View of Huis Groenewoude, Seen from the East

Watermark: None

Cockled at upper left; some foxing (restored); upper centre, remainders of a label formerly pasted onto the paper

…; ? collection Hillebrant Bentes I (1591-1652), Amsterdam;¹¹Van der Wyck/Niemeijer 1989, pp. 6-7. by descent to Hillebrant Bentes II (1677-1708), Amsterdam; his sale, Amsterdam, 16 October 1708;²²According to an advertisement in the ‘Amsterdamse Courant’, 6 October 1708; Dudok van Heel 1975, p. 170, no. 122. …; collection Christiaan van Hoek (1643-1715), Amsterdam and ‘Ouderhoek’, near Loenen aan de Vecht, by 1711;³³According to Smids 1711, p. 119. his son, Anthony van Hoek (1674-1719), Amsterdam and ‘Ouderhoek’, near Loenen aan de Vecht;⁴⁴According to Bruijn 1719, p. 24. his cousin, Jan de Wolff (1680-1735), Amsterdam and ‘Ouderhoek’, near Loenen aan de Vecht;⁵⁵According to a no longer extant list by Louis-Philippe Serrurier, circa 1730, mentioned by Muller 1878, p. XVII, and Muller 1907, pp. VI and VII. …; sale, Cornelis Ploos van Amstel (1726-98, Amsterdam), Amsterdam (P. van der Schley et al.), 3 March 1800 sqq., Album KK, nos. 1-6 (‘Inhoudende Teekeningen, alle gezigten van Huizen en kasteelen in de Sticht te Utrecht, meesterlijk naar het leven geteekend door Roeland Rogman, met zwart Kryt en O.I. Inkt’), with 240 other drawings, fl. 2,000.00 for all, to the dealer C.S. Roos, Amsterdam;⁶⁶Copy RKD. sale, Jacob Cats (1741-99, Amsterdam) et al. [section ‘Letter P’, i.e. C.S. Roos], Amsterdam (P. van der Schley et al.), 16 April 1800 sqq., Album A, no. 10 (‘het Huis te Groenwouw’), with no. 9, fl. 50, to Jan Coenraad Pruyssenaar (1748-1814), Amsterdam;⁷⁷Copy RKD. ? his son, Roelof Meurs Pruyssenaar (1772/73-?), Amsterdam; …; from Cornelis Laurens de Leur (1850-1916), Utrecht, with inv. no. RP-T-1899-A-4105, fl. 86 for both, to the museum (L. 2228), 1899

ObjectNumber: RP-T-1899-A-4104

In 1646 and 1647, Roelant Roghman drew a large series of views of Dutch castles. It was an ambitious project for a twenty-year-old, consisting of circa two hundred and fifty drawings. Some two hundred and twenty drawings from the series are known today. Of these, the Rijksprentenkabinet owns forty-nine sheets. Similar large holdings are kept in the Teylers Museum, Haarlem, and in a private collection. The rest is widely dispersed. The whole series was extensively studied by Henri van der Wyck, J.W. Niemeijer and Wouter Kloek in their two-volume publication (1989-90).⁸⁸H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989; and W. Kloek and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman II, Alphen aan den Rijn 1990.

Roghman depicted about a hundred and fifty different castles in the provinces of Holland, Utrecht and Gelderland, many of them from more than one vantage. The drawings served as ‘castle portraits’, impressive views of intact buildings or ruins, often on large sheets of paper and sometimes also on more than one sheet joined together. Besides close-up renderings, there are distant views, showing the buildings hidden among trees or giving an overview of a castle next to an adjacent village. There are even panoramic views, such as inv. no. RP-T-1898-A-3658 (Schagen), for which the artist climbed a nearby church tower.

The idea behind the series was to illustrate places of historical value, mostly castles acknowledged at one time or another as a ridderhofstad.⁹⁹H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, pp. VIII-IX; W. Kloek and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman II, Alphen aan den Rijn 1990, p. 73. This might explain why Roghman drew not only inhabited, intact buildings, but also ruins. The resulting series is an accurate reflection of the state of historic sites at the time,¹⁰¹⁰Often the castles were still in their medieval form, since in the first half of the seventeenth century many castle owners lacked financial means to modernize; H.L. Janssen et al. (eds.), 1000 jaar kastelen in Nederland: Functie en vorm door de eeuwen heen, Utrecht 1996, p. 142. some of which were no longer extant;¹¹¹¹S.J. Fockema Andreae et al., Kastelen, ridderhofsteden en buitenplaatsen in Rijnland, Leiden 1952, p. 56; W. Kloek and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman II, Alphen aan den Rijn 1990, pp. 49, 109; B. Olde Meierink, Kastelen en ridderhofsteden in Utrecht, Utrecht 1995, p. 82. the drawings have occasionally even been used as models for restoration of surviving structures. The series – unique in scope and size, and masterly and surprisingly mature in its draughtsmanship – is unrivalled in the history of castle drawing and a highlight of Dutch seventeenth-century art.

