the rijksmuseum bulletin

78 the rijks rooms without houses,museum paintings without walls bulletin

Rooms without Houses, Paintings without Walls Researching and Presenting Fragments of Late Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Painted Rooms* • lisette vos, ige verslype, richard harmanni and margriet van eikema hommes 1 •

n the seventeenth- and eighteenth- < Fig. 1 behangsels), as they were called, origi­n­ Icentury Netherlands many paintings The salon in ally referred to as ‘salon pieces’ (zaal­ were commissioned for specific loca­ Petronella stukken), ‘painted rooms’ (geschil­derde tions as part of decorative interior Oortman’s dolls’ kamers) or ‘rooms in the round’ (kamers house (c. 1686- schemes. The refurnishing of the in ’t rond).3 In the course of the eight­ c. 1710) with painted Beuning Room occasioned a commis­ wall hangings by eenth century, painted wall hangings sion for painted wall hangings, which Nicolaes Piemont became so popular that, alongside was awarded to ‘behangsel-schilder’ from around individual ‘behangsel-schilders’ like Jurriaan Andriessen (1742-1819). Only 1690-1709. Andriessen, large-scale workshops in seven of his painted rooms have sur­ Amsterdam, which several painters worked together vived in situ. As with most ensembles, Rijksmuseum, on painted wall hangings under the inv. no. bk-nm-1010. the individual elements were separated supervision of one painter appeared and scattered among institutions and on the scene. These workshops were museums as isolated objects. Just three called ‘painted wall hanging factories’ canvases of the ensemble Andriessen (behangsel­fabrieken).4 painted for the Beuning Room survive, A limited number of painted rooms and only as fragments. This article have survived in situ.5 As well as these explores the interrelated topics of remaining painted ensembles, there are analysing, conserving and exhibiting several other sources of information paintings that were originally part of a about how these painted wall hangings painted ensemble. Examples of current were placed and how they functioned museum presentations of dislocated – contemporary dolls’ houses, pictures fragments are followed by the case study of interiors, designs and (contem­ of the Andriessen Beuning Room porary) descriptions of ensembles ensemble. Combined art historical (fig. 1). Mantelpiece,­­ stucco ceiling and study and conservation research painted wall hangings, for example, suggests alternatives for the treatment were designed together as a whole. This and presentation of these fragments. site specific art also followed illusionistic conventions, such as taking the natural Painted Wall Hangings direction of the light into account. The tradition of painted wall hangings An example of a painted ensemble for wealthy citizens’ residences started that still survives in its original context in the Netherlands in the second quarter is the room Jurriaan Andriessen painted of the seventeenth century and became for 524 Herengracht, Amsterdam, in fashionable in the last quarter.2 These 1771, now in the Rijksmuseum collec­ ‘painted wall hangings’ (geschilderde tion (fig. 2). In 1997, one of the canvases

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Fig. 2 jurriaan andriessen, Arcadian Landscape and Two Trophies, 1771. Oil on canvas wall hangings in situ in the garden room of the main floor at 524 Herengracht, various dimensions. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv. nos. sk-a-4854-a to J and sk-a-4855-a and B; H.L.P. Jonas van ’s Heer Arends­ kerke-Lefèvre de Montigny Bequest.

was taken out of the room and displayed context, while at the same time accom­ separately in an exhibi­tion about the mo­dating the physical situation in representation of the landscape in the museum galleries, persists. eighteenth and nine­teenth centuries The Rijksmuseum houses several (On Country Roads and Fields, Rijks­ examples of paintings that were once museum). The indivi­dual display of the part of ensembles. Different types of fragment – as if it was an easel painting – display have been considered as a way outside the room for which it was of showing these works outside their specifically designed, subverted the original context in their new museum very meaning, understanding and setting. For example, the set of five appreciation of the work. This was monumental allegorical paintings, illustrated by a newspaper review of painted in grisaille by Gerard de the 1997 exhibition. When discussing Lairesse (1640-1711) for the vestibule Andriessen’s painting, the journalist of ‘Messina’, Philips de Flines’s house commented that it must have felt at 164 Herengracht, Amsterdam (fig. 3) cramped to live among these painted has been displayed in different arrange­ wall hangings. He concluded that this ments. The set was acquired by the must have been why the fashion for museum in 1970. At that time, the painted ensembles did not last long. condition of three of the five paintings To call a tradition that lasted for over was fairly sound but two were severely a century and a half a short-lived trend damaged.7 The restorations proved illustrated how limited the knowledge problematic and the condition of one of these ensembles then was.6 Since of the allegories remains such that its this exhibition, general awareness, display is not possible even today. The understanding and appre­ciation of series has consequently never been painted wall hangings has improved,­ installed in its entirety. It was not but the difficulty of exhibiting ensemble until 1981 that two of the five grisaille paintings outside their original setting paintings were exhibited for the first in a way that respects their original time in the Rijksmuseum as part of

