Object data
black chalk; framing line in brown ink
height 291 mm × width 208 mm
Cornelis Saftleven
Seated Man with a Pipe
1662
Inscriptions
-
monogrammed and dated: lower right, in black chalk, CSL / 1662
Technical notes
watermark: countermark with letters IM or PM
Provenance
…; collection Carel Vosmaer (1826-88), The Hague;1 his son, Prof. Dr Gualtherus Carel Jacob Vosmaer (1854-1916), Leiden; his son, C.J.J.G. Vosmaer (1907-86), Leiden; his heirs; from whom, fl. 650,000, with 212 other drawings, to the museum (L. 2228), with support from the Vereniging Rembrandt, the Rijksmuseum Stichting and the De Ster Holding BV, 1989
Object number: RP-T-1989-104
Credit line: Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt, the Rijksmuseum Stichting and the De Ster Holding BV
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
In 1989, the Rijksmuseum purchased six figure drawings by Cornelis Saftleven. part of a large group from the heirs of the eighteenth-century collector Carel Vosmaer (1826-1888). They span the artist’s entire career, and except for one drawing, they are all signed and dated (1634, 1636, 1651, 1656 and 1662, respectively).2
Saftleven made an exact copy of this drawing for his brother, Herman (1609-1685), folded it up and sent it to him as a ‘letter’ (inv. no. RP-T-2019-423), a sheet that the museum was recently able to acquire. Cornelis probably drew the copy of this seated figure so that his brother could incorporate it in one of his paintings.3
Carolyn Mensing, 2020
Literature
J.F. Heijbroek (ed.), De verzameling van mr. Carel Vosmaer (1826-1888), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksprentenkabinet) 1989, pp. 67, 69, no. 23 (ill.); A. Zwollo, “Een 'Cornelis Saftleven' per brief”, Nederlands Historisch Jaarboek 38 (1987), pp. 402-06
Citation
C. Mensing, 2020, 'Cornelis Saftleven, _, 1662', in J. Turner (ed.), _(under construction) Drawings 2, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200143929
(accessed 13 December 2025 01:45:08).