Ludolf Backhuysen samen op het ijs’, Jaarboekje van het Oudheidkundig Genootschap “Niftarlake”, 2006, p. 57.
  • 7Sale, Haarlem (Bubb Kuyper), 1 June 2018, no. 5996.
  • 8J.W. Niemeijer, 'Varia Topografica IV Een album met Utrechtse gezichten door Abraham Rutgers', Oud-Holland 79 (1964), no. 2, pp. 128-29, 134, fig. 2.
  • 9J.W. Salomonson, “Op de wal agter St. Marye”. Topografische aantekeningen bij een onbekend schilderijtje van Herman Saftleven, Amsterdam 1983, pp. 79-81, fig. 52.
  • 10C. 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)/Bern (Kunstmuseum) 1968-69, no. 130.