Getting started with the collection:
Artus Quellinus (I)
Prudentia, Model for a Statue on the East Facade of the Amsterdam Town Hall (now Royal Palace) at Dam Square
Amsterdam, 1650 - 1651
Technical notes
Modelled, partly hollowed out and fired. Coated with a greyish-brown finishing layer. Analysis by Hallebeek (ICN) in 1997 revealed that this finishing layer consists of chalk, plaster and lead white.1See P. Hallebeek, Onderzoek naar oppervlaktelagen van drie terracotta beelden van Artus Quellinus de Oude, Instituut Collectie Nederland, Amsterdam (13 March 1997, report no. 97-107). In many places, this layer is opaque, with the exception of the bottommost section of the undergarment and the drapery folds in the vicinity of the left breast and shoulder.
Scientific examination and reports
- X-ray powder diffraction: P. Hallebeek (ICN), RMA, 97-107, 13 maart 1997
Condition
The right forearm (possibly holding a mirror), the snake’s head and sections of the feet are missing. The base and feet have broken off at the level of the dress’s hem. Substantial cracks discernible right on the underside of the undergarment traverse in the direction of the deep fold of her overgarment. These cracks are scarcely concealed and therefore likely relatively new. One of the cracks continues on to the armpit, where it splits, traversing over the right upper arm and in the direction of the neck to the edge of the hair. Here the crack again splits across the back of the hair and across the right cheek, forehead and hair. Restorations to the nose and a section of the right cheek can be discerned. On the sculpture’s reverse, a section of the right drapery fold is missing, resulting in a hole. The break’s surface appears old and has a dark-brown colour (possibly glue remnants?).
Provenance
Commissioned by the City of Amsterdam, 1650/51;2A list of works for which Quellinus was paid in four instalments between 6 January and 12 September 1651 includes a Voorsichticheit (Prudence) for 60 guilders, referring to either this model or the model for the sculpture of the same subject in the Vierschaar, see Stadsarchief Amsterdam (hereafter: SAA), archive 5039 (Thesaurie Ordinaris), inv. no. 624, no. 5. Also see no. 11, where the model is again mentioned as de voorsichtigh[eid] gebotcheert - 60 [guilders] (prudence modelled - 60 [guilders]). from the artist,3K. Fremantle, ‘The Fountains Designed for Van Campen’s Amsterdam Town Hall and Quellien’s Models for Them’, Album discipulorum aangeboden aan J.G. van Gelder ter gelegenheid van zijn 60ste verjaardag (Utrechtse Kunsthistorische Studiën 7), Utrecht 1963, pp. 101-18, esp. p. 104 (note 15): dewijl zijn werk lootse nu affgebroken wordt dat haer Edele [burgemeesters] sullen laten affhalen de modellen vande beelden die hij ten behoeve dezer Stede gemaeckt heeft (while his workshop is being closed, that her Noble [burgomasters] shall have the models of the sculptures that he made on behalf of this City collected). See also H.J. Wiggers, ‘De stad Amsterdam en haar vroegste beeldencollectie’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 60-75, esp. p. 62 (referring to A.W. Kroon, Het Amsterdamsche stadhuis (thans Paleis), 1625-1700: Zijne geschiedenis naar onuitgegeven officiële bronnen bewerkt, Amsterdam 1867, p. 138). transferred to the Town Hall (now Royal Palace) at Dam Square, Amsterdam, 1664;4This Prudentia and one of the two Atlas-models (BK-AM-51-7 or -8) were stored separately from the other Quelliniana for a long time: they remained in the Thesaurie Ordinaris and were never transferred to the kunstkamer. In April 1806, the models were moved to the rariteitenkamer (curiosity chamber), also called the Diplomatieke Bibliotheek (Diplomatic Library) and subsequently transferred to the rariteitenkamer of the town hall in the Prinsenhof, after which they were given in long time loan with the other Quelliniana to the newly opened Rijksmuseum in 1887, see H.J. Wiggers, ‘De stad Amsterdam en haar vroegste beeldencollectie’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 60-75, esp. pp. 62 and 67-73. transferred to the Town Hall at the Prinsenhof, Amsterdam, 1808;5H.J. Wiggers, ‘De stad Amsterdam en haar vroegste beeldencollectie’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 60-75, esp. p. 69, referring to a list compiled and signed by Arend Fokke Simonsz in 1808, with works which were transferred from the Thesaurie to the new rariteitenkamer in the Prinsenhof. See SAA, archive H. 86.003 (Library), A. Fokke Simonsz, Aanteekeningen betreffende de voornaamste Oudheden der stad Amsterdam [...], Amsterdam, 20 January 1808. on loan to the museum, since 18876See SAA, archive H. 86.002 (Library).