Paper, watermarks, technique, signatures
In all likelihood, Roghman drew the castles in situ.¹²¹²This opinion is shared by most authors, whereas Sumowski (Drawings, X (1992), p. 4991) assumed that the drawings were done in the studio after drawings made on the spot. He started each sketch with black chalk or graphite. As can be seen by discarded sketches, such as that on the verso of inv. no. RP-T-1898-A-3716 (Oosterwijk), he began by establishing a base line for the architecture by means of a horizontal line that separated the foreground from the middle ground.

The drawings were executed on several different sizes of paper. There are large, rather coarse sheets of circa 450 x 600 mm, with a watermark of a bunch of grapes below a fleur-de-lis.¹³¹³This paper is used for inv. nos. RP-T-1888-A-1436 (Honingen), RP-T-1888-A-1777 (Oudaan), RP-T-1891-A-2420 (Raaphorst), RP-T-1888-A-1779 (Santhorst), RP-T-1879-A-80, RP-T-1879-A-81 (Swieten) and RP-T-1888-A-1780 (te Werve). Although it lacks a watermark, inv. no. RP-T-1891-A-2466 (Duurstede) seems to have been executed on a large sheet of paper from the same bundle. Roghman probably used these sheets during his first campaign in 1646.¹⁴¹⁴W. Kloek and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman II, Alphen aan den Rijn 1990, p. 115. These large sheets were folded vertically at the centre, which sometimes hindered the consistent application of ink, as can be seen in inv. no. RP-T-1879-A-80. Smaller (unfolded) sheets were made by cutting larger sheets of circa 500 x 700 mm in half. These bear a watermark of a fleur-de-lis surmounted by a crown.¹⁵¹⁵Ibid., pp. 113 and 130-31 (n. 7); this type of paper was used for inv. nos. RP-T-1911-69 (Abcoude), RP-T-1900-A-4341 (Altena), RP-T-1899-A-4122 (Amerongen), RP-T-1888-A-1771 (Buren), RP-T-1888-A-1773 (Egmond), RP-T-1888-A-1772 (Langerak), RP-T-1893-A-2751 (Moersbergen), RP-T-1898-A-3716 (Oosterwijk), RP-T-1898-A-3718 (Starrenburg) and RP-T-1899-A-4118 (Wulven). Some of the Rijksprentenkabinet’s castle drawings are done on paper with different watermarks,¹⁶¹⁶A fragment of a fleur-de-lis on inv. no. RP-T-1898-A-3660 (Hagestein); a coat of arms with a bend on inv. no. RP-T-1888-A-1778 (Rijswijk) and an Arms of Berne within a shield on inv. no. RP-T-1891-A-2419 (Warmond). and one castle drawing (Oud Heusden; inv. no. RP-T-1900-A-4344) is executed on blue paper.

Roghman clearly had a command of the rules of both one- and two-point perspective, apparently worked without perspectival aids and dispensed with a vanishing point and formal orthogonal lines.¹⁷¹⁷H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, pp. 88 and 123. There are instances of abandoned versions, the presence of pentimenti and redrawn motifs that did not fit on the sheet – all of which reveal his working method (e.g. inv. no. RP-T-1888-A-1774). There is at least one case, the View of Wulven bij Jutfaas in the Teylers Museum, Haarlem (inv. no. O++ 021),¹⁸¹⁸Cf. ibid., p. 126; M.C. Plomp, The Dutch Drawings in the Teyler Museum, II: Artists Born between 1575 and 1630, coll. cat. Haarlem 1997, no. 393. which is a second, amended version of a drawing with corrections in the Rijksmuseum (inv. no. RP-T-1899-A-4118). Generally, these minor corrections were covered by wash, with strong effects of light and shade. Roghman usually used grey wash, which he apparently added while still on the spot.¹⁹¹⁹W. Kloek and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman II, Alphen aan den Rijn 1990, p. 121. Sometimes, his washes have a blueish tint, and there are also drawings with brown wash. In one case, he used charcoal soaked in linseed oil to apply accents, as can be seen by the oily residue visible on the verso of the Rijksmuseum’s view of Swieten (inv. no. RP-T-1879-A-80).

