All works in Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum

Pieter Jansz Saenredam

View of the Town Hall, 's-Hertogenbosch

Den Bosch, 1632

View of the Town Hall, 's-Hertogenbosch

Object data

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

height 485 mm × width 331 mm

Inscriptions

  • signed, dated and inscribed by the artist, in brown ink: upper left, RAET-HUYS / binnen der stadt / ’s-hartogenbosch; upper right, ANNO 1632 / 7·maent· / 10·dach·; centre, 1533 and 1607; lower centre, P:r Saenredam fecit.

  • stamped: lower right, with the mark of Rolas de Rosey (L. 2237)

  • inscribed on verso: centre left, in black ink, 1064; centre right, by Hofstede de Groot, in pencil, T98159 / H. 485 m. H. / B. 311 m. H.; lower left, by Goll van Franckenstein, in brown ink, N. 3880 (L. 2987); above that, by Ploos van Amstel, in red ink, H. 19 dm / B. 121/2 d / Pieter Saenredam f. / geb: Assendelft 1597 / gestorven 1670. / b. -N15 (L. 3004); next to that, in pencil, 14; next to that, in pencil, 48:31

  • stamped on verso: centre left, with the mark of Von Liphart (L. 1758); lower left, with the mark of Ploos van Amstel (L. 2034); lower right, with the mark of the museum (L. 2228)

Technical notes

Watermark: Coat of arms, surmounted by a crown, quarterly, 1st and 4th Baden, 2nd and 3rd (?) Spanheim (near Kreuznach), above a cross of St Andrew, a horizontal bar and the letters, HR

Condition

Light foxing over the entire sheet, left and right edges damaged and repaired, two sheets joined together one fifth from the top, a horizontal tear (repaired) halfway down, a horizontal crease two fifths from the bottom

Provenance

…; collection Cornelis Ploos van Amstel (1726-98), Amsterdam (L. 2034 and L. 3004); his sale, Amsterdam (P. van der Schley et al.), 3 March 1800 sqq., Album TT, no. 35 (‘Het Raadhuis binnen den Bosch; de pen door PJ Saenredam’), fl. 20, to Jonkheer Johan Goll van Franckenstein (1756-1821), Amsterdam and Velzen (L. 2987); his son, Jonkheer Pieter Hendrik Goll van Franckenstein (1787-1832), Amsterdam and Velzen; his sale, Amsterdam (J. De Vries et al.), 1 July 1833 sqq., Album U, no. 22 (‘Het Raadhuis te ‘s Hertogenbosch. Fraai met de pen, door P Saenredam’), fl. 10, to Engelbert Michaël Engelberts (1773-1843), Hoorn and Amsterdam;1 …; collection Freiherr Carl Rolas du Rosey (1784-1862), Dresden (L. 2237); his sale, Leipzig (R. Weigel), 5 September 1864, no. 4829, Reichstaler 2;2 …; collection Karl Eduard von Liphart (1808-91), Dorpat, Bonn and Florence;3; his grandson, Reinhold von Liphart (1864-1940), Rathshof, near Dorpat (L. 1758); his sale, Leipzig (C.G. Boerner), 26 April 1898 sqq., no. 825, fl. 175, to the museum (L. 2228)

Object number: RP-T-1898-A-3657

Copyright: Public domain

Entry

Saenredam spent the last few days of June and much of July 1632 in 's-Hertogenbosch, where he probably stayed with his relative Johannes Junius (1587-1635), who had been appointed one of the city’s five Reformed preachers in May the previous year.4 The drawings that Saenredam made there include this one of the town hall. It was a complex consisting of three separate buildings, the central section of which probably dated from the 1370s.5 The building on the left had been in use as the town tar-works since 1515, while that on the right was the hall of the St Nicholas street traders’ guild. The façades of these two buildings were modified in 1529-1532 to bring them more into line with the central section. It was in that period, too, that the balcony with its ornate balustrade supported on three depressed arches was erected, and the statues of Emperor Charles V (1500-1558), Johanna of Brabant (1322-1406) and her husband, Wenzel of Luxembourg (1337-1383), and Emperor Maximilian (1459-1519) were installed on the main front. In 1607 the building was embellished with copper weathervanes and shell-like ornaments. In 1632, shortly after Saenredam made this drawing, the balcony had to be shored up to prevent it collapsing, and the arches were bricked in. The result can be seen in a drawing by Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraten (1622-1666) in the Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, Paris (inv. no. 5091).6 In 1670-1679 the town hall was rebuilt, completely altering its appearance. Claes Jeremiasz Persoons (?-1692), the city architect of Rotterdam, produced a design for an austere classicist façade. The Gothic cellar was retained in the new building, as was much of the original masonry.

The purpose of this drawing is not entirely clear; there is certainly no known painting for which it could have served as a model.

