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View of the Bergpoort and Bergkerk in Deventer
Jan van Kessel, c. 1665
- Artwork typedrawing
- Object numberRP-T-1888-A-1637
- Dimensionsheight 188 mm x width 265 mm
- Physical characteristicsbrush and brown and grey wash, over black chalk; framing lines in brown ink (upper, lower, and right border) and black chalk (left border)
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Identification
Title(s)
View of the Bergpoort and Bergkerk in Deventer
Object type
Object number
RP-T-1888-A-1637
Part of catalogue
Creation
Creation
draughtsman: Jan van Kessel, Deventer
Dating
c. 1665
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Material and technique
Physical description
brush and brown and grey wash, over black chalk; framing lines in brown ink (upper, lower, and right border) and black chalk (left border)
Dimensions
height 188 mm x width 265 mm
This work is about
Subject
Place
Acquisition and rights
Credit line
Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt
Copyright
Provenance
…; collection Sybrand Feitama II (1694-1758), Amsterdam;{S. Feitama, _Notitie der teekeningen, uit de oudste en latere aanteekeningen, sedert de jaren 1685 en 1690, tot 1746_, s.l. [1746], fol. 24 (‘Jan van Kessel, Discipel van Jacob Ruisdaal. 1 Poort De Bergpoort te Deventer: Gekocht Ao 1742 ƒ 2:-:-’).} his sale, Amsterdam (B. de Bosch), 16 October 1758 sqq., Album K, no. 54 (‘De Bergpoort te Deventer, geteekend als de vorige’), fl. 9, to Pieter Calkoen Willemsz (1712-80), Amsterdam;{Copy RKD.} his sale, Amsterdam (Ph. van der Schley), 10 September 1781 sqq., Album D, no. 323 (‘De Berg Poort en Berg-Kerk te Deventer […] door J.v. Kessel’);{Copy RKD.} …; sale, Jacob de Vos (1735-1833), Amsterdam, (J. de Vries et al.), 30 October 1833 sqq., Album C, no. 33 (‘De Bergpoort en Bergkerk te Deventer. Als voren […] door denzelven [J. van Kessel]’), fl. 61, to ‘De Vries’;{Copy RKD.} sale, J.A. Mendes de Leon (Amsterdam, 1784-1842) a.o., Amsterdam (J. de Vries et al.), 20 November 1843 sqq., Album C, no. 22 (‘Gezigt op de Berg-Poort en Kerk te Deventer […] door J. van Kessel’), fl. 16 to ‘De Vries’;{Copy RKD.} …; sale, Jacob de Vos Jbzn (1803-78), Amsterdam), Amsterdam (C.F. Roos et al.), 22 May 1883 sqq., no. 264 (‘Jean van Kessel. Vue sur Deventer. Signé par le Maître, et annoté au revers de la pièce: “De Bergpoort en Bergkerk te Deventer.” Au lavis de bistre […]’), fl. 35, to the Vereniging Rembrandt;{Copy RKD.} …; acquired from the Vereniging Rembrandt by the museum (L. 2228), 1888{For security reasons, the drawing was transferred from the Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken to the museum in 1888.}
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Jan van Kessel
View of the Bergpoort and Bergkerk in Deventer
Deventer, c. 1665
Inscriptions
signed: lower left, in brown ink, Jv Kessel (the first two initials in ligature)
inscribed on verso, in pencil: upper left, in an eighteenth- or nineteenth-century hand, De Bergpoort en Bergkerk, / te Deventer; to the left and above that, 11; lower left, ƒ m:o:-; above that, in a modern hand, 515 Z; lower centre, in a modern hand, J v Kessel
Technical notes
watermark: unidentified
Condition
Brown spots, mostly along the edges; thinning at the corners
Provenance
…; collection Sybrand Feitama II (1694-1758), Amsterdam;1S. Feitama, Notitie der teekeningen, uit de oudste en latere aanteekeningen, sedert de jaren 1685 en 1690, tot 1746, s.l. [1746], fol. 24 (‘Jan van Kessel, Discipel van Jacob Ruisdaal. 1 Poort De Bergpoort te Deventer: Gekocht Ao 1742 ƒ 2:-:-’). his sale, Amsterdam (B. de Bosch), 16 October 1758 sqq., Album K, no. 54 (‘De Bergpoort te Deventer, geteekend als de vorige’), fl. 9, to Pieter Calkoen Willemsz (1712-80), Amsterdam;2Copy RKD. his sale, Amsterdam (Ph. van der Schley), 10 September 1781 sqq., Album D, no. 323 (‘De Berg Poort en Berg-Kerk te Deventer […] door J.v. Kessel’);3Copy RKD. …; sale, Jacob de Vos (1735-1833), Amsterdam, (J. de Vries et al.), 30 October 1833 sqq., Album C, no. 33 (‘De Bergpoort en Bergkerk te Deventer. Als voren […] door denzelven [J. van Kessel]’), fl. 61, to ‘De Vries’;4Copy RKD. sale, J.A. Mendes de Leon (Amsterdam, 1784-1842) a.o., Amsterdam (J. de Vries et al.), 20 November 1843 sqq., Album C, no. 22 (‘Gezigt op de Berg-Poort en Kerk te Deventer […] door J. van Kessel’), fl. 16 to ‘De Vries’;5Copy RKD. …; sale, Jacob de Vos Jbzn (1803-78), Amsterdam), Amsterdam (C.F. Roos et al.), 22 May 1883 sqq., no. 264 (‘Jean van Kessel. Vue sur Deventer. Signé par le Maître, et annoté au revers de la pièce: ‘De Bergpoort en Bergkerk te Deventer.’ Au lavis de bistre […]’), fl. 35, to the Vereniging Rembrandt;6Copy RKD. …; acquired from the Vereniging Rembrandt by the museum (L. 2228), 18887For security reasons, the drawing was transferred from the Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken to the museum in 1888.