After finishing the drawing, Roghman often inscribed it in black chalk with his monogram, sometimes a date, and sometimes also a crossbar with a north arrow, documenting the castle’s orientation.²⁰²⁰North arrows are found on inv. nos. RP-T-1903-A-4702 (Beverweerd), RP-T-1900-A-4342 and RP-T-1899-A-4087 (Broekhuizen), RP-T-1893-A-2751 (Moersbergen), RP-T-1898-A-3719 (Vleuten) and, in a later transcription, on inv. no. RP-T-1911-69 (Abcoude). Later, Roghman went over his monograms in brown ink, transforming them into full signatures,²¹²¹This applies to inv. nos. RP-T-1888-A-1777 (Oudaan), RP-T-1891-A-2420 (Raaphorst), RP-T-1879-A-81 (Swieten) and RP-T-1891-A-2419 (Warmond). The following drawings are signed in brown ink alone: RP-T-1911-69 (Abcoude), RP-T-1900-A-4337 (Alkemade), RP-T-1903-A-4702 (Beverweerd), RP-T-1900-A-4342 (Broekhuizen), RP-T-1888-A-1771 (Buren), RP-T-1891-A-2466 (Duurstede), RP-T-1899-A-4104 (Groenewoude), RP-T-1888-A-1772 (Langerak), RP-T-1893-A-2751 (Moersbergen), RP-T-1901-A-4532 (Oosterwijk), RP-T-1898-A-3717 (Rhoon), RP-T-1898-A-3718 (Starrenburg), RP-T-1900-A-4340 (Vliet) and RP-T-1898-A-3720 (Voorn). Considering the uniform appearance of the latter type of signature, it is to be assumed that they were applied within a limited period of time, perhaps even during one ‘signing session’; cf. W. Kloek and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman II, Alphen aan den Rijn 1990, pp. 113-14. and often also adding a date. These dates, 1646 and 1647, appear to be trustworthy, the series being done over a relatively short period of time.²²²²Ibid.; a similar autograph date is found on Roghman’s View of the Town Hall, Gouda (inv. no. RP-T-1891-A-2417). Only one castle drawing was apparently added in 1649; cf. H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, pp. XII-XIII. Evidently, Roghman drew the castles in two different campaigns, interrupted by a pause during the winter months. An itinerary reconstructed by Kloek assumes that the artist started in 1646 in Leiden,²³²³W. Kloek and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman II, Alphen aan den Rijn 1990, pp. 114-15; based on dates, style and paper, it is assumed that Roghman first used the paper with a grapes watermark and only later worked on the smaller sheets with a fleur-de-lis watermark. making excursions into its surroundings before visiting Utrecht, the Vecht region and the Sticht. In 1647, Roghman set out on a large round trip from Amsterdam to Medemblik, Schagen, Kennemerland, Rijnland, Delfland, then from Rotterdam to Dordrecht and its surroundings, to Rhoon, Geervliet, Oostvoorne, visiting the great river regions with Heusden, Altena, Buren, Duurstede, Amerongen and Utrecht, and then along the Vecht back to Amsterdam. This itinerary meant that Roghman apparently visited many castles twice.²⁴²⁴Ibid., p. 115. Differences in the application of wash, and the intensity of the shades of grey, may be explained by the risks of working out-of-doors, with impending darkness or showers causing breaks in drawing sessions. In all likelihood, the seventeenth-century inscriptions in black chalk classified by Niemeijer as ‘Hand A’ were written by Roghman himself.²⁵²⁵H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, p. 16; W. Kloek and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman II, Alphen aan den Rijn 1990, p. 113. It is logical that the artist would record the name of the location in the same material as he used for the drawing.

History of the series, commission and early provenance
The first known reference to the series is found in 1708, in an advertisement for the sale of the library of Hillebrand Bentes the younger (1677-1708) – the first certain owner of the series. It is described as comprising ‘some 250 drawings’ of castles in the provinces of Holland and Utrecht.²⁶²⁶S. Dudok van Heel, ‘Honderd advertenties van kunstverkopingen uit veertig jaargangen van de Amsterdamse Courant 1672-1711’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 67 (1975), pp. 149-73 (esp. p. 170): ‘Op Dingsdag den 16 October sal tot Amsterdam op de Keysersgracht (…) de fraije en nette bibliotheek van wijlen den Hr. Schepen Hillebrand Bentes (…) midsgaders omtrent 250 tekeningen van Kasteelen en Adelijke huysen in de Provincies van Holland en Utregt, door Roeland Roghman (…)’. Unfortunately, no copy of this sale catalogue is known. Probably on the occasion of that sale, an inventory of the convolute was written by the Rotterdam antiquary Cornelis van Alkemade (1654-1737). The manuscript ‘Register van Adelijke Huijsen, Kastelen &c. gelegen in Holland, Uitregt, Gelderland &c. alle getekent door Roeland Roghman meest in de jaaren 1646 & 1647’, generally referred to as the ‘List Bentes’, is preserved in the Rijksmuseum (inv. no. MS 3684).²⁷²⁷For a transcript and commentary, cf. H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, pp. 1-7. Though the list is in an arbitrary order, it provides valuable information on the series, which, at that time, comprised two hundred and forty-five castle drawings.²⁸²⁸Although two hundred and forty-seven items are listed, one view represents a convent, and another is duplicated; cf. ibid., p. 7. Hillebrand Bentes the younger could have inherited the drawings from his grandfather Hillebrand Bentes the elder (1591-1652), who was a contemporary of Roghman. Dudok van Heel proposed that the grandfather might actually have commissioned the series.²⁹²⁹B. Broos, Rembrandt en tekenaars uit zijn omgeving, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1981 (Oude tekeningen in het bezit van de gemeentemusea van Amsterdam, waaronder de collectie Fodor, vol. 3), p. 179. There was also a connection between the Bentes family and the printer and publisher Joan Blaeu (1596-1673), who acted as guardian to nine-year-old Albert Bentes (1643-1701) after the death of his father, Hillebrand the elder. Blaeu, who had previously employed Roelant’s father, the engraver Hendrick Lambertsz Roghman (1602-1647/57),³⁰³⁰This was suggested by H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, p. 7; W. Kloek and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman II, Alphen aan den Rijn 1990, p. 130. If the series were instigated by Blaeu, it would most likely have been intended to be issued in print. One reproductive print is known – made by Roelant’s elder sister Geertruydt Roghman (1625-1651) (F.W.H. Hollstein et al., Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, c. 1450-1700, 72 vols., Amsterdam and elsewhere 1947-2010, XX (1978), p. 56, no. 8) – but it was published in 1652 or later; cf. H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, p. VII; W. Kloek and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman II, Alphen aan den Rijn 1990, p. 17. may well have chosen the young Roelant for this prestigious commission.

