Venus and Adonis, Chimney Piece

Entry

This chimney piece signed by the Amsterdam sculptor Ignatius van Logteren (1685-1732) and dated 1730, depicts the mythological lovers Venus and Adonis. The goddess is looking anxiously at Adonis, who is about to go hunting. Her concern was justifiable. During the hunt, the beautiful young man was mortally wounded by a wild boar at the instigation of one of Venus’ jealous lovers (Ovid, Met. 10: 708-739).

Van Logteren drew inspiration for the composition from the print of Venus and Adonis in Mattys Pool’s influential book of engravings after the ivory works by the renowned Amsterdam sculptor Francis van Bossuit (1635-1692) which had been published three years previously.³ This is a free interpretation. For instance, Van Logteren switched the places of the figures, so that it is not Venus but Adonis who is sitting on the right, holding out his hand lovingly to his beloved. Van Logteren omitted the angel featured in the print holding a wreath above the lovers’ heads and the putto on the right having a tête-à-tête with a greyhound. Moreover, in his version, instead of one greyhound there are two, and he added two billing doves on the left. Although the relief is of above-average quality on the whole, Van Logteren did not manage to get Adonis’ legs anatomically correct or convincing as regards perspective.⁴ However, that is less obvious when the relief is placed well above eye level. Presumably it came from a monumental mantelpiece of comparable proportions to the two examples in the Kabinet der Koning (King’s Office) in The Hague made in the style of the architect Daniel Marot. They were decorated in 1734 with marble reliefs dating from 1707 by the Flemish sculptor Jan Claudius de Cock (1667-1735) from the collection of the building’s then owner, Johan van Schuylenburch.⁵

The provenance of the present 1730 chimney piece is not documented, but as Fischer already suggested in 1973,⁶ it might well have originated from the canal house at 476 Herengracht in Amsterdam.⁷ At that time Van Logteren was entrusted with the sculptural decoration of that house which is located in what is known as the Golden Bend, the most expensive part of Herengracht. Although the representation is not specified, an estate inventory of 13 November 1733 mentions that there was ‘in the Dining room…marble… Bas-relief on the Chimney piece’.⁸ That could be the piece in question.

In February 1730 the Baptist merchant Dirk van Lennep (1693-1755) had acquired the house at 476 Herengracht together with country house Meer-en-Berg in Heemstede from the estate of his late wife Catharina de Neufville (d. 1729), who in turn had inherited it only five months before her death from her father, David de Neufville (1654-1729). Dirk van Lennep went ahead with the ambitious renovations to 476 Herengracht and to Meer-en-Berg set in motion by his father in-law around 1728. His sister-in-law Petronella de Neufville had the ‘sister house’ across the canal at 475 Herengracht remodelled in a similar style, starting in 1731. They employed the same artists for the decorative work, including Jacob de Wit for the murals and Ignatius van Logteren for the sculptural work. When the latter died in October 1732 his son, Jan van Logteren, proceeded with the work for Petronella de Neufville at 475 Herengracht.⁹ However, the planned interior decorations at number 476 were discontinued. Van Lennep had run into great financial problems in 1732 which resulted in his family putting him under guardianship, and in his bankruptcy. The list of creditors dated 8 May 1733 reveals that Van Lennep still owed Ignatius van Logteren (by then deceased) almost 4,000 guilders for unsettled bills.¹⁰ On 6 January 1734 Jean de Wolff, a brother of Catharina van Lennep’s first husband, acquired the building. A few months earlier, on 13 November 1733, he had already purchased much of the bankruptcy estate by private contract, including the foregoing marble chimney piece in the dining room. As mentioned, it could have been the relief featured here.¹¹

We know of no other records of the work prior to its acquisition in 1933 by the Rijksmuseum. Contrary to Leeuwenberg’s hypothesis,¹² the chimney piece is unlikely to be identical to ‘A Venus and Adonis by Van Logteren’ in the sizeable collection of the Amsterdam Baptist pharmacist Jeronimo de Bosch that was sold in 1767.¹³ The very small sum the object made in the sale (together with an anonymous figure of Venus) – a paltry 5 guiders – plus the listing of the object in the sale catalogue among other small-sized items, is a strong indication that the work was of modest size.¹⁴ However, this does not exclude the possibility that this was an unknown preliminary study or bozzetto of the present chimney piece.

Bieke van der Mark, 2025