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Fig. 3 gerard de lairesse, the Gods, Saints and Heroes exhibition. Between 1998 and 2002, two of the Allegory of Riches, The two damaged paintings were three remaining untreated paintings 1675-83. restored for the occasion. When the were successfully restored, and from Oil on canvas, exhibition closed, one of the pictures 2003 to 2013 four of the five grisailles painted in grisaille was kept on permanent display. In his were presented together in the Rijks­ for ‘Messina’, Philips de Flines’s house at 1992 monograph on De Lairesse, Alain museum’s Philips Wing. In 2010, the 164 Herengracht, Roy wrote about the difficulty of order of the pictures in the gallery was 288 x 153 cm. picturing the original effect of the five changed so that the painted light and Amsterdam, grisailles in the vestibule of the canal shade in the paintings coincided with Rijksmuseum, house for which they were specifically the actual direction of the natural inv. nos. sk-a-4174 designed. It was made even harder, he light in the exhibition space (fig. 4). to 4178; purchased explained, because the Rijksmuseum De Lairesse always took great care to with the support of the Stichting was exhibiting only two of the grisailles depict the light in his paintings so that tot Bevordering and (although they were painted for a it corresponded with the actual light van de Belangen van vestibule) had placed them at the end in the room for which they were made, het Rijksmuseum. of a hallway.8 a prerequisite he discussed at length in his highly influential treatise, the Groot

Fig. 4 Display of Allegory of Riches (fig. 3), second configuration, after 2010. Philips Wing, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Photo: Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, ha-0026766.

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Schilderboeck, first published in 1707.9 Two of the allegories in the ensemble have been on display since the Rijks­ museum reopened in 2013. The paint­ ings were installed on either side of a cabinet specifically to underline their function as part of a decorative scheme (fig. 5). A label explains their original context. Another example of the presentation of a painted room in the Rijksmuseum is that of an ensemble designed by Andriessen in 1776 for number 22 Nieuwe Doelenstraat in Amsterdam. In 1898 the painted wall hangings and wainscoting were sold to the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and reinstalled in one of the period rooms in the Suasso Fig. 6 Wing. Two of the three overdoors in the rooms in the Suasso Wing were needed Display of Andriessen’s original ensemble were not included in to show modern works, the painted wall hangings (see this new configuration, and the current room was dismantled once again and fig. 7) in the Stedelijk Museum 1898-1979. whereabouts of these canvases are put into storage.11 The stewardship of Photo: Stedelijk unknown. The exhibition gallery had this room passed to the Amsterdam Museum. less floor space and was not as deep, Museum, where it remained in storage but wider than its initial location, so until 2011. It was then transferred to Fig. 5 the original arrangement of the canvases the Rijksmuseum in preparation for Display of Allegory of 10 Riches (fig. 3), current was altered (figs. 6-7). Towards the the reopening of the museum in 2013. display showing end of the nineteen-seventies, when The available exhibition space and Sciences and Fame. the Stedelijk Museum had shifted its the condition of the painted wall Photo: Amsterdam, focus to modern art and the period hangings led to the decision to install Rijksmuseum, ha-0028680.