Other potential patrons have been suggested, including Cornelis Bicker van Swieten (1592-1654), whose castle was depicted four times (one of which may have been used as a title-page for the series) and who was related by marriage to the Bentes family;³¹³¹First suggested by Pelinck in S.J. Fockema Andreae et al., Kastelen, ridderhofsteden en buitenplaatsen in Rijnland, Leiden 1952, p. 57; H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, p. 6. Cornelis van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck (1600-62), the immensely rich owner of Spijk, which was represented in the series five times (more than any other castle);³²³²B. Broos, Rembrandt en tekenaars uit zijn omgeving, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1981 (Oude tekeningen in het bezit van de gemeentemusea van Amsterdam, waaronder de collectie Fodor, vol. 3), pp. 180, 191. and Adriaan Pauw (1585-1653), owner of Heemstede, of which there are three views.³³³³M.C. Plomp, The Dutch Drawings in the Teyler Museum, II: Artists Born between 1575 and 1630, coll. cat. Haarlem 1997, pp. 322-23. Another previously proposed candidate, Laurens Baeck (1570-1642),³⁴³⁴C. 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, p. 124; see also W. Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School, 10 vols., New York 1979-92, X (1992), p. 4990. maternal grandfather of Hillebrand Bentes the younger, can be excluded since he died before Roghman started the series.

The next mention of the castle drawings is found in the Schatkamer der Nederlandsche oudheden (1711) by Ludolf Smids (1649-1720). Twenty-seven of its sixty engraved illustrations by Jacobus Schijnvoet (1685?-1733) were after castle drawings by Roghman. Though Smids’ information on individual drawings tends to be imprecise and sometimes incorrect, it contains further information about the provenance of the series. According to the foreword, the drawings were then in the collection of Christiaan van Hoek (1643-1715),³⁵³⁵L. Smids, Schatkamer der Nederlandsche oudheden, Amsterdam 1711, voorbericht, s.p., ‘(…) dat de meeste Huisen en Kasteelen syn van Roeland Rochman, omtrent het jaar 1646, uitgeteekend; welke in het koper te brengen my is vergund (…) van den Heer, Christiaan van Hoek, besitter van deese uitmuntende Teeken-Schat.’ owner of the country estate Ouderhoek (near Loenen),³⁶³⁶L. Smids, Schatkamer der Nederlandsche oudheden, Amsterdam 1711, p. 206. and the ‘friend and maecenas’ to whom Smids dedicated the work. Van Hoek must have bought the whole castle series at the Bentes sale of 1708,³⁷³⁷H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, p. 8; J. Craandijk, Wandelingen door Nederland met pen en potlood, 9 vols., Haarlem 1875-84, II (1876), p. 297: ‘Christiaan van Hoek, zijn (Smids) rijke en welwillende beschermer, had om zijnentwille de prachtige teekeningen van Roelof Rochman angekocht. Daar lagen zij voor hem, die groote, bij de liefhebbers zoo welbekende afbeeldingen onzer kasteelen, in O.I. inkt gewasschen, nu in tallooze verzamelingen verspreid, nog altijd zoo gezocht en duur betaald, en met vergunning van den eigenaar bragt hij er een aantal van in het koper over.’ in order to make it available for Smids’ studies.³⁸³⁸L. Smids, Schatkamer der Nederlandsche oudheden, Amsterdam 1711, p. 206: ‘Hier (in Ouderhoek) rust het werk van Roeland Roghman; syn Sloten en Adelyke Huysen, in groot plano geteekend in de jaaren, 1646, 1647, &c van den bovengenoemden Heer (Christiaan van Hoek) gekocht, alleen om my: te weeten, op dat ik, by ledige tyden, syn E. geselschap houdende, daar mede my mogt vermaaken, en in myn voorgenoomde schryfstoffe deselve gebruiken.’ Smids (1711, p. 79) noted that he did not know the drawings in 1706, that is, before the Bentes sale; cf. H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, p. 8. The series next passed to Christiaan’s son Anthony van Hoek (1674-1719), who inherited Ouderhoek by 1702.³⁹³⁹H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, p. 15; E. Munning Schmidt, ‘De zilveren-huwelijkspenning van de naamgevers van Nieuwerhoek’, Jaarboekje van het Oudheidkundig Genootschap ‘Niftaarlake’ (1996), pp. 46-72 (esp. p. 60). In a poem by Claas Bruijn (1671-1732), written there on 16 August 1717, Anthony van Hoek is praised as the owner of the castle drawings (‘[…] of konst in Rogman op wilt zoeken, een schat by u op `t schoonst´ bewaart’).⁴⁰⁴⁰C. Bruijn, Speelreis langs de Vecht-Stroom, Amsterdam 1719, p. 24; H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, p. 15. Probably while in the collection of one of the Van Hoeks, the drawings were given an engraved label that was pasted at upper centre, just below the border.⁴¹⁴¹According to H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, p. 15, the labels, thought to be early eighteenth-century, might have been engraved by Bernard Picart (1673-1733) or by his pupil Jacobus Schijnvoet (1685-after 1733), who was responsible for the printed reproductions in Smids’ Schatkamer. These labels not only bore the name of the relevant castle but also a number, both written in pen. The twenty surviving labels – including on a pair of drawings in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt-am-Main (inv. nos. 2839 Z [Loenersloot] and 2836 Z [Sterkenburg])⁴²⁴²Ibid., nos. 106 and 185. – suggest that this numbering system started with castles from the Utrecht region, continuing to Zuid-Holland and ending with Noord-Holland.⁴³⁴³Ibid., p. 15. As in most other public collections, these labels, and thus the earlier ink numbering system, have been removed for conservation reasons from the drawings in the Rijksmuseum (though the earlier presence of such a label is evident on inv. no. RP-T-1879-A-81, where a paper repair replaces the excised label).