Marijn Schapelhouman, 1998

Literature

C.F.X. Smits, ‘Het stadhuis van ’s-Hertogenbosch’, Het Bulletin van den Nederlandschen Oudheidkundigen Bond 1 (1908), pp. 212-16 (fig. 7); J.P. van der Kellen, Afbeeldingen naar belangrijke prenten en teekeningen in het Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam 1908, pl. XXIV; J. Mosmans, ‘Het voormalige Stadhuis te ’s-Hertogenbosch’, Het Huis, oud & nieuw 7 (1909), pp. 52-61, pl. VII; A. Mulder, ‘Het stadhuis te ’s-Hertogenbosch’, Het Bulletin van den Nederlandschen Oudheidkundigen Bond 2 (1908), pp. 23-28; C.H. Peters, De Nederlandsche stedenbouw, 2 vols., Leiden 1909-11, II (1911), p. 229 (fig. 313); F.A.J. Vermeulen, Handboek tot de Geschiedenis van de Nederlandsche Bouwkunst, 6 vols., The Hague 1928-41, II (1931), pp. 51, 53 (fig. 375); M.D. Henkel, Le dessin hollandais des origines au XVIIe siècle, Paris 1931, p. 62; Hollandsche teekenkunst in de Gouden Eeuw, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksprentenkabinet) 1935, no. 50; P.T.A. Swillens, Pieter Janszoon Saenredam. Schilder van Haarlem (1597-1665), Amsterdam 1935, p. 86, no. 53 (fig. III); Catalogus schilderijen en teekeningen Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (1597-1665), exh. cat. Rotterdam (Museum Boymans)/Amsterdam (Museum Fodor) 1937-38, no. 53 (fig. XX); M.D. Ozinga, ‘Het stadhuis te ’s-Hertogenbosch en zijn bouwmeester’, Oudheidkundig Jaarboek 7 (1938), pp. 19-20 (fig. 1); F.A.J. Vermeulen, Handboek tot de Geschiedenis van de Nederlandsche Bouwkunst, 6 vols., The Hague 1928-41, III (1941), p. 239; K.G. Boon and L.C.J. Frerichs, Hollandse tekeningen uit de Gouden Eeuw. Keuze uit openbare en particuliere Nederlandse verzamelingen, exh. cat. Brussels (Koninklijke Bibliotheek Albert I)/Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum)/Hamburg (Hamburger Kunsthalle) 1961 (no. 34); I.Q. van Regteren Altena et al., Catalogue Raisonné of the Works by Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, Published on the Occasion of the Exhibition Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, 15 September – 3 December 1961, exh. cat. Utrecht (Centraal Museum) 1961, no. 103; M. van Boven and M. Trappeniers, Het beleg van ’s-Hertogenbosch in 1629. Tentoonstelling ter gelegenheid van de 350-jarige herdenking van de belegering en inname van ’s-Hertogenbosch, exh. cat. ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Noordbrabantsmuseum) 1979, p. 70 (no. 27); C. van Hasselt, Dessins flamands et hollandais du dix-septième siècle: Collections Musées de Belgique, Musée Boymans-van Beuningen Rotterdam, Institut Néerlandais Paris, exh. cat. Paris (Institut Néerlandais) 1974, p. 148, under no. 107 (n. 3); P.J. van der Heijden, ‘Saenredam en ’s-Hertogenbosch. ’s-Hertogenbosch en Saenredam’, in B.L.A. van Zwieten et al., Vriendenboek stadsarchivaris Kuyer, ‘s-Hertogenbosch 1980, pp. 96-106 (fig. 14); G. Schwartz et al., Pieter Saenredam. De schilder in zijn tijd, Maarssen 1989, pp. 83, 89 (fig. 89), 270, no. 103; A.M. Koldewij, In Buscoducis, 1450-1629. Kunst uit de Bourgondische tijd te ’s-Hertogenbosch. De cultuur van late middeleeuwen en renaissance, exh. cat. ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Noordbrabants Museum) 1990, pp. 36-37, 578 (no. 3); C. Kolman, Monumenten in Nederland. Noord-Brabant, Zeist/Zwolle 1997, p. 213; A. Vos, Burgers, broeders en bazen. Het maatschappelijke middenveld van ’s-Hertogenbosch in de zeventiende en achttiende eeuw, Hilversum 2007, p. 22; R. Priem et al., Vermeer, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art: Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum, exh. cat. Vancouver (Vancouver Art Gallery) 2009, pp. 100-01; R. Priem et al., L’Age d’Or hollandais de Rembrandt à Vermeer avec les trésors du Rijksmuseum, exh. cat. Paris (Pinacothèque de Paris) 2009-10, pp. 106-07 (no. 39); J. de Hond and P. Huys Janssen, Pieter Saenredam in Den Bosch, exh. cat. ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Noordbrabants Museum) 2013, pp. 85 (no. 10), 98-101 (under no. 12)

Citation

M. Schapelhouman, 1998, 'Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, View of the Town Hall, 's-Hertogenbosch, Den Bosch, 1632-07-10', in J. Turner (ed.), Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.59864

(accessed 1 April 2025 02:05:52).

Footnotes

  • 1 Copy RKD.
  • 2 Copy RKD.
  • 3 According to L. 1758.
  • 4 G. Schwartz et al., Pieter Saenredam. De schilder in zijn tijd, Maarssen 1989, pp. 96-97.
  • 5 On the building, see M.D. Ozinga, ‘Het stadhuis te ’s-Hertogenbosch en zijn bouwmeester’, Oudheidkundig Jaarboek 7 (1938), pp. 19-25; C. Kolman, Monumenten in Nederland. Noord-Brabant, Zeist/Zwolle 1997, pp. 213-15.
  • 6 C. van Hasselt, Rembrandt and his Century: Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century: from the Collection of Frits Lugt, Institut Néerlandais, Paris, exh. cat. New York (Pierpont Morgan Library)/Paris (Institut Néerlandais) 1977-78, no. 5.