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Fig .7 three non-consecutive parts of this and Cuban mahogany panelling, was jurriaan set of six paintings in a rather narrow commissioned in 1744-48 by the rich andriessen, gallery. Presenting them together with merchant Matthijs Beuning (1707-1755) Wall Hangings with contemporary furniture and decorative and his wife Catharina Oudaen (1704- a Dutch Landscape, 12 1776. objects such as candelabras and a 1764). Of the painted decorations Oil on canvas, Parisian-made gilt-bronze mantel clock from this period, only the overmantel 326 x 296 cm. created the suggestion of a room (fig. 7). has survived. St Philip Baptizes the Originally in the Although the display of these works Eunuch, painted by Jacob de Wit (1695- house at 22 Nieuwe was carefully considered and thought 1754), signed and dated 1748, is in place Doelstraat. through, the result is nevertheless a above the rouge royal mantelpiece. Amsterdam, clear illustration of the compromises The subject of the painting reflects the Rijksmuseum, inv. nos. bk-2011-38 to that have to be made in presenting religious background of the Beunings, 43; on loan from the these interior paintings in a museum who were prominent members of the Amsterdam Museum. setting, out of their original context. Hernhutter Community. Nothing is Current display in known about the wall covering that the Rijksmuseum. The Andriessen Painted would have been above the mahogany Photo: Amsterdam, Ensemble in the Beuning Room wainscoting at that time. Rijksmuseum, A remarkable case of a dislocated The contributions by Ter Brugge- ha-0027723. ensemble displayed in a museum Drielsma and Van Duin in this Bulletin setting is that of the Beuning Room, reveal how the Beuning Room under- once the main reception room of the went various changes during its history. Amsterdam canal house at number The first drastic transformation took 187 Keizersgracht. The elaborate place at some point after 1781, when the decorative scheme for this room, new owner, Jan de Groot (1733-1801), with its spectacular stucco ceiling commissioned ‘behangsel-schilder’

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Figs. 8a and b Photographs taken before the dismantling of 187 Keizersgracht in 1896. a. Overmantel by Jacob de Wit, 1748. b. Overdoor by Jurriaan Andriessen, 1786. Photo's: Cultural Heritage Institute of the Netherlands, Amersfoort. We thank Eloy Koldeweij for drawing our attention to these photographs

Jurriaan Andriessen to paint a set of overmantel and the remnants of the wall hangings for the room.13 This painted wall covering, consisting of two commission directly impacted on the reclining female figures, that belong to appearance of the decorative interior the mahogany room in Louis xv style. scheme of the Beuning Room. It presen­ These pieces are in a very neglected ted Andriessen with the considerable condition … .’14 task of integrating his designs into The two paintings were therefore an existing, carefully-conceived and treated in The Hague by paintings coherent whole of architectural conservator Carel F.L. de Wild (1870- elements, stucco ceiling, mahogany 1922) before they were installed in the panelling, pier-glasses, mantelpiece Stedelijk Museum. De Wild’s account and overmantel. book contains a bill stating that the Until 2013, it was only possible to overdoor and overmantel were lined see the result of Andriessen’s incor­ (an extra canvas was attached to the poration of his painted ensemble into back of the original to provide structural the Beuning Room in his design support), cleaned, retouched and var­ sketches and the decorative overdoor, nished in November 1897.15 After their which was the only painted canvas of treatment, the paintings were reinstalled the wall hangings that remained. Old in the Stedelijk Museum, together with photographs and documents dating the stucco ceiling, mahogany panelling, from the time the house at 187 Keizers­ pier-glasses, mantelpiece, overdoor gracht was demolished confirm that and overmantel (figs. 6-7 on p. 65). by 1896 the only paintings left were Changes to the panelling were also De Wit’s overmantel and Andriessen’s carried out at this time, especially overdoor (figs. 8a-b). The minutes of on the window wall, to fit the room a meeting of the Mayor and Aldermen into the gallery. Photographs of record that the curator of the newly installations in the Stedelijk Museum opened Stedelijk Museum, Jan Eduard show different types of wall covering. van Someren Brand (1856-1904), Painted imitation tapestries were described the deplorable condition of installed in the first instance. In the the two paintings in the room: ‘Then second configuration of the room, the curator broached the subject of the these were replaced by a modern fabric

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Fig. 9 jurriaan andriessen, design sketches for the Beuning Room superimposed on the floor plan, after 1781. Reconstructed by the author with maps by Van Hoogevest Architecten. Above: design I. Below: design II. Also see figs. 3-7 on pp. 46-49.

