Commissioned by the City of Amsterdam, c. 1650-53;{The town hall account books list only one entry of a modelled _frontespies_ (frontispiece), for the amount of 600 guilders. By then (1652/53) this model was _tsedert lange in diverse partyen betaelt_ (since long in various instalments paid). It is unclear if this concerns the east or west tympanum. The east tympanum was carved in marble in 1657. SAA, archive 5039 (Thesaurie Ordinaris), inv. no. 624, no. 11. See H. Vreeken, ‘Quellinus’ boetseersels voor het zeventiende-eeuwse stadhuis op de Dam’, in M. Jonker et al., _In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum_, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 38-59, esp. p. 45.} ? from the artist,{K. Fremantle, ‘The Fountains Designed for Van Campen’s Amsterdam Town Hall and Quellien’s Models for Them’, _Album discipulorum aangeboden aan J.G. van Gelder ter gelegenheid van zijn 60ste verjaardag_ (_Utrechtse Kunsthistorische Studiën_ 7), Utrecht 1963, pp. 101-18, esp. p. 104 (note 15): _dewijl zijn werk lootse nu affgebroken wordt dat haer Edele_ [burgemeesters] _sullen laten affhalen de modellen vande beelden die hij ten behoeve dezer Stede gemaeckt heeft_ (while his workshop is being closed, that her Noble [burgomasters] shall have the models of the sculptures that he made on behalf of this City collected). See also H.J. Wiggers, ‘De stad Amsterdam en haar vroegste beeldencollectie’, in M. Jonker et al., _In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum_, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 60-75, esp. p. 62 (referring to A.W. Kroon, _Het Amsterdamsche stadhuis (thans Paleis), 1625-1700: Zijne geschiedenis naar onuitgegeven officiële bronnen bewerkt_, Amsterdam 1867, p. 138).} transferred to the Town Hall (now Royal Palace) at Dam Square, Amsterdam, 1664;{H.J. Wiggers, ‘De stad Amsterdam en haar vroegste beeldencollectie’, in M. Jonker et al., _In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum_, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 60-75, esp. pp. 62-64. The models were initially kept in the Thesaurie Ordinaris (Treasury) of the town hall. Around 1700, most were moved to the art cabinet in the _kunstkamer_ (art chamber) on the third floor, see _Wegwyzer door Amsterdam_, Amsterdam (Nicolaas ten Hoorn) 1713, p. 446. From 1768 on, the task of overseeing the models’ preservation was assigned to the Stadstekenacademie (City Drawing Academy), also located in the aforementioned _kunstkamer_. In 1769, academy director Cornelis Ploos van Amstel compiled an inventory of all sculptures in the art chamber. This inventory also included Quellinus’s models, see SAA, archive H. 86.003 (Library), Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, _Notitie van Boetseersels en Pleisterbeelden enz bewaard wordende op de kunstkamer van het stadhuijs der stad Amsterdam_ (January 1769). From November 1796 to April 1806, the Stadstekenacademie was obliged to (temporarily) vacate the town hall art chamber on the orders of the French occupier. During this period, it is not known where the models were stored, though presumably they remained in the town hall, albeit without oversight. In April 1806, the models were moved to the _rariteitenkamer_ (curiosity chamber), also called the Diplomatieke Bibliotheek (Diplomatic Library). Several of the models, including the model discussed here, entered private hands at some point in time. That the incomplete tympanum is certain to have originally included many more components than the number surviving today can be deduced from an old reconstruction photo, see H. Vreeken, ‘Quellinus’ boetseersels voor het zeventiende-eeuwse stadhuis op de Dam’, in M. Jonker et al., _In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum_, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 38-59, esp. fig. 60.} …; donated, with BK-AM-51-1-E, -H and BK-AM-51-20-C-1 and -2, by Johan Philips van der Kellen (1831-1906), Utrecht,{The engraver and writer J.P. van der Kellen was the director of the Rijksprentenkabinet (Rijksmuseum Print Room) in the years 1876-1896 and 1898-1903. In M. Jonker et al., _In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum_, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, p. 1925, p. 192, no. 76, the donor is said to have been the otherwise unknown A. Menger of Utrecht, possibly confusing said person with the medallist J.P. Menger, employed with ’s Rijks Munt (the Dutch National Mint).} to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, 1877;{Former inv. no. BK-NM-1326.} donated by the Dutch State to the City of Amsterdam, 1878; on loan to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1887; transferred to the Amsterdams Historisch Museum (now Amsterdam Museum), 1935{SAA, archive H. 86.002 (Library).}
Bibliography and list of abbreviations for the provenance (pdf)
