Rijksmuseum

Object data

pen and brown ink, over traces of graphite; framing line in brown ink

height 84 mm × width 140 mm

Inscriptions

inscribed by the artist, in brown ink: upper left, de 8 / 11 (date expressed as a fraction, month over day) 1674.
stamped on verso: centre left, with the mark of the museum (L. 2228)

Technical notes

watermark: none

Condition

A crease at the upper left; trimmed

Provenance

…; anonymous gift to the museum (L. 2228), 1895

Object number: RP-T-1895-A-3113

Credit line: Private gift

The artist

Barend Klotz (? - ?)

Only one record, related to his position as a midshipman (adelborst) in the Dutch army, exists.¹ The Klotz family may have come from the province of Limburg, where the surname was recorded in the seventeenth century.² 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 1668.³ 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.⁴ 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.⁵ 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 artist drew this scene on 11 August 1674, the day of the Battle of Seneffe, one of the bloodiest confrontations during the Franco-Dutch war (1672-78). On 10 August, the Stadholder Prince Willem III of Orange (1650-1702) commanded a combined army of Dutch, German and Spanish soldiers to march from Nivelles, in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant, where the army was stationed, to the village of Binche to confront the French army of Louis, Grand Condé (1646-1686). The road to Binche was extremely narrow and the army had to spread out in long rows. The French army took advantage of this situation and attacked the army from behind, near the town of Seneffe. The battle claimed around 6,000 lives on both sides and was undecided.⁶ It is unclear when the drawing was made: it could depict the army resting on its way to Binche, before the battle took place, or after, when the surviving soldiers returned after a dreadful fight.

The present sheet is closely related to two other drawings in the Rijksmuseum's collection attributed to Barend Klotz, inv. nos. RP-T-1895-A-3110 and RP-T-1895-A-3111, both of which show the army encampment at Nivelles. The present sheet was trimmed at some point; the framing line is drawn on top of and around some of the figures in the lower foreground.

Carolyn Mensing, 2019

Citation

C. Mensing, 2019, 'possibly Barend Klotz, The Army of Willem III Resting in a Landscape, 1674-08-11', in J. Turner (ed.), Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.54224

(accessed 15 November 2024 15:39:17).