In 1718, the series was mentioned by Houbraken, without reference to its then owner (which could have been the Bentes heirs or one of the Van Hoeks); according to his description, they were kept in an album.⁴⁴⁴⁴A. Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols., Amsterdam 1718-21, I (1718), p. 173: ‘My gedenkt een geheel boek met teekeningen gezien te hebben, waar in de meeste Hollantsche stamhuizen, en bemuurde, of omwaterde sloten afgeschetst stonden.’. Another eighteenth-century source is the five-page handwritten list by Abraham de Haen (1707-1748) bound into a copy of Smids’ Schatkamer, now also kept in the Rijksmuseum (inv. no. 1896-4047).⁴⁵⁴⁵Reproduced with commentary in H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, pp. 11-13. This ‘Register der Teekeningen, Casteelen Adelijke huijzen etc.a in de provincie van Holland & Utrecht alle naar ’t Leven getekend door Roeland Rochman in den Jaare 1646, 1647-etc.’ is known as the ‘List De Haen’. It is not clear whether De Haen had access to Roghman’s drawings or if he simply copied another written source (such as the List Bentes).⁴⁶⁴⁶The latter possibility was suggested by H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, ibid., p. 13, though there are faint hints that De Haen might also have known the drawings; ibid., p. 12. However, here the castles’ names are in alphabetical order. In some cases, De Haen specified local references, alluded to then recent literature and sometimes also to the condition of the respective building – twenty-two castles are described as in ‘ruin’.

