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Man Turned to the Left, Seated on a Decoratively Carved Chair
Cornelis Saftleven, 1660
- Artwork typedrawing
- Object numberRP-T-1889-A-2001
- Dimensionsheight 257 mm x width 183 mm
- Physical characteristicsblack chalk and opaque white watercolour, on brown toned paper
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Identification
Title(s)
Man Turned to the Left, Seated on a Decoratively Carved Chair
Object type
Object number
RP-T-1889-A-2001
Inscriptions / marks
date: ‘1660’
Part of catalogue
Creation
Creation
draftsman (artist): Cornelis Saftleven
Dating
1660
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Material and technique
Physical description
black chalk and opaque white watercolour, on brown toned paper
Dimensions
height 257 mm x width 183 mm
This work is about
Subject
Acquisition and rights
Acquisition
purchase 1889-04-25
Copyright
Provenance
...; purchased from J.H. Valk (Amsterdam) by the museum (L. 2228), 1889
Documentation
Persistent URL
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Cornelis Saftleven
Man Turned to the Left, Seated on a Decoratively Carved Chair
1660
Inscriptions
monogrammed and dated: lower right, in black chalk, CSL 1660
inscribed on verso: lower left corner, in a modern hand, in pencil, 1889; lower right, in a modern hand, in pencil, C. Saftleven
stamped on verso: lower left, with the mark of the museum (L. 2228)
Technical notes
watermark: Arms of Amsterdam
Provenance
...; purchased from J.H. Valk (Amsterdam) by the museum (L. 2228), 1889
Object number: RP-T-1889-A-2001
Context
Of the approximately five hundred known drawings by Cornelis Saftleven, close to two hundred are studies of human figures. The Rijksmuseum collection holds sixteen of these sheets, made between 1634 and 1665, which give a fairly complete picture of Saftleven's figural draughtsmanship. The models are recorded in varying poses and drawn on different types of support, sometimes toned, sometimes coloured. The drawings range from very swift sketches to more detailed studies.
All the drawings are made with black chalk; those on coloured paper are heightened with opaque white watercolour or white chalk. The Seated Boy with a Hat (inv. no. RP-T-1989-105) is the only one finished with grey wash. The earliest dated study in the Rijksmuseum, the Seated Woman, Facing Left of 1634 (inv. no. RP-T-1989-100) and a later sheet dated 1665, Seated Boy with a Flute (inv. no. RP-T-1902-A-4570), are among the most monumental of the Rijksmuseum figure studies.
The goal of Saftleven's prolific output is unclear: in only a few cases can the figures be linked to his painted oeuvre. He may have sold his studies to other artists, and he certainly also drew figures for his talented landscapist brother Herman (1609-1685), who used them in his paintings. The Rijksmuseum’s collection includes two versions of a Seated Man with a Pipe (inv. nos. RP-T-1989-104 and RP-T-2019-423). Cornelis sent the latter sheet to his brother via post, probably so he could incorporate the figure in one of his compositions.1A. Zwollo, ‘Een ‘Cornelis Saftleven’ per brief’, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek (NKJ) / Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art 38 (1987), pp. 402-06.
Carolyn Mensing, 2020
The artist
Biography
Cornelis Saftleven (Gorinchem, 1606 – Rotterdam, 1681)
The son of the Rotterdam artist Herman Saftleven I (c. 1580-1627) and Lijntge Cornelisdr Moelants (d. 1625), he was trained by his father together with two of his brothers, Herman Saftleven (1609-1685) and Abraham Safleven (b. 1613). He likely stayed in Antwerp between 1632 and 1634, where Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) painted figures in some of his paintings.2RKD Artists, https://rkd.nl/explore/artists/69245; accessed 20 August 2020. For a short period of time in the 1630s, he stayed with his brother Herman in Utrecht.3A. van der Willigen and F.G. Meijer, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-Life Painters Working in Oils, 1525-1725, Leiden 2003, p. 175.
Except for these few trips, Cornelis Saftleven stayed in Rotterdam. In 1640, he lived in the Lombardstraat and from 1648-1681 on the Franse Water.4N. Schadee, Rotterdamse meesters uit de gouden eeuw, exh. cat. Rotterdam (Historisch Museum) 1994-95, p. 295. On 18 November 1648, he married Catharina Dircx van der Heyden (d. 1654). After she passed away, on 29 September 1655, he married Elisabeth Melchiors van Avont (1619-1695). It appears he remained childless. In 1667, he became the dean of the Guild of St Luke in Rotterdam.5RKD Artists, https://rkd.nl/explore/artists/69245; accessed 20 August 2020.
