Rijksmuseum

Object data

black, red, and yellow chalk, with grey wash; framing line in black ink

height 168 mm × width 236 mm

Inscriptions

monogrammed and dated, in black chalk: lower right (in the grass), CSL / 1653
inscribed on verso, in pencil: lower centre, in a modern hand, 29; upper left (upside down, each twice), 33 and 35
stamped on verso: lower left corner, with the mark of De Vos (L. 1450); next to that, with the mark of the Vereniging Rembrandt (L. 2135); next to that, with the mark of the museum (L. 2228)

Technical notes

watermark: foolscap above three balls

Provenance

…; collection Jacob de Vos Jbzn (1803-78), Amsterdam (L. 1450); his widow, Abrahamina Henrietta de Vos-Wurfbain (1808-83), Amsterdam; sale, Jacob de Vos Jbzn, Amsterdam (C.F. Roos et al.), 22 May 1883 sqq., no. 481, together with four other drawings (‘Corneille Saftleven. Divers Bestiaux. Cinq croquis à la pierre noire, dont trois signés du monogramme et un daté: 1653.’), fl. 36 for all, to the Vereniging Rembrandt (L. 2135); from whom, together with 53 drawings, to the museum (L. 2228), 1888

Object number: RP-T-1888-A-1504

Credit line: Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt

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.¹ For a short period of time in the 1630s, he stayed with his brother Herman in Utrecht.²

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.³ 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.⁴

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.⁵ 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).⁶

Saftleven was buried on 5 June 1681 in the French Protestant Church in Rotterdam.⁷

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

This sunbathing recumbent calf is one of Saftleven’s liveliest drawings. The young animal’s soft fur is rendered with swift and detailed strokes in various colours of chalk. The subtlety applied washes on the left side of his body reveal the bright sunny environment.
Saftleven turned to groups of livestock later in his career.⁸

Gerdien Wuestman, 2001

Literature

Bestiaire Hollandais: Exposition de tableaux, aquarelles, dessins et gravures par des artistes hollandais des XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles et d’un choix de livres de la même période, exh. cat. Paris (Institut Néerlandais) 1960, no. 192; W. Schulz, Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1685): Leben und Werke, mit einem kritischen Katalog der Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Berlin 1978, pp. 59 and 124 (no. 240, fig. 102)

Citation

G. Wuestman, 2001, 'Cornelis Saftleven, Reclining Calf, Turned to the Left _, 1653', in J. Turner (ed.), _(under construction) Drawings 2, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200143937

(accessed 18 December 2025 23:59:17).