Hercules Segers and His 'Printed Paintings' an Van Camp, British
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Hercules Segers and his ‘printed paintings’ An Van Camp, British Museum This introduction accompanies the display of the British Museum’s collection of etchings by Hercules Segers, on show in Room 90, 6 January – 6 May 2012. This is the first time the British Museum’s holdings of Segers’ prints have been exhibited as a group, and the majority have never been previously displayed. The first section contains introductory chapters on Hercules Segers’ life, his work, his printmaking techniques and his use of colour. The second section features a list of the works exhibited. A glossary of Segers’ most used printmaking techniques and a bibliography can be found at the end of this introduction. I would like to thank Jenny Bescoby (Paper conservator, British Museum) and Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann (Professor Emeritus, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University) for their invaluable support and expertise. © The Trustees of the British Museum I. Introduction Segers’ life Hercules Segers (c. 1589–c. 1638) was a Dutch painter and printmaker, specialising in landscapes. He was born around 1589/90 in Haarlem, the son of the merchant Pieter Segers and Cathalijntgen Hercules.1 He was known as Hercules Pietersz., and only started using his father’s name Segers from 1621 onwards. His father was Flemish and as a Mennonite (Christian Anabaptist) probably had to leave his home country during religious persecutions. The family moved to Amsterdam between 1592 and 1596, where the young Hercules became apprenticed to another Flemish émigré, Gillis van Coninxloo, a painter specialising in imaginary wooded landscapes.2 In 1612 Segers entered the painters’ guild in Haarlem. He lived in Amsterdam from 1614 until 1631 where he married Anna van der Brugghen, an Antwerp native who was 16 years his senior. She never bore him children but they raised Segers’ illegitimate daughter from a previous relationship: Hester Hercules also known as Nelletje. In 1619 he bought a large house on the Lindengracht in Amsterdam, which he had to sell in 1631 to pay off a debt.3 In 1632 he is mentioned in an archival document as ‘presently living in The Hague’.4 Although the exact year he died is not known, a certain Cornelia de Witte is mentioned in 1638 in The Hague as the widow of Hercules Pietersz., perhaps Hercules Segers.5 Segers’ name has been commonly spelled as Seghers, even though he always signed his paintings without an ‘h’ which will be followed here. Biographical information about Segers is scarce, apart from few archival documents regarding his financial situation. Samuel van Hoogstraten’s Inleyding tot de Hooge Schoole der Schilderkonst (Introduction to the Academy of Painting) published in Rotterdam in 1678 is the only 17th-century source providing an insight in his life and work.6 Van Hoogstraten’s biography of Segers is highly anecdotal but appears to 1 In 1614 Segers claims to be 24 years old when registering for his marriage in Amsterdam (i.e. in the notice of intention to marry); see I.H. van Eeghen, ‘De Ouders van Hercules Segers’, in Amstelodamum 55 (1968), pp.73–76. 2 A legal document dated January 1607 (after Coninxloo’s death) from the owner Coninxloo’s estate mentions that Pieter Segers still owes money for his son’s apprenticeship fee; see I.H. van Eeghen, op. cit., pp.73–76. 3 J.Z. Kannegieter, 'Het huis van Hercules Segers op de Lindengracht te Amsterdam', in Oud-Holland 59 (1942), pp. 150–157. 4 E. Haverkamp-Begemann, Hercules Segers: The Complete Etchings, The Hague, 1974, p.19. 5 E. Haverkamp-Begemann, op. cit., p.19. 6 On page 312 he writes in Dutch: ‘Hier by past noch een staeltje van den ongeachten en nochtans, in de konst, grooten Herkules Zegers: dezen bloeide, of liever verdorde, in mijn eerste groene jaren. Hy was van een gewis en vast opmerken, zeker in zijn Teykening van lantschappen en gronden, aerdich in verzierlijke bergen en grotten, en als zwanger van geheele Provinsien, die hy met onmetelijke ruimtens baerde, en in zijne Schilderyen en Printen wonderlijk liet zien. Hy benaerstichde hem de konst met onvergelijkelijken yver: maer wat was 't? niemant wilde zijn werken in zijn leven aenzien: de Plaet-drukkers brochten zijn printen met manden vol by de Vettewariers, om boter en zeep in te doen, en't geraekte meest al tot peperhuisjes. Eyndelijk vertoonde hy een plaet, als zijn uiterste proefstuk, aen een kunstkooper tot Amsterdam, veylende de zelve voor klein gelt, maer wat was't? de Koopman klaegde dat zijn werken geen waer en waren, en ontzach zich byna 't koper te betalen, zoo dat den ellendigen Herkules ongetroost met zijn plaet na huis most, en na dat hy eenige weynige printen daer afgedrukt hadde, sneed hy de zelve aen stukken, zeggende: dat'er noch liefhebbers komen zouden, die viermael