ENCHANTING AND A DISCOVERY

I had never visited the Fondation Custodia. In fact, until a few months ago when I saw a write-up on:-
                                                 En route !
                                   Dutch Landscape Drawings
                           John and Marine van Vlissingen Collection

I probably didn’t even know it existed. There is so much to discover and go on discovering in Paris. This is a little about the centre and it’s worthwhile reading.

                                         Custodia Foundation

Once Marielle and l got there we both remarked at once that
there was no information on John and Marine van Vlissingen. I looked that up when l came home only to find that the van Vlissingen family are the richest in the Netherlands with quite an amazing background too :-

John Arthur Fentener van Vlissingen (born 4 March 1939, Utrecht) is a Dutch businessman. He is one of the wealthiest people in the Netherlands and has made major investments in the travel industry. The total capital of the family is, according to Quote magazine, around 9.2 billion euros. The wealth of Fentener van Vlissingen was calculated to be €1.6 billion in Quote 500.(Ref Wikipedia)

Perhaps the Dutch know the family. Neither of us knew anything about them.

The Fondation is staging an exhibition of the impressive collection of old master drawings owned by John Fentener van Vlissingen and his wife Marine, Comtesse de Pourtalès. This exhibition, which ran at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam during the summer of 2015, features 100 drawings with ‘travelling’ as the theme – from sheets by seventeenth-century artists such as Rembrandt and Jacob van Ruisdael to nineteenth-century works by the generation that included Josephus August Knip (1777-1847).

Over a period of fifty years John and Marine van Vlissingen have compiled a collection of landscape drawings by Dutch and Flemish artists who depicted nature, not only in the Netherlands but also in France, Italy, England and Africa.

Dutch artists have always been known as enthusiastic travellers. During the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they travelled the world on horseback, by stagecoach, by barge and on foot. In their drawings they captured the great diversity of landscapes they passed through. For the artists who did not have the opportunity, the courage or the wherewithal to undertake such trips, the work of those artists who did travel was extremely valuable. For the first time in art history the landscape was not regarded as a background for biblical and mythological scenes, but as a subject in its own right.

Rembrandt (1606-1669) probably never left the Netherlands, but he often drew nature, chiefly around Amsterdam. The drawing in the exhibition  « Rampart near the Anthony’s Gate, Amsterdam », is one of a splendid series of landscapes he made between 1648 and 1652, which for a long time were in the Duke of Devonshire’s collection at Chatsworth.

 Rampart near the Anthony’s Gate, Amsterdam

As in many works from the same period, Rembrandt depicted the landscape in a flawlessly simple manner, using only a pen, brown ink and a brown wash, a technique that lends the work rare clarity and extraordinary balance. I might add, that the detail in all these drawings was exceptional. Sometimes you could see tiny people and looking at them closely, there always a story to tell...

Jacob Cats (1741-1799) A Winter scene : 

 Jacob Cats did some 80 drawings on this theme and an artist l would think that had a pretty vivid imagination.


There was something enchanting about what we were looking at. 17th century perhaps but in landscape scenes without people, the drawings could have come from today. Here are the photos that l took and there will be a brief description of the work taken from a very impressive little booklet. Few of the artists lived in one city all their lives. As I said earlier, many traveled around Holland and some ventured even further from their homes.

Lodewijk Toeput 1550-1603/05

Hzndrick Avecamp - 1585-1634

Jan Brueghel - The elder: 1568-1625

The artist travelled to Italy at the beginning of his carer and lived in Trevise until his death. He "italieanised" everything, even his name and called himself  Pozzoserato! The town depicted in his picture could be Trevise, but difficult to say.

Pieter Stevens ll: 1567-1626/32

Claes Jansz Visscher : 1586/87 - 1652

Jan van de Velde ll : 1593-1641

Esaias ven de Velde ; 1587-1630

Herman Saftleven : 1609-1685

This is called "Boats on a calm sea with a town behind". This artist was the first to develop his drawings to sell. There are many of them, big and small. Sometimes very detailed and others, minimalist.

Jan Peteeters: 1624-1651

Jan van Goyen : 1596-1656

Hans Saftleven : 1609-1665

Carel Fabritius : 1622-1654

Lambert Doomer: 1624-1700

Jan Wils or Joan Wils 1603-1681 (?)
"Houses on a cliff under the Francheville Chateau near
Lyon".
This scene attracted many Dutch artists who
were traveling on their way to  Italy. It is not
known if this is the Father's work or his son's.

Willem Romeijn: 1624-1695
"Cows at a water hole in Rome"
This artist lived in Rome for a year and was
completed much later in Harlem 

This was the only drawing of Brueghel's in the exhibition, called "Farm in a Woody Setting". It's difficult to date his drawings but this probably was done at the end of his life.

Gerrit Battem : 1636-1684
"Winter Scene" His Master had already been trained
by Rembrandt. His winter scenes are rare and
probably all done from 1670-80.