Object number: RP-T-1888-A-1637
Credit line: Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt
The artist
Biography
Jan van Kessel (Amsterdam, 1641 - Amsterdam, 1680)
He was born to the framemaker Thomas Jacobsz. van Kessel (?-?) and Neeltje Henrix (?-?) and baptized in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam on 22 September 1641.8Amsterdam, Stadsarchief, DTB Dopen, archiefnummer 5001, inventarisnummer 42, blad p. 273, aktenummer DTB 42. In 1668, he married Clara Swichters (?-?).9Amsterdam, Stadsarchief, Ondertrouwregister, archiefnummer 5001, inventarisnummer 491, blad p. 342, aktenummer DTB 491. The couple had several children, but only one son, Isaac (1670-?), made it to adulthood.10A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992, pp. 14-17.
Based on stylistic evidence, Van Kessel probably trained with Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682). He was friends with fellow artist Meindert Hobbema (1638-1709), the only documented student of Ruisdael.11Hobbema acted as the godfather to Van Kessel’s son Thomas (1675-? 1676), and in 1690, ten years after Van Kessel’s death, he became the legal guardian of Isaac van Kessel; cf. Ibid, pp. 15, 29. Van Kessel painted mainly townscapes and panoramic views. He occasionally copied whole compositions by Ruisdael, but more often he imitated the styles of contemporaries such as Hobbema, Allart van Everdingen (1621-1675), Jan Wijnants (1632-1684) and Jan van de Capelle (1626-1679).12Ibid., p. 2. As a result, his work is often catalogued under the wrong name. He is also confused with other minor artists in Ruisdael’s circle, such as Jan van de Meer II (1656-1705), Isaac Koene (1637/40-1713), Jacob Salomonsz van Ruysdael (1629/30-1681) and Anthonie van Borssom (1630-1677).13A. Davies, ‘Kessel, Jan (Johan) van’, Grove Art Online, https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000046340, accessed 15 June 2020. His earliest known dated works are from 1661, but the Fondation Custodia in Paris holds a sketchbook that probably dates from c. 1659-66 (inv. no. 2006-T.30).14J. Giltaij, ‘A Newly Discovered Seventeenth-century Sketchbook’, Simiolus, 33 (2007-08), no. 1/2, p. 88.
As a draughtsman, Van Kessel worked primarily in black chalk and grey wash and emulated Ruisdael’s mature drawing style. His drawn oeuvre consists of townscapes, tree studies and farmsteads. Some of these sheets are studies for his paintings.15A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992, pp. 81-93. He went on several trips through the Netherlands to draw, occasionally accompanied by Hobbema, who recorded some of the same sites.16Ibid., p. 88.
Van Kessel is often confused with the Flemish painter Jan van Kessel (1626-1679) with whom he bears no familial relationship. The Dutch Van Kessel died at the age of thirty-nine and was buried at the Nieuwezijdskapel in Amsterdam on 24 December 1680.
Carolyn Mensing, 2020
References
U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler: Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 37 vols., Leipzig 1907-50, XX (1927), p. 202; A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992; J. Briels, Peintres flamands au berceau du Sie`cle d’Or hollandais, Antwerp 1997, p. 347; A.I. Davies, ‘Kessel, Jan [Johan] van’, in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, 34 vols., London/New York 1996, XVII, p. 920; J. Giltaij, ‘A Newly Discovered Seventeenth-century Sketchbook’, Simiolus, 33 (2007-08), no. 1/2, pp. 81-93
Entry
The same signature, albeit written in a different shade of ink, is found on a drawing depicting Purmerend Castle, near Monnickendam, Waterland, in the Kupferstich-Kabinett, Dresden (inv. no. C 1882).17A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992, p. 242, no. d25, pl. 208. The ligature of the J and the v deviates from the artist’s usual signature. According to Davies, the name might have been added by another hand, or Van Kessel could have been experimenting with his own signature.18Ibid., p. 235, under no. d15. As the rest of the signature and his customary manner of signing are quite similar, the latter possibility seems the most likely.
