watermark: none

…; collection Carel Vosmaer (1826-88), The Hague;¹¹J.F. Heijbroek (ed.), De verzameling van mr. Carel Vosmaer (1826-1888), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksprentenkabinet) 1989, no. 24. his son, Prof. Dr Gualtherus Carel Jacob Vosmaer (1854-1916), Leiden; his son, C.J.J.G. Vosmaer (1907-86), Leiden; his heirs; from whom, fl. 650,000, with 212 other drawings, to the museum (L. 2228), with support from the Vereniging Rembrandt, the Rijksmuseum Stichting and the De Ster Holding BV, 1989

Object number: RP-T-1989-105

Credit line: Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt, the Rijksmuseum Stichting and the De Ster Holding BV

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.²²A. Zwollo, ‘Een ‘Cornelis Saftleven’ per brief’, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek (NKJ) / Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art 38 (1987), pp. 402-06.

Carolyn Mensing, 2020

In 1989, the Rijksmuseum purchased six figure drawings by Saftleven, part of a large group from the heirs of the eighteenth-century collector Carel Vosmaer (1826-1888). They span the artist’s career, and except for one drawing, they are all signed and dated (1634, 1636, 1651, 1656 and 1662, respectively).¹⁰¹⁰J.F. Heijbroek (ed.), De verzameling van mr. Carel Vosmaer (1826-1888), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksprentenkabinet) 1989, p. 69.

The use of grey wash in this figure turning his back to the viewer is somewhat unusual in Saftleven’s figure drawings, which he most often drew primarily with chalk. The motif of a peasant seated on a stool with his back turned to the viewer was used by the artist in several of his paintings, for example in Drinking Company outside a Tavern in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (inv. no. NM 693) and in a Landscape with Farmers, formerly on the art market.¹¹¹¹Sale, London (Sotheby’s), 18 April 2002, no. 72. Furthermore, Saftleven used the motif in a print (e.g. inv. no. RP-P-OB-15.754), part of a series of peasants.¹²¹²F.W.H. Hollstein et al., Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, c. 1450-1700, 72 vols., Amsterdam and elsewhere 1947-2010, XXIII (1980), no. 10.

Carolyn Mensing, 2020

J.F. Heijbroek (ed.), De verzameling van mr. Carel Vosmaer (1826-1888), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksprentenkabinet) 1989, no. 24

C. Mensing, 2020, 'Cornelis Saftleven, Seated Boy Wearing a Hat, Seen from the Back, 1617 - 1681', in J. Turner (ed.), Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200143931