Object data
black chalk, with watercolour, heightened with some white chalk; framing line in brown-black ink
height 215 mm × width 286 mm
Cornelis Saftleven
Snarling Lion, its Head Seen from the Front
c. 1620 - c. 1630
Technical notes
watermark: none
Provenance
…; ? acquired by the museum (L. 2228), in or after 1921;1 first recorded in the museum in 19732
Object number: RP-T-00-236
Copyright: Public domain
The artist
Cornelis Saftleven (Gorinchem, 1606 – Rotterdam, 1681)
The son of the Rotterdam artist Herman Saftleven I (c. 1580-1627) and Lijntge Cornelisdr Moelants (d. 1625), he was trained by his father together with two of his brothers, Herman Saftleven (1609-1685) and Abraham Safleven (b. 1613). He likely stayed in Antwerp between 1632 and 1634, where Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) painted figures in some of his paintings.3 For a short period of time in the 1630s, he stayed with his brother Herman in Utrecht.4
Except for these few trips, Cornelis Saftleven stayed in Rotterdam. In 1640, he lived in the Lombardstraat and from 1648-1681 on the Franse Water.5 On 18 November 1648, he married Catharina Dircx van der Heyden (d. 1654). After she passed away, on 29 September 1655, he married Elisabeth Melchiors van Avont (1619-1695). It appears he remained childless. In 1667, he became the dean of the Guild of St Luke in Rotterdam.6
Cornelis Saftleven was a versatile artist who produced paintings and drawings on a large variety of topics: peasant scenes, rural interiors, landscapes, cattle scenes, biblical and mythological themes, images of hell, allegories, satires and illustrations of proverbs. About 200 paintings and 500 drawings (probably a fraction of his output) have been documented.7 In his drawings, he worked mainly in black chalk and sometimes finished his sheets with grey wash. Occasionally, he drew on toned papers. His characteristic monogram – combining the letters ‘C, S and L’ – and a date can be found on his several of his drawings. Perhaps he made these for the market. Stylistically, he was influenced by the landscape drawings of Roelant Rogman (1627-1692), the animal drawings of Roelant Savery (1576-1639), Frans Snijders (1579-1657) and Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691), and the figure studies of Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667).8
Saftleven was buried on 5 June 1681 in the French Protestant Church in Rotterdam.9
Carolyn Mensing, 2020
References
A. Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols., Amsterdam 1718-21, I (1718), pp. 342-43 (as: Kornelis Zachtleven); C. Hofstede de Groot, ‘Een spotteekening van Cornelis Saftleven op de Dordtsche Synode’, Oud-Holland 15 (1897), pp. 121-23; A. von Wurzbach, Niederländisches Künstlerlexikon, 3 vols., Vienna/Leipzig 1906-11, II (1910), p. 548; N. Alting Mees, ‘Aanteekeningen over oud-Rotterdamsche kunstenaars III’, Oud-Holland 31 (1913), pp. 241-68, 255-59; U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler: Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 37 vols., Leipzig 1907-50, XXIX (1935), p. 309; B.J.A. Renckens, ‘Enkele notities bij vroege werken van Cornelis Saftleven’, Bulletin Museum Boymans-van Beuningen 13 (1962), pp. 59-74; A. Zwollo, ‘Een “Cornelis Saftleven” per brief’, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 38 (1987), pp. 402-06; W. Schulz, Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1685): Leben und Werke, mit einem kritischen Katalog der Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Berlin 1978; N. Schadee, Rotterdamse meesters uit de gouden eeuw, exh. cat. Rotterdam (Historisch Museum) 1994-95, pp. 295-96; RKD artists https://rkd.nl/artists/69245
Entry
Cornelis Saftleven started to draw animals from life only at a later age. During the 1620s and ’30s, he based them on works of art by other artists, such as the work of the Utrecht animal painter Roelant Savery (1576-1639).10 In this context, Schulz mentioned a painting of Animals in Paradise by Savery in the Residenz Würzbach (inv. no. 6618);11 however, this comparison is not convincing as a source. Alongside indigenous animals Saftleven also portrayed exotic species, such as monkeys, camels, bears, tigers and lions. The lion in this drawing was clearly not done from life; its pose is quite unrealistic and its head looks somewhat like that of a dog.
There are more naturalistic renderings of lions by Saftleven, including a sheet with a reclining, roaring lion in red and black chalk with watercolour in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (inv. no. 84.GG.808).12 Another lion in colour by Saftleven is preserved in the De Grez collection at the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels (inv. no. 4060/3149).13 For the latter sheet the artist probably had a stuffed specimen at his disposal.
Gerdien Wuestman, 2001/Carolyn Mensing, 2020
Literature
W. Schulz, Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1685): Leben und Werke, mit einem kritischen Katalog der Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Berlin 1978, pp. 56 and 125 (no. 248, fig. 91)
Citation
G. Wuestman, 2001/C. Mensing, 2020, 'Cornelis Saftleven, _, c. 1620 - c. 1630', in J. Turner (ed.), _(under construction) Drawings 2, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200143948
(accessed 9 December 2025 15:26:54).