Rijksmuseum

Object data

pen and brown ink, with grey wash; framing line in brown ink

height 177 mm × width 302 mm

Inscriptions

inscribed by the artist: upper right, in brown ink, op het Casteel tot Gemert de 25 / 12 (as a fraction, month over day) 1675
inscribed on verso: lower left, in graphite, 181. Z; below that, possibly in a seventeenth-century hand, in brown ink, Valent. Clots f 1675; below that, in graphite, f r; below that, in brown ink, No 902.; lower right centre, in graphite, Verk Jolle Nr. 350 / Nov .48
stamped on verso: lower left, with an unidentified mark (L. 6222); next to that, with the mark of Vereniging Rembrandt (L. 2135); next to that, with the mark of the museum (L. 2228)

Technical notes

watermark: none

Provenance

…; unidentified collection (L. 6222); ...; sale, Johannes Andreas Jolles (1771-1848, Amsterdam), Amsterdam (J. de Vries et al.), 27 November 1848 sqq., Album G, no. 350 (‘Het Slot te Neder-Hemert, bij Heusden; met de pen en o.i. inkt’), fl. 30:50:-, to ‘De Vries’;¹ …; sale, Jacob de Vos (1735-1833, Amsterdam), Amsterdam (J. de Vries et al.), 30 October 1883 sqq., no. 111, fl. 20:5:-, to J.H. Balfoort (Utrecht);² …; acquired by the museum (L. 2228), with support of the Vereniging Rembrandt (L. 2135), 1888³

Object number: RP-T-1888-A-1642

Credit line: Purchased with support of the Vereniging Rembrandt

The artist

Barend Klotz (? - ?)

Only one record, related to his position as a midshipman (adelborst) in the Dutch army, exists.⁴ The Klotz family may have come from the province of Limburg, where the surname was recorded in the seventeenth century.⁵ Barend was likely related to fellow draughtsman Valentijn Klotz (c. 1646-1721), who was probably a brother or cousin. Barend was part of the military company of Capt. Harderwijk (?-?), the leader of the naval department of the Dutch army, founded in Maastricht in 1668.⁶ In Maastricht, he likely met fellow draughtsman Josua de Grave (1643-1712). After being stationed in Bergen op Zoom (1671-early 1672), Barend and Valentijn Klotz and Josua de Grave accompanied the army during their campaigns in the southern Netherlands in 1672, 1674, 1675 and 1676.

Barend Klotz signed and dated his works only occasionally (e.g. inv. no. RP-T-00-736). Consequently, scholars seem to have been hesitant about attributing drawings to the artist. Furthermore, his style is very close to that of Valentijn Klotz and Josua de Grave. Based on the few inscriptions found on his sheets, Mosseveld and Van Ham were able to describe Barend Klotz’s handwriting and attribute a number of drawings of sites in Bergen op Zoom to the artist.⁷ Overall, his handwriting is neater than that of Valentijn, but not as consistent as that of Josua de Grave. His ‘w’, as well as his ‘p’ and ‘z’, are quite distinguishable; also noteworthy is his sparse use of capital letters.⁸ Barend used a very distinct old-fashioned ‘e’, adding an additional loop through the ‘o’. Further, he included the words ‘geteekent de’ [accompanied with a date and place] on several of his drawings. Based on this information, various drawings in the Rijksmuseum’s collection could be (tentatively) reattributed to the artist.

Carolyn Mensing, 2020

References
R. van Eijnden and A. van der Willigen, ‘Klotz, Valentijn’, in U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 37 vols., Leipzig 1907-50, XX (1927), pp. 549-50; R.J.G.M. van Hasselt, ‘Drie tekenaars van topografische prenten in Brabant en elders. Valentijn Klotz, Josua de Grave en Constantijn Huygens Jr.’, Jaarboek Oudheidkundige Kring ‘De Ghulden Roos’ 25 (1965), pp. 145-55; M.H. Breitbarth-van der Stok, ‘Josua de Grave, Valentinus Klotz en Bernardus Klotz’, Bulletin Koninklijke Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond 68 (1969), pp. 99-101; J.H. van Mosselveld and W.A. van Ham, Tekeningen van Bergen op Zoom. Topografische afbeeldingen van Bergen op Zoom en omgeving uit de zestiende tot en met de achttiende eeuw, exh. cat. Bergen op Zoom (Markiezenhof) 1973-74, pp. 15-18; G. Gordon, ‘Klotz, Valentijn’, in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, 34 vols., London/New York 1996, XVIII, pp. 140-41; P. Groenendijk, Beknopt biografisch lexicon van Zuid- en Noord-Nederlandse schilders, graveurs, glasschilders, tapijtwevers et cetera van ca. 1350 tot ca. 1720, Leiden 2008, p. 466

Entry

The castle in Gemert in the province of Noord-Brabant was built by the Teutonic Order in or shortly after 1391. Over the course of several centuries, it was expanded to a large moated complex, including a tower, gatehouses and residential wings. It was drastically altered in 1740 by creating a U-shaped building. Fires destroyed parts of the complex in 1881 and 1949; these are currently being rebuilt.⁹

The present sheet and inv. no. RP-T-1898-A-3978 depicting the village of Gemert were made in the last week of December 1675, on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, respectively. The present sheet is somewhat restrained, and the focus lies clearly on the architecture. This is further enhanced by the sparingly applied grey washes. The composition, with the castle coming out of the left side of the sheet and the figure walking towards it, gives the building more prominence and grandeur. Another drawing of the castle, made on 23 December 1675, is in the collection of the Noordbrabants Museum, in ’s-Hertogenbosch (inv. no. 12218).

Carolyn Mensing, 2020

Literature

R.J.G.M. van Hasselt, ‘Drie tekenaars van topografische prenten in Brabant en elders. Valentijn Klotz, Josua de Grave en Constantijn Huygens Jr.’, Jaarboek Oudheidkundige Kring ‘De Ghulden Roos’ 25 (1965), pp. 145-92, no. 107 (as Valentijn Klotz)

Citation

C. Mensing, 2020, 'attributed to Barend Klotz, View of Kasteel Gemert, Noord-Brabant, Gemert, 1675-12-25', in J. Turner (ed.), Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.54265

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