Bartholomeus Appelman (The Hague c. 1622/28 - The Hague 1686/87)

The birthdate given by Houbraken (1640) must have been mistaken and was corrected by the author himself, when he stated that Appelman was sixty-four years old when he died in 1686.⁷⁷A. Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols., Amsterdam 1718-21, III (1721), p. 161.

His teacher is unknown, and the first documented reference to him is dated 10 July 1656, a statement made by the painter Petrus Vignois (?-?), referring to an incident that had taken place in The Hague nine years earlier, on 25 August 1647.⁸⁸A. Bredius (ed.), Künstler-Inventare: Urkunden zur Geschichte der holländischen Kunst des XVIten, XVIIten und XVIIIten Jahrhunderts, 8 vols., The Hague 1915-22, VII (1921), pp. 2-6. Vignois and three other painters – Appelman, Carel Codde (c. 1625/30-1683) and Hans de Jode (1630-after 1662) – were attacked and in the course of defending themselves accidentally killed a man with the rapier. Only in 1653 were they actually accused of manslaughter, three of them in absentia, since Appelman, De Jode and Vignois were by then travelling abroad. Appelman must have set out for Italy by that date, possibly as early as 1650.⁹⁹A. Beyer et al. (eds.), Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, Munich 1992-, IV (1992), p. 550 (entry by S. Trauzeddel). In 1657, a certain ‘Bartolomeo Aplome, anni 29’ is recorded as living in the Strada Laurina in Rome, together with the artists Philips le Petit (c. 1631/32-1669/73) and Willem Doudijns (1630-1697/98), both also from The Hague.¹⁰¹⁰G.J. Hoogewerff, Nederlandsche kunstenaars te Rome (1600-1725). Uittreksels uit de parochiale archieven, The Hague 1942, p. 45. The age given in that document implies a birthdate of circa 1628 for Appelman, six years later than the date stated by Houbraken. As a member of the Bentveughels (the society of Northern artists) in Rome, Appelman was given the bent-name ‘Hector’.

In 1671 Appelman was living and renting a room in Amsterdam,¹¹¹¹A. Beyer et al. (eds.), Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, Munich 1992-, IV (1992), p. 550 (entry by S. Trauzeddel). and the following year he was invited to testify as an expert appraiser of Italian paintings in defence of the art dealer Gerrit Uylenburg (c. 1625-1679) against accusations of fraud brought by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (1620-1688). Still in Amsterdam in 1673, Appelman must have moved by 1676 to The Hague, where he is listed as a member of the local painters’ guild Confrerie Pictura. In 1677, and again 1681, he served as the dean of the guild, to which his payment of membership dues is recorded for the years 1679 to 1687.

Of Appelman’s rare paintings, most date from the 1670s, for instance River Landscape with Travellers (1671), formerly in the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein and recently on the Amsterdam art market,¹²¹²Sale, Amsterdam (Christie’s), 1 April 2008, no. 144. and Hilly Landscape with a Ruin on a Lake (1673) in the Landesmuseum, Mainz (inv. no. 117).¹³¹³C. Stukenbrock, Niederländische Gemälde des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, coll. cat. Mainz 1997, pp. 22-23. As noted by Houbraken, Appelman contributed large wall paintings to the decoration of the Palace of Soestdijk, near Hilversum, and painted landscape backgrounds in portraits by Jan de Baen (1633-1702). His own landscape paintings were augmented with staffage by Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668), Johannes Lingelbach (1622-1674) and Adriaen van de Velde (1636-1672). His oeuvre as a draughtsman is small, consisting of a mere handful of authentic works, none of which is dated.

Annemarie Stefes, 2019

References
A. Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols., Amsterdam 1718-21, II (1719), pp. 314, 357, III (1721), p. 161; F.D.O. Obreen, Archief voor Nederlandsche kunstgeschiedenis, 7 vols., Rotterdam 1877-90, IV (1882), pp. 94; A. von Wurzbach, Niederländisches Künstlerlexikon, 3 vols., Vienna/Leipzig 1906-11, I (1906), p. 26; U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler: Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 37 vols., Leipzig 1907-50, II (1908), pp. 37-38 (entry by E.W. Moes); A. Bredius (ed.), Künstler-Inventare: Urkunden zur Geschichte der holländischen Kunst des XVIten, XVIIten und XVIIIten Jahrhunderts, 8 vols., The Hague 1915-22, IV (1917), pp. 1309-12; VII (1921), pp. 2-6; G.J. Hoogewerff, Nederlandsche kunstenaars te Rome (1600-1725). Uittreksels uit de parochiale archieven, The Hague 1942, p. 45; G.J. Hoogewerff, De Bentvueghels, The Hague 1952, p. 31; A. Beyer et al. (eds.), Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, Munich 1992-, IV (1992), p. 550 (entry by S. Trauzeddel); E. Buijsen (ed.), Haagse schilders in de Gouden Eeuw. Het Hoogsteder Lexicon van alle schilders werkzaam in Den Haag, 1600-1700, Zwolle 1998, p. 283; P. Schatborn, with J. Verberne, Drawn to Warmth: 17th-century Dutch Artists in Italy, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2001, p. 153; F. Lammertse and J. van der Veen, Uylenburgh & Son: Art and Commerce from Rembrandt to De Lairesse, 1625-1675, exh. cat. London (Dulwich Picture Gallery)/Amsterdam (Museum Het Rembrandthuis) 2006, pp. 84, 89