Jacob van Ruisdael ; 1629/29-1682
An artist l have always admired.
"View of Hogesluis Bridge on the Amstel in Amsterdam"
This drawing was used as a frontpiece for a series
of six landscapes which Ruisdael did on the Amstel. 

Jan Lievens : 1607-1674
"A Woody Landscape with shephards and
their flocks close to a village"
Sunlight seems to cross the landscape. A peaceful
scene and if you look closely there is a woman
carrying a jar on her head.

Caspar van Wittel : 1652/1736
"The Tivoli Waterfalls"
After many of the Dutch artists had spent a few years overseas, they normally returned to Holland. Caspar stayed in Rome, married and had a very successful career.

Aert Schouman : 1710-1792
"Dutch landscape with a weasel and a
bird"
This artist worked in water color drawing
animals, birds and without
preparatory sketches. He worked
outside even if his colours were
prepared beforehand . 

Egbert Van Drielst : 1745-1818:
"Landscape close to Eext"
These huge oak trees were some of his main
drawings.

Jacob Elias la Fargue 1735- after 1776
Amersfoort from the north west.
While in Amserfoort around 1771, Fargue did some 8 topographic views and this was one of them. The town in quite a long way off but dominated by a tower, the Notre-Dame Church.

"Landscape with ruins and Travellers" Probably comes from the artist's imagination but could also be on the outskirts of Prague when Stevens was from 1594 onwards  the official painter of the Emperor Rudolph ll.

Diril Dalens ll: 1658/59-1685

Johannes Bronckhorst :1648-1727
"Exotic sea birds in a landscape"
Such coloured drawings were greatly
appreciated by the artist's contemporaries
who admired the natural way in which
he represented birds or animals.

Aert Schoumann : 1710-1792
"Ladscape with birds"
The artist was very keen on birds and
did hundreds of drawings representing
native and exotic creatures.

Wybrand Hendriks : 1744-1831
"Landscape with farm in Ede, in the Gueldre privince"
For many years the artis lived in the region of Veluwe and appreciated nature. His work, which is
spontaneous, is important today as it witnesses how quickly it was completed

Jacob Cats : 1741-1799
"Winter landscape with eel fishermen"
Detail is exceptionnal. Can you see the fisherman
making a hole in the ice with the other ready to plunge a hook into the hole?

Jan Anthonie Langendijk: 1780-1818
"Joyful group"
Fairs were important moments during the year and
people saved up for months to enjoy themselves

"Canal with a Drawbridge and boats"
Claes was installed in Amsterdam all his life and apart from being a prolific artist was also an engraver and editeur. His work is always very detailed and realistic.

Abraham van Strij 1753-1826
"Winter scene on frozen river"
This very ambitious drawing was a
preparatory drawing for a vast mural painting

Hermanus Numan 1744-1820
"The Sijkeroog close to Velsen"
Around the 1800 Numan did quite large painting and
then adapted a water colour of the same
landscape later.

Hermanus Nurman : 1744-1820
"The Wikkeroog domain close to Velsen. View from
the pool"
This shows the perfect control the artist had of
watercolour

Hendril Gerrit ten Cate : 1803-1856
"Landscape next to frozen river"

Josephus Augustus Knip : 1777-1847
"Landscape witha fountain close to Galloro
When it was too hot in the summer months
Knipp took his material and drew outside

"Abby next to a river with view of a village"
Nearly an invitation to a stroll along the banks of the river! Idealistic and very realistic. Van de Velde played an important role in the development of realistic landscapes in the North of the country



"Landsacpe with river and a church"
The artist has been inspired by landscapes close to La Haye where he lived. Probably not outisde but in his workshop from memory or sketches he had done beforehand







"View of the Saint Agnes Chapel in Utrecht"
Herman did over 200 views of Utrecht where he lived for 50 years. As the town had been destroyed during a tornado in 1674, these drawing have an inestimable value today.





Very strange to see the shadow on the top of the drawing which came from the lighting. Peeters was known for his intrepid travels in Europe and also Greece, Africa ...just as far as Cuba.


"Market Scene in La Haye with church" When he was young his work was an ensemble of around 20 landscapes of the same size, signed and all done in black of gray traced with a fine brush....









"A Village Street close to Port Lauwrecht"







"Tobie and the Angel in a bushy landscape"
This is an Italian landscape with a very Rembrandt feeling about it. However, the biblic scene is not easy to see as it seems to disappear into the landscape. For a long time it was considered to be a Rembrandt drawing, which does not surprise me.





"View of the Vertais quartier close to Nantes" Doomer went to Nantes where his brothers were tradesmen. One summer he traveled extensively doing many drawings which he finalised later in a much larger format. 

Christoffel Meijer : 1776-1813
"Crowd at the outskirts of a town"
This is a procession with a couple of lovers leading
the way.