watermark: foolscap with seven points, above three balls

...; collection Jacob de Vos Jbzn (1803-78), 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., one of a pair in no. 478 (‘Corneille Saftleven. Garçon jouant de la flûte.- Ruelle de petite ville. Deux dessins à la pierre noire, dont le premier est signé du monogramme et daté: 1665.’), fl. 140, to William Pitcairn Knowles (1820-94), Rotterdam and Wiesbaden (L. 2643); his sale, Amsterdam (F. Muller), 25-26 June 1895, one of a pair in no. 581, with inv. no. RP-T-1902-A-4569, fl. 20 for both, to the dealer H.J. Valk for the Vereniging Rembrandt; from whom, fl. 23, to the museum (L. 2228), 1902

Object number: RP-T-1902-A-4570

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.¹¹A. Zwollo, ‘Een ‘Cornelis Saftleven’ per brief’, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek (NKJ) / Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art 38 (1987), pp. 402-06.

Carolyn Mensing, 2020

As Schatborn correctly noted, the boy depicted here is not actually playing the shawm, but is posing with it.⁹⁹P. Schatborn, Dutch Figure Drawings from the Seventeenth Century, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksprentenkabinet)/Washington (DC) (National Gallery of Art) 1981-82, p. 78. A painting dated two years earlier formerly on the art market, the Allegory of Human Folly,¹⁰¹⁰Sale, London (Christie’s), 8 December 1995, no. 28; W. Schulz, Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1685): Leben und Werke, mit einem kritischen Katalog der Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Berlin 1978, p. 191, no. 525, fig. 46. includes the same sitter with a shawm at far right, but in a slightly different pose, which would suggest the drawing was either after the painting or the drawing is wrongly dated.

The present drawing and inv. no. RP-T-1902-A-4569 were in the collection of William Pitcairn Knowles (1820-94) and were sold in one lot to the museum in 1895.¹¹¹¹Sale, Amsterdam (F. Muller), 25-6 June 1895, no. 581 (‘Cornelis Saftleven. Deux belles études d’hommes: un poète couronné de lauriers et un garçon jouant de la flûte. Signées et datées: 1652, 1665. Collection Jacob de Vos (1883). Pierre noire’).

Gerdien Wuestman, 2001/Carolyn Mensing, 2020

Jaarverslag Rijksprentenkabinet 1902, p. 26; W. Schulz, Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1685): Leben und Werke, mit einem kritischen Katalog der Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Berlin 1978, pp. 65, 81 (no. 36, fig. 72); P. Schatborn, Dutch Figure Drawings from the Seventeenth Century, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksprentenkabinet)/Washington (DC) (National Gallery of Art) 1981-82, pp. 78, 142, no. 89

G. Wuestman, 2001/C. Mensing, 2020, 'Cornelis Saftleven, _, 1665', in J. Turner (ed.), _Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200143920