ObjectNumber: BK-AM-51-6
Credit line: On loan from the City of Amsterdam
Context
The great wealth and might of the city Amsterdam – the most important merchant city of the Dutch Republic in the seventeenth century – manifested itself in grand public works and countless other public and private buildings. This was especially true of the new town hall on the Dam Square, for which initial plans were already being made as early as 1639. The building’s design was aimed to reflect the power and prosperity that Amsterdam had come to acquire since the closing of the Scheldt in 1585, an event that cost Antwerp its leading economic position in the Low Countries.7P. Vlaardingerbroek, Het paleis van de Republiek, Zwolle 2011, pp. 21-22. The existing town hall, which dated back to the Middle Ages, had become too small to accommodate the rapidly growing civic governmental apparatus and was therefore to be replaced by a new and spacious ‘urban palace’. To carry out this ambitious plan, the city’s burgomasters chose the architect Jacob van Campen (1596-1657).8P. Vlaardingerbroek, Het paleis van de Republiek, Zwolle 2011, p. 36.
In its design, decoration and style, the new Amsterdam town hall was to glorify both the city and its governing council by mirroring illustrious examples from antiquity and its own day: the ancient Roman Republic and the modern Republic of Venice.9K. Fremantle and W. Halsema-Kubes, Beelden Kijken: De kunst van Quellien in het Paleis op de Dam/Focus on Sculpture: Quellien’s Art in the Palace on the Dam, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Royal Palace) 1977, p. 9; F. Scholten, Artus Quellinus: Sculptor of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 2010, p. 15. Designated as the central themes were the three mainstays of Amsterdam’s economic success: good and fair governance, peace and prosperity. The Amsterdam city regents were bestowed the honorary title of vredesvader (father of peace), an appellation alluding to the seminal role these men played in negotiating the Peace of Münster, the treaty of 1648 that ended the war with the Spanish and signalled a new period of unparalleled prosperity.10K. Fremantle and W. Halsema-Kubes, Beelden Kijken: De kunst van Quellien in het Paleis op de Dam/Focus on Sculpture: Quellien’s Art in the Palace on the Dam, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Royal Palace) 1977, p. 16. Through the classicist style of its architecture and the themes depicted in painted and sculptural decoration, this new monumental addition to the city was meant to convey Amsterdam’s standing as a worthy successor to ancient Rome, the geographic source of the Roman Republic’s past power and glory.11P. Vlaardingerbroek, Het paleis van de Republiek, Zwolle 2011, p. 68. Albeit less explicitly, Amsterdam also wished to mirror itself on the Republic of Venice. Both cities had begun as fishing villages and grown to become powerful merchant centres with international allure. Both cities also boasted a stable government firmly grounded on republican principles.12F. Scholten, Artus Quellinus: Sculptor of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 2010, p. 14. Lastly, the decoration programme of the new Amsterdam town hall drew a parallel between the Israelites in the Bible and the present-day inhabitants of the Dutch Republic. Just as the Israelites – also long oppressed by a heathen religion – were led out of Egypt, so too had the Dutch liberated themselves from the yoke of the Spanish king and Catholic idolatry. The inhabitants of the Dutch Republic had God to thank for their freedom and fortune.13P. Vlaardingerbroek, Het paleis van de Republiek, Zwolle 2011, p. 68. All of these associations were to be unified in the new town hall’s realization, made manifest for both the city’s own burghers but also countless visitors from abroad.
