Watermark: None visible through lining

Laid down

…; collection Jonkheer Matthias Adriaan Snoeck (1838-1911), Hintham, near Den Bosch (L. 1919a); his son, Jonkheer Matthias Willem Snoeck (1870-1942), Zwolle; his cousin, Jonkheer Matthias Adriaan Beelaerts van Blokland (1910-90), The Hague;¹¹According to L. 1919a; Utrecht 1961, p. 151 (no. 102). ….; donated by Paulus Wilhelmus Ludgerus Russell, Amsterdam, to the museum (L. 2888), 2007

Object number: RP-T-2007-105

Credit line: Gift of P.W.L. Russell, Amsterdam

On 16 July 1632 Saenredam made three drawings of the Sint-Petruskerk (church of St Peter), ‘s-Hertogenbosch, a copy after one of its stained-glass windows in the Noordbrabants Museum, ‘s-Hertogenbosch (inv. no. 12130), the present sheet and another drawing in the Rijksmuseum (inv. no. RP-T-1889-A-2063). Based on these last two drawings, he made a painting, dated 1632, which is currently in a private collection.²²G. Schwartz et al., Pieter Saenredam. De schilder in zijn tijd, Maarssen 1989, p. 96; J. de Hond and P. Huys Janssen, Pieter Saenredam in Den Bosch, exh. cat. ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Noordbrabants Museum) 2013, pp. 114 (no. 15). These works are the few historical documents of this Late Gothic church surviving today. After the capture the city in 1629, the Catholic Sint-Petruskerk was handed over to the Reformed Church. Ultimately, the church was demolished to make room for new city fortifications in 1646.³³For the history of the church, see I.Q. van Regteren Altena et al., Catalogue Raisonné of the Works by Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, Published on the Occasion of the Exhibition Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, 15 September – 3 December 1961, exh. cat. Utrecht (Centraal Museum) 1961, p. 147.

The ground plan clearly shows the simple layout of the church, with its wide nave and two narrow side aisles. Throughout the ground plan, Saenredam indicated various measurements of the building in feet. According to his inscription on the drawing, one ‘voet’ measures exactly 24,6 cm. This practice is also visible in the only other surviving ground plan of a church by Saenredam: the drawing of the ground plan of the Sint-Janskerk, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 2012.414).⁴⁴G. Schwartz et al., Pieter Saenredam. De schilder in zijn tijd, Maarssen 1989, pp. 55 (fig. 56), 269 (no. 98). The two ground plans are dated exactly two weeks apart.

The inscription Dit is de Orterstraet (‘This is the Orterstreet’) at lower left does not appear to be in Saenredam’s hand as was formally thought.⁵⁵J. de Hond and P. Huys Janssen, Pieter Saenredam in Den Bosch, exh. cat. ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Noordbrabants Museum) 2013, p. 96. The information provided by this inscription would not be of any use for Saenredam since his focus was on the interior of the church and its dimensions and proportions. Moreover, the indication of a street name by Saenredam is not found on any of his other drawings. The nineteenth-century inscription thans 1835 de Diaconie-School (‘currently 1835 the Diaconie-School’) at upper right seems to be incorrect. Since the church and its surrounding buildings were demolished in the mid-seventeenth century, no buildings were allowed to be erected on these grounds. This was to keep the sight line over the city of the newly built citadel clear of any buildings.⁶⁶J.M.J. Willems et al., Vestingwerken ‘s-Hertogenbosch, ‘s-Hertogenbosch 2002, p. 32; A. Vos, ‘De Esplanade. Een verdwenen plein’, Bossche Bladen 9 (2007), no. 1, pp. 4-5 Only after the passing of the Vestingwet in 1874 were buildings erected again on the so-called Esplanade.

Mike Hermsen, 2019

P.T.A. Swillens, Pieter Janszoon Saenredam. Schilder van Haarlem (1597-1665), Amsterdam 1935, no. 55 (fig. 118); I.Q. van Regteren Altena et al., Catalogue Raisonné of the Works by Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, Published on the Occasion of the Exhibition Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, 15 September – 3 December 1961, exh. cat. Utrecht (Centraal Museum) 1961, pp. 150-51 (no. 102); P. ten Doesschate Chu and P.H. Boerlin, Im Lichte Hollands: Holländische Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts aus den Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein und aus Schweizer Besitz, exh. cat. Basel (Kunstmuseum Basel) 1987, p. 230; G. Schwartz et al., Pieter Saenredam. De schilder in zijn tijd, Maarssen 1989, pp. 83, 90 (fig. 97), 270 (no. 102); A.M. Koldewij, In Buscoducis, 1450-1629. Kunst uit de Bourgondische tijd te ’s-Hertogenbosch. De cultuur van late middeleeuwen en renaissance, exh. cat. 's-Hertogenbosch (Noordbrabants Museum) 1990, no. 6; A. van Pinxteren, ‘Het oxaal van de voormalige Sint-Pieterskerk te ’s-Hertogenbosch’, Millennium 4 (1990), pp. 40-48 (fig. 2); J. de Hond and P. Huys Janssen, Pieter Saenredam in Den Bosch, exh. cat. 's-Hertogenbosch (Noordbrabants Museum) 2013, pp. 94-97 (no. 11)

M. Hermsen, 2019, 'Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, Ground-plan of the Sint-Petruskerk, 's-Hertogenbosch, Den Bosch, 1632-07-13', in J. Turner (ed.), Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200518922