meer voor een afdruk geven zouden, als hy voor de geheele plaet begeert hadde, gelijk ook gebeurt is, want yder print is naderhant zestien dukaten betaelt geweest, en noch gelukkich dieze krijgen kon; maer den armen Herkules had'er niets van te bet: want schoon hy zijn hemden en de © The Trustees of the British Museum contain reliable information, mentioning that he printed on textile and cut down and re-used some of his larger copper-plates; this is corroborated by his surviving prints. Van Hoogstraten noted that nobody seemed to be interested in Segers’ prints during his lifetime and that he only received recognition after his death. Later biographers such as Arnold Houbraken in his Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718) and Jacob Campo Weyerman in his De levens-beschryvingen der Nederlandsche konst-schilders en konst-schilderessen (1729) merely repeated Van Hoogstraten. Segers’ work Segers surviving oeuvre is relatively small, only a dozen or so paintings by Segers are known, most of them showing imaginary rocky landscapes which sometimes incorporate actual topographical features. These paintings are relatively small, roughly the same size as his largest prints. The atmospheric representation of the imaginary scenes and the colour palette of brown and blue reflect the Antwerp influence of his master, Gillis van Coninxloo. His painted work was keenly collected after his death by other Dutch artists including Rembrandt, Herman Saftleven and Jan van de Cappelle.7 Only 183 impressions of Segers’ prints are known worldwide, taken from 54 copper- plates. The largest collections are held by the British Museum and the Rijksprentenkabinet in Amsterdam.8 The majority of the British Museum impressions come from the British collector John Sheepshanks, who collected 17th-century prints which he sold to the Museum in 1836. Three other prints were purchased in the mid- 19th century and another one in 1956. Many of his prints are only known from a single impression. Printmakers usually utilise their medium to create multiple identical impressions of their prints; Segers on the contrary gave each impression its own unique character and rarely created identical ones. To this aim Segers combined a variety of printing inks, etching techniques, varying hand-colouring and different printing supports. His etchings have often been described by scholars as ‘printed paintings’ as the extensive hand-colouring imbues them with pictorial qualities. He experimented with contrasting tones, working with a variety of printing techniques and colours. They are, however, not colour prints in the strict sense of the word as they are only printed in one colour. The colours were either applied to the support beforehand or after printing onto the printed surface. Segers never signed or dated his plates and so a chronology of his work is impossible. None of Segers’ copper-plates is known to have survived, although Rembrandt acquired one lakens van zijn bedde verschilderde of verdrukte (want hy drukte ook Schildery) hy bleef in d'uiterste armoede met zijn gansche gezin, zoo dat zijn bedroefde vrouwe eyndelijk klaegde, dat al wat'er van lywaet geweest was, verschildert of verprint was. Dit nam de mistroostigen Herkules zoo ter harten, dat hy allen met ten eynde zijnde. zijn droefheit in de wijn wilde smooren, en op eenen avont buyten zijn gewoonte beschonken zijnde, quam t'huis, maer viel van de trappen, en sterf; openende met zijn doot de oogen aen alle lief hebbers, die van die tijd af zijn werken in zoodanige waerde hebben gehouden, als ze verdienen, en altijts verdienen zullen.’ 7 See J.G. van Gelder, 'Hercules Seghers erbij en eraf', in Oud-Holland 65 (1950), pp.216–226. 8 The latter owns 75 impressions of which 43 come from the early collection of Michiel Hinloopen (1619–1708) and 22 from Pieter Cornelis, Baron van Leyden (1717–1788) whose large collection was bought by the Rijksprentenkabinet in 1808. © The Trustees of the British Museum of the plates after his death and re-worked it by changing the figures and the trees in the background.9 Segers usually devised original compositions and only rarely copied designs of other masters. Exceptions are Tobias and the Angel (HB 1), loosely based on Adam Elsheimer’s painting, and The Lamentation of Christ after Hans Baldung Grien’s woodcut (HB 2).10 Apart from a few still-lifes, tree studies and seascapes, Segers usually conceived hauntingly beautiful, but desolate, mountainous vistas and rocky valleys covered in menacing shadows bordered by steep cliffs. The valleys are usually depicted from a high vantage point with winding roads in the foreground leading the viewer into the rest of the view. Occasionally a couple of buildings or a small town are visible in the distance. Human presence is rare and seems to have been used to emphasise the emptiness of the scene. Bare tree stumps are sometimes placed in the foreground.