The present drawing can be dated to the mid-1660s, when Van Kessel made numerous topographical views of the Netherlands. He travelled throughout the country with his friend and fellow artist Meindert Hobbema (1638-1709), who made three sketches of the nearby watermill.19Ibid., p. 88; J. Giltaij, ‘De tekeningen van Jacob van Ruisdael’, Oud Holland 94 (1980), no. 2/3, pp. 172-74. Van Kessel drew several views of Deventer, both in his sketchbook held in the Fondation Custodia, Paris (inv. no. 2006-T.30), and on individual sheets. He probably visited the city on more than one occasion.20J. Giltaij, ‘A Newly Discovered Seventeenth-century Sketchbook’, Simiolus, 33 (2007-08), no. 1/2, pp. 84-89.
In the background of the present view is the Bergkerk, a church that dates from the fifteenth century, except for its two towers, which were built around 1200. The Bergpoort in the foreground was located on the east side of the city and consisted of an inner gate (Binnen-Bergpoort) and an outer gate (Buiten-Bergpoort). The former, which was partially demolished in 1619, is depicted here. The outer gate, with reliefs from the workshop of Hendrik de Keyser (1565-1621), was dismantled in 1879 and relocated to the garden of the Rijksmuseum.21C.H. Slechte and N. Herweijer, Deventer getekend. Aquarellen en tekeningen uit de topografisch-historische atlas van het Deventer Museum 'De Waag', Zutphen 1985, p. 52. From the fourteenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the space between the two gates was used as a lumber market. The wood was stacked there after having been conveyed over the River Shipbeek from Twente and Westphalia.22Ibid., p. 56. The stray pieces of wood propped in the foreground may allude to this.
Ingrid Oud, 2000
Literature
C. Josi, Collection d’imitations des dessins d’après les principaux maîtres hollandais et flamands, commencée par C. Ploos van Amstel […] precedés d’un discours sur l’état ancient et moderne des arts dans les Pays Bas, 2 vols., London 1821, p. 120; J. Immerzeel, De levens en werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche kunstschilders, 3 vols., Amsterdam 1842-43, II (1843), p. 104; A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992, pp. 235-36, no. d15, pl. 198; B.P.J. Broos and M. Schapelhouman, Nederlandse tekenaars geboren tussen 1600 en 1660, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1993 (Oude tekeningen in het bezit van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, waaronder de collectie Fodor, vol. 4), p. 110, under no. 79
Citation
I. Oud, 2000, 'Jan van Kessel, View of the Bergpoort and Bergkerk in Deventer, Deventer, c. 1665', in J. Turner (ed.), Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200141360
(accessed 8 December 2025 14:35:09).Footnotes
- 1S. Feitama, Notitie der teekeningen, uit de oudste en latere aanteekeningen, sedert de jaren 1685 en 1690, tot 1746, s.l. [1746], fol. 24 (‘Jan van Kessel, Discipel van Jacob Ruisdaal. 1 Poort De Bergpoort te Deventer: Gekocht Ao 1742 ƒ 2:-:-’).
- 2Copy RKD.
- 3Copy RKD.
- 4Copy RKD.
- 5Copy RKD.
- 6Copy RKD.
- 7For security reasons, the drawing was transferred from the Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken to the museum in 1888.
- 8Amsterdam, Stadsarchief, DTB Dopen, archiefnummer 5001, inventarisnummer 42, blad p. 273, aktenummer DTB 42.
- 9Amsterdam, Stadsarchief, Ondertrouwregister, archiefnummer 5001, inventarisnummer 491, blad p. 342, aktenummer DTB 491.
- 10A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992, pp. 14-17.
- 11Hobbema acted as the godfather to Van Kessel’s son Thomas (1675-? 1676), and in 1690, ten years after Van Kessel’s death, he became the legal guardian of Isaac van Kessel; cf. Ibid, pp. 15, 29.
- 12Ibid., p. 2.
- 13A. Davies, ‘Kessel, Jan (Johan) van’, Grove Art Online, https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000046340, accessed 15 June 2020.
- 14J. Giltaij, ‘A Newly Discovered Seventeenth-century Sketchbook’, Simiolus, 33 (2007-08), no. 1/2, p. 88.
- 15A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992, pp. 81-93.
- 16Ibid., p. 88.
- 17A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992, p. 242, no. d25, pl. 208.
- 18Ibid., p. 235, under no. d15.
- 19Ibid., p. 88; J. Giltaij, ‘De tekeningen van Jacob van Ruisdael’, Oud Holland 94 (1980), no. 2/3, pp. 172-74.
- 20J. Giltaij, ‘A Newly Discovered Seventeenth-century Sketchbook’, Simiolus, 33 (2007-08), no. 1/2, pp. 84-89.
- 21C.H. Slechte and N. Herweijer, Deventer getekend. Aquarellen en tekeningen uit de topografisch-historische atlas van het Deventer Museum 'De Waag', Zutphen 1985, p. 52.
- 22Ibid., p. 56.