Object data
black chalk; framing line in brown ink (largely cut off)
height 26 mm (right top arched) × width 85 mm
Cornelis Saftleven
1617 - 1681
black chalk; framing line in brown ink (largely cut off)
height 26 mm (right top arched) × width 85 mm
stamped on verso: lower centre, with the mark of the museum (L. 2228)
watermark: none
…; collection Jacob Olie (1834-1905), Amsterdam; his daughter, Aagje Olie (1884-1975), Utrecht;1 by whom bequeathed to the museum (L. 2228), 1972
Object number: RP-T-1972-10
Credit line: Gift of A. Olie, Utrecht
Copyright: Public domain
Cornelis Saftleven (Gorinchem, 1606 – Rotterdam, 1681)
The son of the Rotterdam artist Herman Saftleven I (c. 1580-1627) and Lijntge Cornelisdr Moelants (d. 1625), he was trained by his father together with two of his brothers, Herman Saftleven (1609-1685) and Abraham Safleven (b. 1613). He likely stayed in Antwerp between 1632 and 1634, where Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) painted figures in some of his paintings.2 For a short period of time in the 1630s, he stayed with his brother Herman in Utrecht.3
Except for these few trips, Cornelis Saftleven stayed in Rotterdam. In 1640, he lived in the Lombardstraat and from 1648-1681 on the Franse Water.4 On 18 November 1648, he married Catharina Dircx van der Heyden (d. 1654). After she passed away, on 29 September 1655, he married Elisabeth Melchiors van Avont (1619-1695). It appears he remained childless. In 1667, he became the dean of the Guild of St Luke in Rotterdam.5
Cornelis Saftleven was a versatile artist who produced paintings and drawings on a large variety of topics: peasant scenes, rural interiors, landscapes, cattle scenes, biblical and mythological themes, images of hell, allegories, satires and illustrations of proverbs. About 200 paintings and 500 drawings (probably a fraction of his output) have been documented.6 In his drawings, he worked mainly in black chalk and sometimes finished his sheets with grey wash. Occasionally, he drew on toned papers. His characteristic monogram – combining the letters ‘C, S and L’ – and a date can be found on his several of his drawings. Perhaps he made these for the market. Stylistically, he was influenced by the landscape drawings of Roelant Rogman (1627-1692), the animal drawings of Roelant Savery (1576-1639), Frans Snijders (1579-1657) and Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691), and the figure studies of Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667).7
Saftleven was buried on 5 June 1681 in the French Protestant Church in Rotterdam.8
Carolyn Mensing, 2020
References
A. Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols., Amsterdam 1718-21, I (1718), pp. 342-43 (as: Kornelis Zachtleven); C. Hofstede de Groot, ‘Een spotteekening van Cornelis Saftleven op de Dordtsche Synode’, Oud-Holland 15 (1897), pp. 121-23; A. von Wurzbach, Niederländisches Künstlerlexikon, 3 vols., Vienna/Leipzig 1906-11, II (1910), p. 548; N. Alting Mees, ‘Aanteekeningen over oud-Rotterdamsche kunstenaars III’, Oud-Holland 31 (1913), pp. 241-68, 255-59; U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler: Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 37 vols., Leipzig 1907-50, XXIX (1935), p. 309; B.J.A. Renckens, ‘Enkele notities bij vroege werken van Cornelis Saftleven’, Bulletin Museum Boymans-van Beuningen 13 (1962), pp. 59-74; A. Zwollo, ‘Een “Cornelis Saftleven” per brief’, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 38 (1987), pp. 402-06; W. Schulz, Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1685): Leben und Werke, mit einem kritischen Katalog der Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Berlin 1978; N. Schadee, Rotterdamse meesters uit de gouden eeuw, exh. cat. Rotterdam (Historisch Museum) 1994-95, pp. 295-96; RKD artists https://rkd.nl/artists/69245
By applying grey washes to various sections of this recumbent cow’s body, Saftleven emphasized that it is lying in a sun-drenched field. The artist often rendered these sharp dark and light contrasts on animals’ bodies to create dramatic effects. This technique is also found in his painted Annunciation to the Shepherds in the Rijksmuseum’s collection (inv. no. [SK-A-801](/en/collection/ SK-A-801/catalogue-entry)). The cow in the present sheet could not be found in any of his paintings that featured livestock.
Carolyn Mensing, 2020
‘Keuze uit de aanwinsten 1972 van het Rijksprentenkabinet’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum (1973), p. 43; W. Schulz, Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1685): Leben und Werke, mit einem kritischen Katalog der Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Berlin 1978, p. 125, no. 243
C. Mensing, 2020, 'Cornelis Saftleven, _, 1617 - 1681', in J. Turner (ed.), _(under construction) Drawings 2, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200143950
(accessed 18 December 2025 13:46:05).