Three-quarter-length Study of a Standing Boy with a Whip, in Profile to the Right

Cornelis Saftleven (possibly), c. 1617 - c. 1681

  • Artwork typedrawing
  • Object numberRP-T-1981-142
  • Dimensionsheight 270 mm x width 133 mm
  • Physical characteristicsblack chalk and opaque white watercolour, on brown toned paper; framing line in graphite; pasted in album Figuurstudies I, fol. 52 (inv. no. RP-T-1981-92A).

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Satire on the Trial of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt

Cornelis Saftleven (signed by artist), 1663

Satire on the Trial of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt

Dog Asleep on a Cushion

Cornelis Saftleven, c. 1617 - c. 1681

Dog Asleep on a Cushion

Lion

Cornelis Saftleven, c. 1620 - c. 1630

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Figures before a Village Inn

Cornelis Saftleven (signed by artist), 1642

Figures before a Village Inn

Identification

  • Title(s)

    Three-quarter-length Study of a Standing Boy with a Whip, in Profile to the Right

  • Object type

  • Object number

    RP-T-1981-142

  • Part of catalogue

Creation

  • Creation

    draftsman (artist): Cornelis Saftleven (possibly), Netherlands

  • Dating

    c. 1617 - c. 1681

  • Search further with

Material and technique

  • Physical description

    black chalk and opaque white watercolour, on brown toned paper; framing line in graphite; pasted in album Figuurstudies I, fol. 52 (inv. no. RP-T-1981-92A).

  • Dimensions

    height 270 mm x width 133 mm

Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    Purchased with the support of the F.G. Waller-Fonds, the Belport Familienstiftung and a contribution from the J.A.Z. Count van Regteren Limpurg Bequest

  • Acquisition

    purchase 1981

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    ...; collection Pieter Kikkert (1775-1855), Leiden and Vlaardingen; by descent to Mrs E. Peereboom, Haarlem; from whom, with support from the Belport Familien Stiftung, the F.G. Wallerfonds and the J.A.Z. Graaf van Regteren Limpurg Bequest, to the museum (L. 2228), 1981

  • Remarks

    Please note that this provenance was formulated with a special focus on provenance research for the years 1933-45 and could therefore be incomplete. There may be more (mostly earlier) provenance information known in the museum. In case this item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45, the Rijksmuseum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.

Documentation

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Cornelis Saftleven (possibly)

Three-quarter-length Study of a Standing Boy with a Whip, in Profile to the Right

Netherlands, c. 1617 - c. 1681

Technical notes

part of an album

Provenance

...; collection Pieter Kikkert (1775-1855), Leiden and Vlaardingen; by descent to Mrs E. Peereboom, Haarlem; from whom, with support from the Belport Familien Stiftung, the F.G. Wallerfonds and the J.A.Z. Graaf van Regteren Limpurg Bequest, to the museum (L. 2228), 1981

Object number: RP-T-1981-142

Credit line: Purchased with the support of the F.G. Waller-Fonds, the Belport Familienstiftung and a contribution from the J.A.Z. Count van Regteren Limpurg Bequest

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

Like most of the drawings in the two albums with figure studies from the estate of the artist Pieter Kikkert (1775-1855), this one is not signed. The type of drawing and style agree with the work of Cornelis Saftleven. Details such as the thickly applied contours especially for the shoes and the way in which the chalk is rubbed out in the shaded passages are typical of this artist. Also characteristic is the use of opaque white watercolour to lay out parts of the composition, rather than just to render the highlights. In terms of technique, the sheet is most closely related to studies of circa 1660 in the Rijksmuseum’s collection, for instance, inv. nos. RP-T-1902-A-4572, RP-T-1889-A-2001 and RP-T-1902-A-4573.

Gerdien Wuestman, 2001

Citation

G. Wuestman, 2001, 'possibly Cornelis Saftleven, _, Netherlands, c. 1617 - c. 1681', in J. Turner (ed.), _Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200553242

(accessed 8 augustus 2026 00:04:01 UTC+0).

Footnotes