Object data
oil on panel
support: height 35.6 cm × width 58.3 cm
outer size: depth 6.8 cm (support incl. frame)
Frans de Hulst
View of the Valkhof in Nijmegen
c. 1645 - c. 1650
Inscriptions
- signature, lower left, on the ferry-boat: F. D. Hvlst.
Technical notes
The support is an oak panel consisting of two horizontally grained planks and is bevelled on all sides. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1627. The panel could have been ready for use by 1638, but a date in or after 1644 is more likely. The ground layer is thin and white or transparent, allowing the grain and the colour of the wood to show through. Some underdrawing is visible with the naked eye. The buildings were painted in a smooth and transparent manner, whereas the sky and the water were painted with visible brushstrokes. Pentimenti are especially notable in the architecture. The step-gabled house was moved to the right, and the round tower to the right of it was made higher.
Scientific examination and reports
- technical report: I. Verslype, RMA, 22 May 2003
- dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 2 May 2005
Condition
Fair. The panel join is partially open and re-glued. There are two old worm holes at lower right. The paint layer has become transparent, and the varnish and retouchings are discoloured.
Provenance
...; donated to the Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap by Mr S.J. Hingst, 1866; on loan to the museum from the Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap since 1889
Object number: SK-C-519
Credit line: On loan from the Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap
Copyright: Public domain
The artist
Frans de Hulst (Haarlem c. 1610 - Haarlem 1661)
Frans de Hulst, who is sometimes confused with the Leiden landscape painter Maerten Fransz van der Hulst, was probably born in Haarlem around 1610. Nothing is known of his artistic training, but it has been suggested that he was a pupil of Salomon van Ruysdael. He became a member of the Haarlem painters’ guild in 1631, for which he fulfilled several functions between 1635 and 1660. He married Magdalena Wijtvelt on 3 August 1640. De Hulst painted landscapes in the manner of Jan van Goyen, mostly river views with topographical elements. He is best known for his depictions of the Valkhof in Nijmegen. No signed drawings by him are known. Fifteen paintings by De Hulst are mentioned in the inventory of the widow of the Rotterdam art dealer Crijn Hendricksz Volmarijn dated 12 March 1648. The Haarlem artist Vincent van der Vinne owned two of his sketchbooks. De Hulst died in Haarlem on 29 December 1661 and was buried there on 3 January 1662.
Gerdien Wuestman, 2007
References
Bredius V, 1918, pp. 1636-40, VI, 1919, p. 2212; Schneider in Thieme/Becker XVIII, 1925, p. 115; Miedema 1980, II, pp. 1134-35; Beck IV, 1991, pp. 185-86
Entry
De Hulst’s View of the Valkhof is taken from the north west. It shows the city of Nijmegen rising up on the banks of the river Waal with its ancient Imperial Palace called the Valkhof, which was built by Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (c. 1122/24-90).1 The foreground is enlivened with a ferry-boat with figures, cattle and a coach. There are many similar views by De Hulst, some of which are painted in an oval format. Signed versions are in Rotterdam, Cape Town and in a private collection.2 A drawing of this subject is in London, catalogued under the name of De Hulst.3 Topographical accuracy was not De Hulst’s main concern, as the many differences in the architecture in the several versions of this subject suggest.
The subject of the Valkhof was popularized by Jan van Goyen, whose work De Hulst was obviously acquainted with (cf. SK-A-122). Despite the presence of De Hulst’s signature, the present painting was once catalogued as by or in the manner of Van Goyen,4 and it is not surprising that some of De Hulst’s views of the Valkhof are falsely signed Van Goyen. The technique with the thin, whitish or transparent ground is comparable to that of Van Goyen, and the same applies to De Hulst’s palette, which is dominated by browns and greens.
As no dated paintings by De Hulst have come to light, the chronology of his work remains more or less obscure. In the Rijksmuseum painting the Hoenderpoort and the Hoendertoren are depicted as they were before being rebuilt into the Belvedere in 1646-49.5 However, a dating after the mid-1640s is suggested by the dendrochronology, and is likely for other reasons as well. Beck dates De Hulst’s views with prominent architecture after 1645, for the artist’s compositional schemes then became increasingly uniform and routine.6 The staffage in the present painting, such as the coach on the ferry-boat, and the location of the boat at lower right, near the edge, is related to Van Goyen’s work from around 1646.7 Similar views of the Valkhof by other Van Goyen followers are dated 1647 and 1649, indicating that this was a popular theme at that time.8 It is tempting to assume that the demand for paintings with this subject increased after Van Goyen painted his large view of the Valkhof in 1641, possibly commissioned by the City of Nijmegen.9 De Hulst may have based his views of the Valkhof on a prototype made prior to 1646, possibly a painting or a drawing by Van Goyen.10
Gerdien Wuestman, 2007
See Bibliography and Rijksmuseum painting catalogues
See Key to abbreviations and Acknowledgements
This entry was published in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, I: Artists Born between 1570 and 1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2007, no. 152.
Literature
Beck IV, 1991, p. 193, no. 528 (A 27)
Collection catalogues
1903, p. 137, no. 1266; 1934, p. 138, no. 1266; 1976, p. 293, no. C 519; 2007, no. 152
Citation
G. Wuestman, 2007, 'Frans de Hulst, View of the Valkhof in Nijmegen, c. 1645 - c. 1650', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.8790
(accessed 14 November 2024 12:51:16).