Anthony van Hoek never married and left Ouderhoek and the drawings to his cousin Jan [or Jean] de Wolff (1681-1735).⁴⁷⁴⁷Ibid., pp. 15 and 243; Jan de Wolff’s mother, Suzanna van Hoek (1646-1693), was the sister of Christiaan van Hoek; cf. E. Munning Schmidt, ‘De zilveren-huwelijkspenning van de naamgevers van Nieuwerhoek’, Jaarboekje van het Oudheidkundig Genootschap ‘Niftaarlake’ (1996), pp. 46-72 (esp. pp. 61-62, 71); see also C.P. van Eeghen, ‘Het Huis Heerengracht 476’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 39 (1942), pp. 35-89 (esp. pp. 50-51); J.F.M. Sterck, ‘Het portret van Clementia van den Vondel’, Oud Holland 34 (1916), no. 3, pp. 183-89 (esp. p. 188). Circa 1730, Louis-Philippe Serrurier (1706-1751), an amateur draughtsman and acquaintance of De Wolff who lived nearby across the River Vecht, copied a number of castle drawings by Roghman. He referred to these as ‘Rogman van de Wolf’.⁴⁸⁴⁸H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, p. 243; W. Beelaerts van Blokland and C. Dumas, De kasteeltekeningen van Abraham Rademaker, Zwolle 2006, p. 98 (n. 410). Serrurier copied the following sheets in the Rijksmuseum: inv. nos. RP-T-1911-69 (Abcoude), RP-T-1891-A-2466 (Duurstede), RP-T-1900-A-4343 (Bergestein), RP-T-1899-A-4104 (Groenewoude), RP-T-1900-A-4340 (Vliet) and RP-T-1899-A-4118 (Wulven). Whether they remained at Ouderhoek is unknown.⁴⁹⁴⁹Jan de Wolff left Ouderhoek to his wife, Margaretha Verhamme (1684-1756), who remained childless. After her death, Ouderhoek was sold in 1756 for fl. 27,000 to Jan’s nephew Pieter de Wolff Pietersz (1731-?) and the following year was resold to his mother, Ursula van Mekeren (1708-81) for fl. 38,900; H.H. Pijzel-Dommisse, ‘18de eeuwse inventaris van een verdwenen buitenplaats Ouderhoek’, Jaarboekje van het Oudheidkundig Genootschap ‘Niftarlake’ (1978), pp. 23-31 (esp. p. 24); E. Munning Schmidt, ‘De zilveren-huwelijkspenning van de naamgevers van Nieuwerhoek’, Jaarboekje van het Oudheidkundig Genootschap ‘Niftaarlake’ (1996), pp. 46-72 (esp. p. 63). No item such as a convolute of castle drawings was recorded in either the inventory of Ouderhoek after Margaretha Verhamme’s death or in her estate sale, Amsterdam, 16 March 1757 sqq., where only paintings and furniture are mentioned; G. Hoet and P. Terwesten, Catalogus of naamlyst van schilderyen, met derzelver prysen, 3 vols., The Hague 1752-70, III, p. 168-70. In 1785, Ouderhoek was owned by Jan, Baron de Petersen (1745-1786), and in 1838 it was slighted. They next turn up at the sale in 1800 of the collection of Cornelis Ploos van Amstel (1726-1798). There is no information as to when, where or from whom Ploos purchased the series.⁵⁰⁵⁰T. Laurentius et al., Cornelis Ploos van Amstel (1726-1798): Kunstverzamelaar en prentuitgever, Assen 1980, p. 16; J.W. Niemeijer, ‘Een ongepubliceerde inventaris van de collectie Ploos van Amstel, met onbekende werken van Cornelis Troost’, Oud Holland 111 (1997), no. 1, pp. 54-65 (esp. p. 55). One and a half years after his death (20 December 1798), at the sale of his huge collection of drawings on 3 March 1800 sqq., two hundred and forty-one castle drawings by Roghman were offered in Albums KK 1-6.⁵¹⁵¹This is fewer than recorded in the List Bentes, suggesting that some of the drawings had by then already become detached from the series; cf. also inv. no. RP-T-1899-A-4118. The convolute that was listed in random order in the List Bentes was then systematically arranged according to regional location. The first album held forty-five drawings from the Utrecht area; the second album forty-five drawings of castles in the Sticht; the third album included thirty-five castle drawings from Rhijnland, Delfsland, Schieland, etc.; Albums 4 and 5 contained thirty-five and thirty-nine unspecified drawings (‘Huizen enz., als boven’); and the last, Album KK 6, contained forty-three castle drawings from Noordholland and Kennemerland.⁵²⁵²This regional order apparently corresponds with the information given on the mostly lost inscriptions on the printed labels. Each album also included a title-page. In the first album, there were two such title-pages, plus a portrait drawing of Roghman by Jan Stolker (1724-1785), which is preserved in the Special Collections, Universiteit Leiden (inv. no. PK-T-AW-1415).⁵³⁵³T. Laurentius et al., Cornelis Ploos van Amstel (1726-1798): Kunstverzamelaar en prentuitgever, Assen 1980, p. 181. In that portrait, Roghman is portrayed seated among portfolios of drawings of convents and holding up a view of an Italianate landscape with ruins, thus it was probably not made for the castle series. Nevertheless, if Stolker made the portrait on behalf of Ploos, as he did in other cases,⁵⁴⁵⁴On the relationship between Stolker and Ploos van Amstel, cf. ibid., pp. 180-84. Ploos must have acquired the series before Stolker’s death in 1785.

At Ploos van Amstel’s sale, the series went en bloc for fl. 2,000 to Cornelis Sebille Roos (1754-1820),⁵⁵⁵⁵The albums’ leather wrappers were bought for fl. 7:15:- by ‘Jolles’. who apparently eventually dismembered the albums. Only six weeks after the Ploos sale, on 16 April 1800 sqq., some eighty of Roghman’s castle drawings were included in the sale of Jacob Cats (1741-1799), Steven Goblé (1749-1799) and others; in the sale catalogue, these lots are annotated with the letter ‘P’ as the consigner, which stood for Roos who apparently took the opportunity to bring a part of the freshly acquired series onto the market.⁵⁶⁵⁶Personal communication by Robert-Jan te Rijdt, 13 February 2018, who is preparing a study of the codes used to identify consigners in annotated old sale catalogues. Cf. R.-J. te Rijdt, ‘Speuren naar veilingcatalogi met annotaties in potlood of pen’, De Boekenwereld 33 (2017), no. 3: Rijksmuseum Special, pp. 30-40. This convolute, offered in Albums A and B, was the largest intact portion of the castle series after its dismemberment.⁵⁷⁵⁷‘Omslag A’ contained thirty-eight castle views, as well as the Rijksmuseum’s View of the Town Hall, Gouda (inv. no. RP-T-1891-A-2417) and a drawing of Egmont Abbey. ‘Omslag B’ contained forty castle views, Stolker’s portrait of Roghman, plus a lot containing seven titles. In this group, there is a predominance of castles from the Utrecht area. In all likelihood, Roos took a large portion of the contents of Ploos’s Album KK 1 (containing castles from the Utrecht area, two titles and the portrait by Stolker) and mixed it with sheets from the other albums. Thanks to the often explicit titles, it was possible to identify many of the castle drawings in later sales, though one must be wary of instances in which the same castle was the subject of multiple drawings.