In 1648, the Flemish sculptor Artus Quellinus I (1609-1668) – then one of the most successful and talented sculptors in the Low Countries14Prior to travelling to Italy around 1635, Quellinus had already produced work for Stadholder Frederick Henry, see K. Fremantle, The Baroque Town Hall of Amsterdam, Utrecht 1959, pp. 133-34. Upon returning to Antwerp in 1639, his career took off. One important commission he received, just prior to moving to Amsterdam, was a monumental tomb for Count Engelbert van Immerzeel and Helena van Montmorency (Bokhoven, Sint-Antonius Abtkerk), see F. Scholten, Artus Quellinus: Sculptor of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 2010, pp. 9-10. – was hired to devise the sculptural programme of the planned town hall. Having been trained as he sculptor by his father in the Baroque milieu of Rubens in Antwerp, Quellinus travelled to Rome in 1635, where he entered the studio of the Flemish sculptor François du Quesnoy (1594-1643).15K. Fremantle, The Baroque Town Hall of Amsterdam, Utrecht 1959, p. 147. In the words of Du Quesnoy’s biographer, Sandrart: ‘Quellinus made himself very useful when in Rome and there he studied the art of Antiquity with success.’16Joachim von Sandrart, Teutsche Academie der edlen Bau- Bild- und Mahlerey-Künste (ed. C. Klemm), Nördlingen 1994 (original ed. Frankfurt 1675-79), p. 351; K. Fremantle, The Baroque Town Hall of Amsterdam, Utrecht 1959, p. 148. See also C. Theuerkauff, ‘Enkele kanttekeningen bij Artus Quellinus en de ‘antiche Academien’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 50 (2002), pp. 308-19, esp. p. 310. Accordingly, the sculptor’s work displays both elements of Du Quesnoy’s austere Classicism and Rubens’s Baroque. Yet the Amsterdam burgomasters’ decision to place the town hall’s sculptural decoration in Quellinus’s charge was not simply based on his style and qualities as a sculptor: his international experience, knowledge of antique sculpture and ability to run a large studio were also important factors.17F. Scholten, Artus Quellinus: Sculptor of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 2010, p. 12.
The architect of the planned town hall, Jacob van Campen, was ‘artistic director’ of the decoration programme of the building’s exterior and interior in close consultation with his patrons. A number of fairly primitive pen-and-ink sketches and discernible details on the wooden, scale-model maquette show that, especially in this regard, Van Campen had very clear ideas of his own.18H. Vreeken, ‘Quellinus’ boetseersels voor het zeventiende-eeuwse stadhuis op de Dam’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 38-59, esp. pp. 40-41. Quellinus’s task was to transform these ideas and simple sketches into clear and detailed three-dimensional designs. Several terracottas in the Rijksmuseum illustrate this specific stage of the design process. Presented for approval to both Van Campen and the burgomasters charged with making the final decision, these models can be described as vidimi (vidimus (Lat.) = we have seen) in the purest sense. A subsequent stage in this process entailed the detailed realization of these sketch models into working models – scale models, possibly followed by so-called modelli grandi – to be used in the studio for the final execution of monumental sculptures in marble and bronze.
Given the monumental scale of sculptural production accomplished in a relatively short period of time, Quellinus is certain to have had a large workshop to accommodate his many assistants. While information regarding the distribution of tasks remains scant, the diverse modelling on the surviving terracottas rules out the possibility of a single sculptor working on his own. Variations in the level of finishing can also be observed. The first group of terracottas can be described as bozzetti: loosely modelled sketches functioning as preliminary, plastic explorations of a theme or composition (cf. BK-AM-51-10). The second group consists of finished modelli – the aforementioned vidimi – from which the cast replicas were made that served as models in the studio. This category of works can sometimes be identified as such by measuring marks: points, lines and grids drawn in the wet clay to facilitate the design’s reproduction and enlargement in marble or bronze.19H. Vreeken, ‘Quellinus’ boetseersels voor het zeventiende-eeuwse stadhuis op de Dam’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 38-59, esp. pp. 42-43. The third and final group consists of various replicas likewise made in Quellinus’s workshop but ultimately destined for the free market, e.g. as council members’ gifts to friends or as souvenirs privately commissioned by the burgomasters and their retinue to commemorate their role in the building of the town hall.20H. Vreeken, ‘Quellinus’ boetseersels voor het zeventiende-eeuwse stadhuis op de Dam’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 38-59, esp. p. 44.
