Utrecht – Hendrick Verstraelen after Joost Cornelisz. Droochsloot, 1642
€13.500
SPECTACULAR VIEW OF UTRECHT FROM THE WEST
“Utrecht“, copper engraving executed by Hendrick Verstraelen after the design by the Utrecht artist Joost Cornelisz. Droochsloot, published by FRançois van den Hoeye (“Franciscus Hoeius“). Printed with privilege on 4 sheets in 1642. Second state of two. Coloured by a hand. Size (print) approx. 40 x 216 cm.
This exceptionally wide panorama shows Utrecht from the west, across the open land beyond the medieval city wall. The city appears as a densely built, tower-studded town, with the Dom Tower at its centre.
The city wall is punctuated by defensive towers: to the north the Plompetoren (demolished in 1832) and to the south the Smeetoren (demolished in 1855) and the Bijlhouwerstoren (demolished in 1872). Windmills were placed on the wall to take advantage of the excellent exposure to the wind. Behind the city wall, from north to south (from left to right), are the Jacobikerk, the Janskerk, the town hall tower, the Pieterskerk, the Dom, the Buurkerk, the Bisschopshof (Bishop’s Court, demolished in 1803), the Hiëronymus Chapel (demolished in 1885), St. Paul’s Abbey, the Mariakerk (St. Mary’s Church, demolished 1813-1816), the church of St. Catherine (the later cathedral), the chapel of the Convent of St. Ursula, the Weeskerk (Orphans’ Church, the former monastery of the Canons Regular, demolished in 1864), the Geertekerk, the Nicolaaskerk and the Convent of St. Nicholas.
Around 1665, more than twenty years after the publication of the print, Droochsloot painted a large canvas with a virtually identical composition, which now hangs in the Centraal Museum in Utrecht.
Not long afterwards, on 1 August 1674, the skyline would be dramatically altered by a devastating tornado.
Droochsloot (1586 – 1666) received his training in Utrecht, but his style suggests that he also travelled in the Southern Netherlands. In 1616 he was admitted as a master to the Utrecht Guild of Saint Luke, of which he served as dean in 1623 and 1644. In 1638 he was also Regent of St. Job’s Hospital. He mostly painted village fairs and peasant scenes, as well as Biblical and historical subjects. Droochsloot was influenced by both Pieter Brueghel the Elder and the Younger, as well as by David Vinckboons.
The artist gave himself a place in the composition. In the landscape in the foreground, left of centre, he sits with a pupil on the balustrade of a bridge over the meandering Oude Rijn, drawing the design for this engraving. That drawing has since been lost. As far as is known, only some ten to fifteen examples of this large four-sheet engraving have survived.
Literature:
- Hollstein “Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts ca. 1450 – 1700”, XXXII, p. 168-169
- Wurzbach “Niederländisches Künstler-Lexikon” II, 784
- Thieme-Becker XXXIV, 303
Price: Euro 13.500,-