Verso inscriptions and later provenance
The drawings are extensively annotated on the versos. Of these inscriptions, only the earlier ones were systematically studied by Niemeijer, who discerned five different hands:⁵⁸⁵⁸H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, p. 16. ‘Hand A’ and ‘Hand B’ of seventeenth-century origin (the first likely to be the artist himself); ‘Hand C’ of eighteenth-century origin; ‘Hand D’ of eighteenth- or nineteenth-century origin; and ‘Hand E’ of nineteenth-century origin. The post-seventeenth-century inscriptions are thought to transcribe or replace earlier inscriptions that had become illegible or were lost by trimming.⁵⁹⁵⁹The practice of trimming sheets to tidy up uneven or damaged borders resulted in the loss of verso inscriptions as well as signatures. ‘Hand B’ might be associated with one of the Bentes owners, and ‘Hand C’ could be that of either Christiaan or Anthony van Hoek.⁶⁰⁶⁰H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, p. 17. ‘Hand D’ and ‘Hand E’ for the moment remain unidentified.⁶¹⁶¹Ludolf Smids and Ploos van Amstel can be excluded as author of either of these types of inscriptions.

Niemeijer did not assess later annotations on the castle drawings’ versos, such as numbers and price codes. Some of these can now be deciphered, providing valuable additional provenance information and a potential identification for ‘Hand E’ as the dealer Jan Coenrad Pruyssenaar (1748-1814). For instance, graphite inscriptions such as ‘Lr A N 11&12. 2 p ° = 150 – 170’, which appears on the verso of the Rijksmuseum’s view of Abcoude (inv. no. RP-T-1911-69), refers to two items in the 1800 Cats sale, where in Album A two drawings of Abcoude are listed as no. 11 (‘het Slot te Abcoude’) and no. 12 (‘het zelfde van een andere zijde’); these were bought together by the dealer Pruyssenaar for fl. 15.⁶²⁶²Copy RKD. The inscription can thus be decoded as ‘L[ette]r A, N[os.] 11&12. 2 pieces = 15:0:- guilders – 17:0:- guilders (with commission)’. The other item from that pair of views of Abcoude, now in the Frits Lugt Collection, Fondation Custodia, Paris (inv. no. 5108),⁶³⁶³H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, no. 4. bears a near identical code, which seems to begin with an allusion to the artist: ‘R[…] Lr A. No 11 & 12. 2 p’ 150-170’.⁶⁴⁶⁴According to a photo sent by Marleen Ram, 3 April 2017. A similar code is found on the verso of inv. no. RP-T-1900-A-4342 (Broekhuizen), ‘L.r A n°. 9.10 ƒ.520.100[?] 160’, which can also be linked to one of Pruyssenaar’s purchases at the Cats sale: in Album A (‘Letter A’), no. 9, a drawing of Broekhuizen is mentioned that went for fl. 50 to the dealer, together with no. 10, the Rijksmusem’s view of Groenewoude (inv. no. RP-T-1899-A-4104), which bears only a fragmentary annotation alluding to the same sale and price (9 ƒ 5). The last example of this type of code among the Rijksprentenkabinet’s castle drawings by Roghman is on inv. no. RP-T-1900-A-4340 (Vliet), which featured in Album A, no. 26 in the Cats sale and went to Pruyssenaar for fl. 5:15:-. Its inscription, partially effaced, reads, ‘A/ […] 26. . 60 . . -.[...] g’. Although such codes do not appear on all drawings that passed through the hands of Pruyssenaar (and might at some point have been erased or trimmed),⁶⁵⁶⁵Two castle drawings with a Pruyssenaar provenance in the Rijksmuseum that do not bear such annotation are inv. nos. RP-T-1898-A-3660 (Hagestein) and RP-T-1893-A-2751 (Moersbergen). they feature exclusively on drawings inscribed by ‘Hand E’.⁶⁶⁶⁶See also the drawing of Buren in the Frits Lugt Collection, Fondation Custodia, Paris (inv. no. 4986; H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, no. 32), which is inscribed, R (…) Lr B No 71. 70. 80, referring to Album B, no. 71 in the Cats sale (‘(R. Rogman) ‘t Slot van Buuren’), which sold to Pruyssenaar for fl. 7. According to Kloek, ‘Hand E’ (thus Pruyssenaar?) was also reponsible for what was previously described as an ‘atypical’ signature on inv. no. RP-T-1891-A-2467 (Huis ter Does), ‘R. Roghman jnvent’, which probably replaced a lost or trimmed original signature.⁶⁷⁶⁷According to Wouter Kloek’s notes, kindly placed at the author’s disposal. The same might be the case with inv. no. RP-T-1888-A-1779 (Santhorst).

Another type of inscription frequently seen on the Rijksmuseum’s castle drawings is an ‘N’ in graphite followed by a number, apparently written by the same early nineteenth-century hand on inv. nos. RP-T-1888-A-1772 (N 4), RP-T-1888-A-1780) (N 4), RP-T-1898-A-3661 (N 4), RP-T-1888-A-1769 (N 5), RP-T-1891-A-2419 (N 7) and RP-T-1898-A-3716 (N 11).⁶⁸⁶⁸In the case of inv. no. RP-T-1898-A-3661, the number might have been written after an originally larger drawing was cut into half, which occurred before 1810. The other half, inv. no. RP-T-2013-15, does not bear such a number; it is thus unclear whether it was added after the sheets ended up in different collections. Similar numbers, possibly also by the same hand, are found on drawings in the Frits Lugt Collection (inv. no. 1412 (N 4) and possibly inv. no. 5108 (N 26)); the British Museum, London (inv. no. 1836,0811.477 (N 7)); the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin (KdZ 12228 (N 7));, and the Stadsarchief, Rotterdam (inv. no. 4080_1968-1681 (N 29)).