Entry
This Prudentia (Prudence) is one of the terracotta sketches and models made by the Antwerp sculptor Artus Quellinus I (1609-1668) and his assistants in preparation for the sculptural decoration of the new Amsterdam town hall, today the Royal Palace on the Dam Square (for an extensive history of the town hall, its significance and decoration programme, see ‘Context’). After the project’s completion, Quellinus’s Amsterdam studio was closed in 1664. At this time, the city’s burgomasters ordered that all of the remaining works and presentation models be transferred to the new town hall. With this move, the ensemble of fifty-one pieces officially became the property of the city of Amsterdam.21A.W. Kroon, Het Amsterdamsche stadhuis (thans Paleis), 1625-1700: Zijne geschiedenis naar onuitgegeven officiële bronnen bewerkt, Amsterdam 1867, p. 138. A number were transferred to the Rijksmuseum in 1887/88 on a long-term basis. All other works are today preserved at the Amsterdam Museum.
The present terracotta is the scale model for the bronze statue personifying Prudentia at the left end of the pediment on the town hall’s eastern façade (the side facing Dam Square). At the pediment’s opposite (right) end stands her pendant, Justitia (Justice, cf. BK-AM-51-5). At the pediment’s apex in the centre stands the personification of Peace,22In Allard de la Court’s inventory of 1749, a Vreedebeelditje, met beyde de armen omhoog (Peace statuette, with both arms upraised) – from the estate of De la Court’s uncle, Groenendijk – was appraised at seven guilders. The same list also cites an Atlas sonder weereldkloot op sijn hooffd (Atlas without the world ball on his head), with an estimated value of nine guilders. T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer et al., Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht, 6 vols., Leiden 1986-92, vol. 2, p. 461. Ploos van Amstel also lists an Atlas, without further elucidation, see SAA, archive H. 86.003 (Library), Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, Notitie van Boetseersels en Pleisterbeelden enz bewaard wordende op de kunstkamer van het stadhuijs der stad Amsterdam (January 1769). a statue for which no terracotta model has been preserved. Crowning the pediment of the western façade, i.e. the ‘rear’ of the building, is the monumental statue of Atlas (cf. BK-AM-51-7). The god bears the heavenly firmament – represented in the form of a large sphere – on his shoulders, flanked on either side by Temperantia (Temperance) left and Vigilantia (Vigilance) right. Collectively, the statues’ message reads: Universal Peace, in Heaven and on Earth, is solely possible through these four virtues. The bronzes were cast by the Hemony brothers between 1663 and 1665. The actual-scale casting models for these works have been installed in the building’s central hall, the so-called Burgerzaal (Citizens’ Hall).23In 1663, Quellinus received sesduijsent gl. op rekeningh vande modellen van de copere beelden, die gestelt sullen worden op het stadhuijs (six-thousand guilders on the account of the models of the bronze statues, to be erected on the town hall), thereby referring to the casting models for the statues adorning the pediments. P. Vlaardingerbroek, Het paleis van de Republiek, Zwolle 2011, pp. 103, 134 referring to SAA, archive 5039 (Thesaurie Ordinaris), inv. no. 347 (Rapiamus, 1663), fol. 188.
On the present terracotta model, Prudentia’s traditional attribute, the mirror, is missing; the snake coiled around her arm, another important attribute, is missing its head. Prudentia turns her head to gaze over her left shoulder; this gives the impression she is leaning back. Her right arm is slightly bent, with the forearm – half of which is missing, together with her hand-held mirror – resting on the hip. The snake circles about the left arm, with its tail tightly clasped in her hand. With the mouth slightly ajar and a mildly frowning forehead, Prudentia’s face is less classical in appearance when compared to her counterpart, Justitia. Her hair is also notably more detailed and varied. Tied loosely at the back, it hangs in a ponytail that traverses the neck, falling over the left shoulder. A beaded headband worn at the crown of the forehead pushes the hair up and back. A beaded necklace, visible behind the right ear, has been interwoven with the hair.
For Prudentia’s raiment, Quellinus turned to a classical Roman model, the so-called Zingarella, a statue standing in the Villa Borghese at the time.24A. Linfert, ‘Die “Zingarella”’, Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 93 (1978), pp. 184-201, esp. pp. 185, 190 and figs. 8, 9; A. Colivia et al., I Borghese e l’Antico, exh. cat. Rome (Galleria Borghese) 2011, no. 52. The drapery scheme on the Roman figure has been copied very precisely, including the band diagonally traversing the chest. This suggests that Quellinus, during his sojourn in Rome, had made a study model of the Borghese statue, which he subsequently consulted some ten years later in Amsterdam. Contrary to the detailed modelling in front, Prudentia’s reverse has been treated summarily, with tool markings still discernible. Drapery folds at the left shoulder blade and the back of the hair are very loosely modelled. The terracotta is hollow, as can be observed through a small crack on the figure’s reverse.25When a solid section of a clay model has not yet completely dried, an uneven shrinkage can occur during the firing process. To prevent cracking, the model is partly hollowed out. M. Trusted (ed.), The Making of Sculpture: The Materials and Techniques of European Sculpture, London 2007, pp. 38-41.
