Jan van Goyen (1596 – 1656)

Amsterdam, before the Haarlem city gate with a horse carriage on a bridge and a boat on the river, 1651

Black chalk, with brush & gray wash on ivory laid paper

3¾ x 6⅛ inches (9.6 x 15.6 cm.)

Inscribed '160'

Further images

Jan van Goyen travelled the length and breadth of the Netherlands recording details of landscape and topography in black chalk. A small sketchbook tucked into his pocket, the draughtsman in...

Jan van Goyen travelled the length and breadth of the Netherlands recording details of landscape and topography in black chalk. A small sketchbook tucked into his pocket, the draughtsman in search of inspiration could quickly delineate sand dunes and architectural structures in the vicinity of his hometown or on extended journeys to France or Germany. Back in his studio, the sketches would provide endless creativity, combining different motifs into realistic or imaginary landscape compositions. These drawings not only functioned as preliminary studies for motifs in paintings, Van Goyen at times also reworked them into larger, more finished drawings, typically monogrammed and dated, intended for sale. Never attempting to depict accurate views, Van Goyen’s preliminary studies unfold as topographical elements in his scenery.

The present drawing originates from a now dispersed sketchbook fifty-four-year-old Van Goyen took along on a trip to Kleve, starting on 7 June 1650. After his return to his hometown, The Hague, the remaining pages in the sketchbook were filled with shorter trips, including a visit to Amsterdam. Traveling by boat, the artist recorded the disaster caused by the infamous breach of the Saint Anthony’s dike at Houtewael on 5 March 1651, and the old Town Hall, destroyed by fire the following year. From the sequence of drawings in the sketchbook it can be concluded that the artist’s is moving around Amsterdam on the water, making stops at bustling markets.

The Haarlemmerpoort, designed by Hendrick de Keyser in 1615 on the westside of town, was the fourth gate of that name due to the ever-expanding city. Construction of waterways would continue over the following decades, allowing Van Goyen to sail through the city. This quick sketch allowed Van Goyen to immortalize this now demolished architectural bravado a few years later in a painting

Provenance

Possibly Andrew Geddes (1738-1844), London, 1845 His sale, Christie's, London, 8-14 April 1845, lot 361 Private collection, England, 1879
Johnson Neale, London, by 1895
Thomas Mark Hovell (1853-1925), London, June 1918
Thomas Dinwiddy
His sale, Sotheby's, London, 3 July 1918, lot 124 (£610)
With P. and D. Colnaghi & Obach, London (stock no. A1700) Frederik Muller & Cie, Amsterdam, 15 August 1918 (sold for £800) With Anton Mensing (1866-1936), Amsterdam
His sale, Frederik Muller & Co., Amsterdam, 27 April 1937, lot 218 (for 7,200 florins to Hirschmann4) With Adolf Mayer, the Hague and New York
With Van Diemen-Lilienfeld Galleries, New York, 1957

W. Suhr, New York

Sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 16 January 1985, lot 113, ill.
Christie's, London, private sale, 2014

Private collection, New York

Exhibitions

The Hague, Mauritshuis, 1895
The Hague, Mauritshuis, 1918

Literature

Verslagen omtrent ‘s Rijks Verzamelingen van Geschiedenis en Kunst, Vol. 18, 1895-1896, pp. 64-66
Campbell Dodgson, ”A Dutch Sketchbook of 1650”, Burlington Magazine, Vol. 32, no. 183 (June 1918), pp. 234-240
Abraham Bredius, in response to Campbell Dodgson, “A Dutch Sketchbook of 1650,” Burlington Magazine, Vol. 33, no. 186, (September 1918), p. 112
Campbell Dodgson, “A Dutch Sketchbook of 1650,” Burlington Magazine, Vol. 66, no. 387 (June 1935), p. 284
Hans-Ulrich Beck, ”Jan van Goyens Handzeichnungen als Vorzeichnungen”, Oud-Holland, Vol. 72, 1957, pp. 241-250
Friedrich Gorissen, Conspectus Cliviae, Cleve, 1964, p. 84-86
Hans-Ulrich Beck, “Jan Van Goyen am Deichbruch von Houtewael (1651),” Oud Holland, Vol. 81, 1 (1966), p. 21, fn. 10, as one of the Amsterdam sketches, ‘vor dem Haarlemmer Tor’ (“before the Haarlem city gate”)
H. Dattenberg, Niederrheinansichten holländischer Künstler, Düsseldorf 1967
Hans-Ulrich Beck, Jan van Goyen, 1596-1656: Ein Oeuvreverzeichnis. Katalog der Handzeichnungen, Vol. I, Amsterdam 1972, no. 847/160A, p. 306, ill.
Hans-Ulrich Beck, Jan van Goyen, 1596-1656: Ein Oeuvreverzeichnis. Erganzungen zum Katalog der Handzeichnungen, Vol. III, Doornspijk 1987, cat.no. 847, pp. 124-125b
Edwin Buijsen, ”De schetsboeken van Jan van Goyen”, in: Jan van Goyen, Leiden 1996, pp. 22-37, 80, 130
Ann H. Sievers, Master Drawings from the Smith College Museum of Art, New York 2000, pp. 65-69, nos. 12-13

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