Rijksmuseum

Object data

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

height 147 mm × width 199 mm

Inscriptions

dated: lower left, in brown ink, Geteekent de 7 / 31 (date expressed as a fraction, month over day) 1674
stamped: lower left, with the mark of Gigoux (L. 1164); lower right, with the mark of Gasc (L. 1131)
inscribed on verso, in graphite: lower left, in a nineteenth-century hand, n0 623 ---; lower right, in a nineteenth-century hand, Klots
stamped on verso, lower centre, with the mark of the museum (L. 2228)

Technical notes

watermark: none

Condition

Losses at centre left, upper edge and lower right corner; repair upper right; discoloured

Provenance

…; collection Amédée-Paul-Émile Gasc (1817-66), Paris (L. 1131); his sale, Paris (B. Blaisot), 11 January 1861 sqq., no. 122 (‘Clots. (Valentin) [1680], Campement. - Dessin à la plume et au bistre, lavé d'encre de Chine.’); …; collection Jean-François Gigoux (1806-94), Paris (L. 1164); …; collection Daniël Franken Dzn (1838-98), Amsterdam and Le Vésinet; by whom bequeathed to the museum (L. 2228), 1898

Object number: RP-T-1898-A-3979

Credit line: D. Franken Bequest, Le Vésinet

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 inclusion of the word Geteekent (‘drawn’), followed by a date, as well as the use of an old-fashioned ‘e’, places this drawing within the oeuvre of Barend Klotz. Neither Valentijn Klotz (c. 1646-1721) nor Josua de Grave (1643-1712) – both of whom also accompanied the army of the Dutch States-General under the Stadholder Prince Willem III of Orange (1650-1702) in 1674 – included the word ‘geteekend’ on their drawings.

The grey wash does not seem consistent with other sheets attributed to Barend Klotz and might have been applied by a later hand. Furthermore, some brown ink lines of the original composition are enhanced with thin grey pen lines. Overall, the paper is quite discoloured and several losses are scattered around the sheet.

Carolyn Mensing, 2020

Citation

C. Mensing, 2020, 'attributed to Barend Klotz, View on an Army Base, Belgium, 1674-01-31 - 1674-07-31', in J. Turner (ed.), Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.54188

(accessed 15 November 2024 07:24:53).