The present terracotta’s designation as a vidimus is based in part on the object’s known provenance: at some point after 1769, the Prudentia ended up in the town hall’s art cabinet. One may reasonably presume it had always been in the city’s possession, possibly from the time it was shown as a model for approval to the city’s burgomasters. The town hall account books list the statue as Noch een belt wtwijsende de Voorsichtichheit (Another statue representing Prudence), accompanied by the amount of sixty guilders.26SAA, archive 5039 (Thesaurie Ordinaris), inv. no. 624, no. 5, 11. See H. Vreeken, ‘Quellinus’ boetseersels voor het zeventiende-eeuwse stadhuis op de Dam’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 38-59, esp. p. 48. Recorded at the bottom of the statement are four payment instalments, all occurring in the year 1651. In the Antwerp art world, paying in instalments was indeed customary practice.27P. Vlaardingerbroek, Het paleis van de Republiek, Zwolle 2011, note 332.
At one point it was posited that the white slip covering the terracotta model of Prudentia was meant to suggest marble.28C. Avery, Studies in European Sculpture, vol. 2, London 1988, p. 11. While such practices were indeed common, in this specific case it can be deemed less probable when considering the terracotta served as the model for a statue to be executed in bronze. Nevertheless, the vidimi were in fact modelled long before the statues’ definitive casting in the period 1663-65. During the intervening period, the terracottas were therefore seen as autonomous works, displayed in the burgomasters’ chamber from the time of the town hall’s celebratory opening.29M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, p. 194, no. 84. The thin layer of slip would have conveyed a more finished quality and bestowed the appearance of classical statuary. Lastly, one cannot rule out the possibility that the statues were initially planned in marble: uncertainty regarding the choice of material might explain why a period of nine years had passed before the actual casting was undertaken.
The inclusion of the word Noch (another) in the aforementioned account book entry can be interpreted in two ways, applied either in reference to other statues listed in the same records or to other earlier, unapproved models.30Three pediment figures, with the latter two measuring three feet high: Noch een belt wtwijsende de Gerechtichheit (Another statue representing Justice) and Noch een belt wtwijsende de Voorsichtichtheit (Another statue representing Prudence), and the last design is described as Noch een en Atlas tot meerder verbetering (Another Atlas for greater improvement). Certain is that, in 1746, other terracotta models by Quellinus – a Justitia, Prudentia and a Vigilantia – were included in a sale of art objects in the possession of the painter Nicolaas Verkolje, who owned a large collection of the sculptor’s works.31Sale collection Nicolaas Verkolje, Amsterdam (J. Verkolje), 18 April 1746, p. 12, no. 35: De Gerechtigheid; zynde ’t Model van ’t Beeld op ’t Stadhuis, van A. Quellin (Justice, being the Model of the Statue on the Town Hall, by A. Quellin), no. 36: De Voorzichtigheid; als voren (Prudence; as before) and no. 37: De Wakkerheid; als voren (Vigilance; as before). Furthermore, an additional two models – in this case, a Justitia and a Prudentia – are documented in the 1819 sale of the collection of the Delft burgomaster Emanuël Sandoz (whereabouts thereafter unknown).32 Sale collection Emanuël Sandoz (1758-1818, Delft), The Hague (B. Scheurleer), 20 December 1819, p. 172, no. 141: De gerechtigheid, zijnde een vrouwenbeeld met de zinnebeeldige kenmerken het doodshoofd en de slang, hoog 1 en een tweede voet, in kleiaarde geboetseerd door A. Quellin (Justice, being a female statue with the symbolic attributes the skull and the snake, height 1 and a half foot, modelled in clay by A. Quellin) and no. 142: De gematigheid zynde een vrouwenbeeld met de zinnebeeldige kenmerken de toom en het bit, hoog 1 en een tweede voet, in kleiaarde geboetseerd door denzelven (Prudence being a female statue with the symbolic attributes the horse’s bridle and the bit, height 1 and a half foot, modelled in clay by the same). Also in this same collection were an Apollo and a Diana by Quellinus, see inv. nos. BK-AM-51-12 and -19. Also noteworthy is the resemblance of the Prudentia and Justitia (BK-AM-51-5) to Rombout Verhulst’s ivory Virgin and Child in the collection of the Rijksmuseum (BK-2002-28). Verhulst was the only assistant in Quellinus’s workshop to produce and sign several prominent sculptures for the Amsterdam town hall, including a relief of Venus, Anteros and Eros.33F. Scholten, ‘Rombout Verhulsts ivoren Madonna met Christus’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 51 (2003), pp. 102-17, esp. pp. 106, 109.