Cornelis Saftleven was a versatile artist who produced paintings and drawings on a large variety of topics: peasant scenes, rural interiors, landscapes, cattle scenes, biblical and mythological themes, images of hell, allegories, satires and illustrations of proverbs. About 200 paintings and 500 drawings (probably a fraction of his output) have been documented.6W. Schulz, “Saftleven family,” (2003), Grove Art Online, https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000074951; Accessed 20 Aug. 2020. In his drawings, he worked mainly in black chalk and sometimes finished his sheets with grey wash. Occasionally, he drew on toned papers. His characteristic monogram – combining the letters ‘C, S and L’ – and a date can be found on his several of his drawings. Perhaps he made these for the market. Stylistically, he was influenced by the landscape drawings of Roelant Rogman (1627-1692), the animal drawings of Roelant Savery (1576-1639), Frans Snijders (1579-1657) and Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691), and the figure studies of Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667).7Ibid.
Saftleven was buried on 5 June 1681 in the French Protestant Church in Rotterdam.8RKD Artists, https://rkd.nl/explore/artists/69245; accessed 20 August 2020.
Carolyn Mensing, 2020
References
A. Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols., Amsterdam 1718-21, I (1718), pp. 342-43 (as: Kornelis Zachtleven); C. Hofstede de Groot, ‘Een spotteekening van Cornelis Saftleven op de Dordtsche Synode’, Oud-Holland 15 (1897), pp. 121-23; A. von Wurzbach, Niederländisches Künstlerlexikon, 3 vols., Vienna/Leipzig 1906-11, II (1910), p. 548; N. Alting Mees, ‘Aanteekeningen over oud-Rotterdamsche kunstenaars III’, Oud-Holland 31 (1913), pp. 241-68, 255-59; U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler: Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 37 vols., Leipzig 1907-50, XXIX (1935), p. 309; B.J.A. Renckens, ‘Enkele notities bij vroege werken van Cornelis Saftleven’, Bulletin Museum Boymans-van Beuningen 13 (1962), pp. 59-74; A. Zwollo, ‘Een “Cornelis Saftleven” per brief’, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 38 (1987), pp. 402-06; W. Schulz, Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1685): Leben und Werke, mit einem kritischen Katalog der Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Berlin 1978; N. Schadee, Rotterdamse meesters uit de gouden eeuw, exh. cat. Rotterdam (Historisch Museum) 1994-95, pp. 295-96; RKD artists https://rkd.nl/artists/69245
Entry
In the present sheet, Saftleven posed his sitter on an ornate chair, dressed in a robe and with shawls draped around his shoulders. He drew the figure on brown toned paper, allowing him to emphasize the play of light on the robe using white heightening against the mid-tone of the support.
Carolyn Mensing, 2020
Literature
W. Schulz, Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1685): Leben und Werke, mit einem kritischen Katalog der Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Berlin 1978, p. 80, no. 34, fig. 70
Citation
C. Mensing, 2020, 'Cornelis Saftleven, Man Turned to the Left, Seated on a Decoratively Carved Chair, 1660', in J. Turner (ed.), Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200143925
(accessed 7 juli 2026 03:06:12 UTC+0).Footnotes
- 1A. Zwollo, ‘Een ‘Cornelis Saftleven’ per brief’, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek (NKJ) / Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art 38 (1987), pp. 402-06.
- 2RKD Artists, https://rkd.nl/explore/artists/69245; accessed 20 August 2020.
- 3A. van der Willigen and F.G. Meijer, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-Life Painters Working in Oils, 1525-1725, Leiden 2003, p. 175.
- 4N. Schadee, Rotterdamse meesters uit de gouden eeuw, exh. cat. Rotterdam (Historisch Museum) 1994-95, p. 295.
- 5RKD Artists, https://rkd.nl/explore/artists/69245; accessed 20 August 2020.
- 6W. Schulz, “Saftleven family,” (2003), Grove Art Online, https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000074951; Accessed 20 Aug. 2020.
- 7Ibid.
- 8RKD Artists, https://rkd.nl/explore/artists/69245; accessed 20 August 2020.