watermark: horn, with countermark MGMD; cf. Laurentius 2007, II, no. 690 (1653); Heawood, no. 2734 (Amsterdam: 1721)

...; ? sale, Johannes Schepens (1741-1810, Amsterdam) et al., Amsterdam (P. van der Schley et al.), 21 January 1811 sqq., Album D, no. 22, as Jan Baptist Weenix (‘Een Poort te Rome, met O. I. inkt, door den Ouden Wenix.’), fl. 2;¹¹Copy RKD; no buyer recorded. ...;  from the dealer J.H. Balfoort, Utrecht, fl. 10, to the museum (L. 2228), 1882

Object number: RP-T-1882-A-188

Defining this sheet a drawing made in Rome by the ‘elder Weenix’, as it was claimed by the recto inscription of a yet unidentified eighteenth-century hand, is problematic for two reasons. Neither is the draughtsmanship compatible with authentic drawings by Jan Baptist Weenix, nor is it a Roman motif, the church spire in the right background being clearly of Northern character. The link with Jan Baptist Weenix’s name probably stems from a remote likeness with drawings by him such as Ruined Well in front of a Ruin and Ruined Bastion, both in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. nos. 9561 and 9106). That idea, however, should be discarded in view of weaknesses such as the repetitive and uniform brushstrokes to mark bricks and vegetation.²²The rejection is shared by Anke van Wagenberg-Ter Hoeven, kindly communicated per email, 19 February 2017). Details such as the open doorway to the right, with only a gaping void behind, appear incomplete and may point to the hand of a copyist. A source model, however, has yet to be identified. The subject-matter – a ruin with additions used as dwellings – resembles paintings by Emanuel Murant (1622-c. 1700), such as Italianate Landscape with Ruins in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt-am-Main (inv. no. 1127). The latter features a similar shed placed prominently against a ruined portal (derived from the ruins of Brederode). As a draughtsman, Murant is still a shadowy figure, but there are apparently stylistic overlaps with drawings by Weenix.³³Cf. C. van Hasselt, Landschaptekeningen van Hollandse meesters uit de XVIIe eeuw uit de particuliere verzameling bewaard in het Institut Néerlandais te Parijs, 2 vols., exh. cat. Brussels (Koninklijke Bibliotheek Albert I)/Rotterdam (Museum Boijmans van Beuningen)/Paris (Institut Néerlandais)/Berne (Kunstmuseum) 1968-69, p. 108.

Annemarie Stefes, 2018

http://spenceralley.blogspot.com/2018/03/jan-baptist-weenix-and-son-jan-weenix.html (accessed 7 July 2025)

A. Stefes, 2018, 'follower of Jan Baptist Weenix, Dwelling Built into a Ruin, c. 1650 - c. 1670', in J. Turner (ed.), (under construction) Drawings 2, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200145719