Iris Ippel and Frits Scholten, 2024
Literature
J.A. Alberdingk Thijm, Over nieuwere beeldhouwkunst, vooral in Nederland, Rotterdam 1886, p. 14; A. Pit, ‘De verzameling Hollandsch beeldhouwwerk in het Nederlandsch Museum te Amsterdam’, Bulletin van den Nederlandschen Oudheidkundigen Bond 2 (1900-01), pp. 6-17, esp. pp. 7-8, no. 18; J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 274, with earlier literature; A. Linfert, ‘Die “Zingarella”’, Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 93 (1978), pp. 184-201, esp. pp. 185, 190 and figs. 8, 9; M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, no. 84, p. 194; H. Vreeken, ‘Quellinus’ boetseersels voor het zeventiende-eeuwse stadhuis op de Dam’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 38-59, esp. pp. 45-46 (no. 61d) and 48; H.J. Wiggers, ‘De stad Amsterdam en haar vroegste beeldencollectie’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 60-75; P. Philippot, D. Coekelberghs, P. Loze and D. Vautier, L’Architecture religieuse et la sculpture baroques dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux et la principauté de Liège: 1600-1770, Sprimont 2003, p. 840 (fig. 1); F. Scholten, Artus Quellinus: Sculptor of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 2010, p. 21, fig. 22
Citation
I. Ippel and F. Scholten, 2024, 'Artus (I) Quellinus, Prudentia, Model for a Statue on the East Facade of the Amsterdam Town Hall (now Royal Palace) at Dam Square, Amsterdam, 1650 - 1651', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.24581
(accessed 13 May 2025 21:37:57).Footnotes
- 1See P. Hallebeek, Onderzoek naar oppervlaktelagen van drie terracotta beelden van Artus Quellinus de Oude, Instituut Collectie Nederland, Amsterdam (13 March 1997, report no. 97-107).
- 2A list of works for which Quellinus was paid in four instalments between 6 January and 12 September 1651 includes a Voorsichticheit (Prudence) for 60 guilders, referring to either this model or the model for the sculpture of the same subject in the Vierschaar, see Stadsarchief Amsterdam (hereafter: SAA), archive 5039 (Thesaurie Ordinaris), inv. no. 624, no. 5. Also see no. 11, where the model is again mentioned as de voorsichtigh[eid] gebotcheert - 60 [guilders] (prudence modelled - 60 [guilders]).
- 3K. Fremantle, ‘The Fountains Designed for Van Campen’s Amsterdam Town Hall and Quellien’s Models for Them’, Album discipulorum aangeboden aan J.G. van Gelder ter gelegenheid van zijn 60ste verjaardag (Utrechtse Kunsthistorische Studiën 7), Utrecht 1963, pp. 101-18, esp. p. 104 (note 15): dewijl zijn werk lootse nu affgebroken wordt dat haer Edele [burgemeesters] sullen laten affhalen de modellen vande beelden die hij ten behoeve dezer Stede gemaeckt heeft (while his workshop is being closed, that her Noble [burgomasters] shall have the models of the sculptures that he made on behalf of this City collected). See also H.J. Wiggers, ‘De stad Amsterdam en haar vroegste beeldencollectie’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 60-75, esp. p. 62 (referring to A.W. Kroon, Het Amsterdamsche stadhuis (thans Paleis), 1625-1700: Zijne geschiedenis naar onuitgegeven officiële bronnen bewerkt, Amsterdam 1867, p. 138).