Another numbering system that is closely related to the Pruyssenaar code, if not by the same hand, consists of an ‘N’ with a double underlined superscript ‘o’, followed by a number and occasionally the letter ‘Z’.⁶⁹⁶⁹This configuration is found on the versos of inv. nos. RP-T-1888-A-1780 (Te Werve: N° 275), RP-T-1888-A-1773 (Egmont: Z N° 522), RP-T-1888-A-1777 (Oudaan: N° 168 Z); cf. also inv. nos. RP-T-1888-A-1778 (Rijswijk: 146 Z) and RP-T-1900-A-4342 (Broekhuizen: 167 Z). Still another type is the pen-and-ink numbering system found on inv. nos. RP-T-1899-A-4122 (Amerongen: n°. 106), RP-T-1899-A-4087 (Broekhuizen: n°105) and RP-T-1899-A-4104 (Groenewoude: n° 100).⁷⁰⁷⁰The inscription on inv. no. RP-T-1899-A-4118 (Wulven) (‘(…)hman f’) might be by the same hand. These are all from the collection of Cornelis Laurens de Leur (1850-1916) of Utrecht, which was apparently devoted mainly to castle drawings, but it probably predates his ownership, since the same system does not appear to have been applied to other drawings in the museum with the same provenance.

Annemarie Stefes, 2018

References
S.J. Fockema Andreae et al., Kastelen, ridderhofsteden en buitenplaatsen in Rijnland, Leiden 1952, pp. 56-57; T. Laurentius et al., Cornelis Ploos van Amstel (1726-1798): Kunstverzamelaar en prentuitgever, Assen 1980, pp. 16, 21; B. Broos, Rembrandt en tekenaars uit zijn omgeving, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1981 (Oude tekeningen in het bezit van de gemeentemusea van Amsterdam, waaronder de collectie Fodor, vol. 3), pp. 179-80, under no. 52; W. Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School, 10 vols., New York 1979-92, X (1992), pp. 4990-91; H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, pp. VII-XV, 1-18; W. Kloek and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman II, Alphen aan den Rijn 1990, pp. 113-34; B. Olde Meierink, Kastelen en ridderhofsteden in Utrecht, Utrecht 1995, p. 82; H.L. Janssen et al. (eds.), 1000 jaar kastelen in Nederland: Functie en vorm door de eeuwen heen, Utrecht 1996, pp. 122, 142; E. Munning Schmidt and A.J.A.M. Lisman, Plaatsen aan de Vecht en de Angstel: Historische beschrijvingen en afbeeldingen van kastelen, buitenplaatsen, stads- en dorpsgezichten aan de Vecht en de Angstel – van Zuilen tot Muiden, Alphen 1997, p. 132; W. Beelaerts van Blokland and C. Dumas, De kasteeltekeningen van Abraham Rademaker, Zwolle 2006, pp. 53, 58, 64-66, 81; W. Beelaerts van Blokland and C. Dumas, De kasteeltekeningen van Abraham Rademaker. Aanvullingen en correcties, The Hague 2016, pp. 6, 35

Groenewoude was situated north of the village of Woudenberg to the west of Utrecht. The house was built in 1382 by Willem van Groenewoude (?-1416). In 1459, it was inherited by the Taets van Amerongen family, and in 1643 it was sold to Maria Hondeling (?-1655), who bought it for her son, Gerard van Eck van Panthaleon, Heer van Oud-Broekhuizen (1607-1654).⁸³⁸³Information on the castle’s history from B. Olde Meierink, Kastelen en ridderhofsteden in Utrecht, Utrecht 1995, pp. 209-11. After several changes of ownership, it was demolished circa 1859 by its then owner, Hendrik Daniël Hooft (1798-1879).

The present drawing, Roghman’s only known view of Huis Groenewoude, is seen from the east. A copy by Louis-Philippe Serrurier (1706-1751) of circa 1730 is among his castle views in the Utrechts Archief (inv. no. 201270). The same collection preserves an album of seventeenth-century castle views that includes what is presumed to be a seventeenth-century copy of the present sheet (inv. no. 135444).

Annemarie Stefes, 2018

List Bentes,no. 80 (‘Groenewoude’); L. Smids, Schatkamer der Nederlandsse Oudheden, Amsterdam 1711, p. 119; List De Haen (‘Groenewouw bij Geresteijn in Stigt’); H.W.M. van der Wyck and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman I, Alphen aan den Rijn 1989, pp. 16, 75, no. 55; W. Kloek and J.W. Niemeijer, De kasteeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman II, Alphen aan den Rijn 1990, pp. 74, n. 19, 115; B. Olde Meierink, Kastelen en ridderhofsteden in Utrecht, Utrecht 1995, pp. 209-210

A. Stefes, 2018, 'Roelant Roghman, View of Huis Groenewoude, Seen from the East, Woudenberg, c. 1646 - c. 1650', in J. Turner (ed.), Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.60325