- 4This Prudentia and one of the two Atlas-models (BK-AM-51-7 or -8) were stored separately from the other Quelliniana for a long time: they remained in the Thesaurie Ordinaris and were never transferred to the kunstkamer. In April 1806, the models were moved to the rariteitenkamer (curiosity chamber), also called the Diplomatieke Bibliotheek (Diplomatic Library) and subsequently transferred to the rariteitenkamer of the town hall in the Prinsenhof, after which they were given in long time loan with the other Quelliniana to the newly opened Rijksmuseum in 1887, see H.J. Wiggers, ‘De stad Amsterdam en haar vroegste beeldencollectie’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 60-75, esp. pp. 62 and 67-73.
- 5H.J. Wiggers, ‘De stad Amsterdam en haar vroegste beeldencollectie’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 60-75, esp. p. 69, referring to a list compiled and signed by Arend Fokke Simonsz in 1808, with works which were transferred from the Thesaurie to the new rariteitenkamer in the Prinsenhof. See SAA, archive H. 86.003 (Library), A. Fokke Simonsz, Aanteekeningen betreffende de voornaamste Oudheden der stad Amsterdam [...], Amsterdam, 20 January 1808.
- 6See SAA, archive H. 86.002 (Library).
- 7P. Vlaardingerbroek, Het paleis van de Republiek, Zwolle 2011, pp. 21-22.
- 8P. Vlaardingerbroek, Het paleis van de Republiek, Zwolle 2011, p. 36.
- 9K. Fremantle and W. Halsema-Kubes, Beelden Kijken: De kunst van Quellien in het Paleis op de Dam/Focus on Sculpture: Quellien’s Art in the Palace on the Dam, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Royal Palace) 1977, p. 9; F. Scholten, Artus Quellinus: Sculptor of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 2010, p. 15.
- 10K. Fremantle and W. Halsema-Kubes, Beelden Kijken: De kunst van Quellien in het Paleis op de Dam/Focus on Sculpture: Quellien’s Art in the Palace on the Dam, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Royal Palace) 1977, p. 16.
- 11P. Vlaardingerbroek, Het paleis van de Republiek, Zwolle 2011, p. 68.
- 12F. Scholten, Artus Quellinus: Sculptor of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 2010, p. 14.
- 13P. Vlaardingerbroek, Het paleis van de Republiek, Zwolle 2011, p. 68.
- 14Prior to travelling to Italy around 1635, Quellinus had already produced work for Stadholder Frederick Henry, see K. Fremantle, The Baroque Town Hall of Amsterdam, Utrecht 1959, pp. 133-34. Upon returning to Antwerp in 1639, his career took off. One important commission he received, just prior to moving to Amsterdam, was a monumental tomb for Count Engelbert van Immerzeel and Helena van Montmorency (Bokhoven, Sint-Antonius Abtkerk), see F. Scholten, Artus Quellinus: Sculptor of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 2010, pp. 9-10.
- 15K. Fremantle, The Baroque Town Hall of Amsterdam, Utrecht 1959, p. 147.
- 16Joachim von Sandrart, Teutsche Academie der edlen Bau- Bild- und Mahlerey-Künste (ed. C. Klemm), Nördlingen 1994 (original ed. Frankfurt 1675-79), p. 351; K. Fremantle, The Baroque Town Hall of Amsterdam, Utrecht 1959, p. 148. See also C. Theuerkauff, ‘Enkele kanttekeningen bij Artus Quellinus en de ‘antiche Academien’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 50 (2002), pp. 308-19, esp. p. 310.
- 17F. Scholten, Artus Quellinus: Sculptor of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 2010, p. 12.
- 18H. Vreeken, ‘Quellinus’ boetseersels voor het zeventiende-eeuwse stadhuis op de Dam’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 38-59, esp. pp. 40-41.
- 19H. Vreeken, ‘Quellinus’ boetseersels voor het zeventiende-eeuwse stadhuis op de Dam’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 38-59, esp. pp. 42-43.
- 20H. Vreeken, ‘Quellinus’ boetseersels voor het zeventiende-eeuwse stadhuis op de Dam’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 38-59, esp. p. 44.
- 21A.W. Kroon, Het Amsterdamsche stadhuis (thans Paleis), 1625-1700: Zijne geschiedenis naar onuitgegeven officiële bronnen bewerkt, Amsterdam 1867, p. 138.
- 22In Allard de la Court’s inventory of 1749, a Vreedebeelditje, met beyde de armen omhoog (Peace statuette, with both arms upraised) – from the estate of De la Court’s uncle, Groenendijk – was appraised at seven guilders. The same list also cites an Atlas sonder weereldkloot op sijn hooffd (Atlas without the world ball on his head), with an estimated value of nine guilders. T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer et al., Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht, 6 vols., Leiden 1986-92, vol. 2, p. 461. Ploos van Amstel also lists an Atlas, without further elucidation, see SAA, archive H. 86.003 (Library), Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, Notitie van Boetseersels en Pleisterbeelden enz bewaard wordende op de kunstkamer van het stadhuijs der stad Amsterdam (January 1769).
- 23In 1663, Quellinus received sesduijsent gl. op rekeningh vande modellen van de copere beelden, die gestelt sullen worden op het stadhuijs (six-thousand guilders on the account of the models of the bronze statues, to be erected on the town hall), thereby referring to the casting models for the statues adorning the pediments. P. Vlaardingerbroek, Het paleis van de Republiek, Zwolle 2011, pp. 103, 134 referring to SAA, archive 5039 (Thesaurie Ordinaris), inv. no. 347 (Rapiamus, 1663), fol. 188.
- 24A. Linfert, ‘Die “Zingarella”’, Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 93 (1978), pp. 184-201, esp. pp. 185, 190 and figs. 8, 9; A. Colivia et al., I Borghese e l’Antico, exh. cat. Rome (Galleria Borghese) 2011, no. 52.
- 25When a solid section of a clay model has not yet completely dried, an uneven shrinkage can occur during the firing process. To prevent cracking, the model is partly hollowed out. M. Trusted (ed.), The Making of Sculpture: The Materials and Techniques of European Sculpture, London 2007, pp. 38-41.
- 26SAA, archive 5039 (Thesaurie Ordinaris), inv. no. 624, no. 5, 11. See H. Vreeken, ‘Quellinus’ boetseersels voor het zeventiende-eeuwse stadhuis op de Dam’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 38-59, esp. p. 48.
- 27P. Vlaardingerbroek, Het paleis van de Republiek, Zwolle 2011, note 332.
- 28C. Avery, Studies in European Sculpture, vol. 2, London 1988, p. 11.
- 29M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, p. 194, no. 84.
- 30Three pediment figures, with the latter two measuring three feet high: Noch een belt wtwijsende de Gerechtichheit (Another statue representing Justice) and Noch een belt wtwijsende de Voorsichtichtheit (Another statue representing Prudence), and the last design is described as Noch een en Atlas tot meerder verbetering (Another Atlas for greater improvement).
- 31Sale collection Nicolaas Verkolje, Amsterdam (J. Verkolje), 18 April 1746, p. 12, no. 35: De Gerechtigheid; zynde ’t Model van ’t Beeld op ’t Stadhuis, van A. Quellin (Justice, being the Model of the Statue on the Town Hall, by A. Quellin), no. 36: De Voorzichtigheid; als voren (Prudence; as before) and no. 37: De Wakkerheid; als voren (Vigilance; as before).
- 32Sale collection Emanuël Sandoz (1758-1818, Delft), The Hague (B. Scheurleer), 20 December 1819, p. 172, no. 141: De gerechtigheid, zijnde een vrouwenbeeld met de zinnebeeldige kenmerken het doodshoofd en de slang, hoog 1 en een tweede voet, in kleiaarde geboetseerd door A. Quellin (Justice, being a female statue with the symbolic attributes the skull and the snake, height 1 and a half foot, modelled in clay by A. Quellin) and no. 142: De gematigheid zynde een vrouwenbeeld met de zinnebeeldige kenmerken de toom en het bit, hoog 1 en een tweede voet, in kleiaarde geboetseerd door denzelven (Prudence being a female statue with the symbolic attributes the horse’s bridle and the bit, height 1 and a half foot, modelled in clay by the same). Also in this same collection were an Apollo and a Diana by Quellinus, see inv. nos. BK-AM-51-12 and -19.
- 33F. Scholten, ‘Rombout Verhulsts ivoren Madonna met Christus’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 51 (2003), pp. 102-17, esp. pp. 106, 109.