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Figs. 10a, b Fig. 10c. and Andriessen’s over­door was jurriaan jurriaan 124 x 260 cm. removed (figs. 11-12 on p. 69).16 andriessen, details andriessen, Amsterdam, At the end of the nineteen-seventies, of design series i and ii Overdoor with Rijksmuseum, as a result of the shift in the Stedelijk for the Beuning Room, Represen­tation inv. no. bk-c-2007-1-b; after 1781. of Two Reclining on loan from the Museum’s collection focus, the Beuning Amsterdam, Rijks- Women with Amsterdam Museum. Room was dismantled once again and museum, inv. nos. Garlands, 1786. put into storage. The room’s resurrec­ rp-t-00-1031 and 1121. Oil on canvas, tion began in 2001-02, when the Rijks­ museum presented its most important elements, including De Wit’s over­ mantel, in its exhibition Rococo in the Netherlands: A Riot of Ornament. The Rijksmuseum hoped to make this unique example of a Dutch rococo room part of its permanent exhibition in 2013. The installation proved a com­ plex conservation project in which many aspects had to be taken into account.17 The focus of the museum was to show the exquisite example of a rococo interior and emphasize the outstanding woodwork that had been commissioned by the Beuning family around 1745-48 (figs. on pp. 18-27). The walls were covered with a new rich green fabric, based on an eighteenth- century pattern, specifically chosen to make the mahogany colour of the woodwork stand out. Andriessen’s overdoor, dating from the seventeen- eighties, was restored and reinstalled as well. This means that, as it did in the Stedelijk Museum, the room contains elements from different phases in its

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Design i Design ii Design i Design ii

Fig. 11 Left: design i, design ii and wall hanging history: the ‘Beuning’ period, the vived, only one set shows two compar­ depicting a Bacchante; ‘Andriessen’ period and the current able life-size figures painted in grisaille, right: design i, design Rijksmuseum configuration. This flanking a landscape (figs. 9-11).21 ii and wall hanging depicting Peace. illustrates the ambiguity of reinstalling Auto­graph notes on the back of the a period room; it is inevitably subject sketches tell us that this particular to multiple meanings.18 design was drawn for the rear wall opposite the windows in the Beuning Additional Paintings from the Room. These designs, taken in con­ Andriessen Period junction with the painted shadows, were A breakthrough in the unknown a strong indica­tion that the canvases destiny of the other canvases from the of the figures of the Bacchante and Andriessen Beuning Room ensemble Peace were specially made for this came soon after the reopening of the room.22 Unfortunately, the where­ Rijksmuseum in 2013. Two paintings, abouts of the large landscape between each depicting a life-size female figure the figures in the sketch remain as a trompe l’oeil of a white marble unknown. The paint­ings were acquired statue in a brown and yellow marble by the Rijksmuseum in 2013, in part niche and surmounted by a frieze, because of the strong suspicion that surfaced in Italy. The female figures they belonged to the Beuning Room, are personifications and represent a but also for their intrinsic quality and Bacchante and Peace (figs. 9-10 on to enrich the collection of eighteenth- p. 52).19 Peace is signed and dated century grisailles. ‘Jn. Andriessen inv. & fec. 1786’. The To underpin the hypothesis that the provenance of the paintings dates newly acquired grisailles belonged to back no further than 2006, when the the Beuning Room, technical research paintings were put up for sale at an was carried out on the paintings them­ open air antiques market in Mont­ selves. The pictures had been lined pellier, France. Bought by an Italian with a traditional glue/starch paste art dealer, the canvases, unlined and in Italy in 2006; filling material and stored on a roll, were subsequently retouching had been used liberally restored and stretched in Italy.20 so they would fit better into a private Harmanni has convincingly demon­ Milanese interior. When the only strated that of the numerous design photograph taken during the 2006 sketches by Andriessen that have sur- treatment was compared with the state

87 the rijksmuseum bulletin of the paintings at the time they were acquired, it was obvious that several details had been overpainted. This was confirmed by infrared reflectography, a non-invasive imaging technique that can penetrate paint layers, revealing preparatory sketches and underdrawing containing carbon (fig. 12).23 The infra­ red image showed an elaborate under­ drawing – Andriessen’s initial stage. The under­drawing in the two allegori­ cal figures is the same type of prepara­ tion found using infrared reflectography in the overdoor painting and gives Fig. 12 insight into the carefully calculated Infrared reflectogram; overpaint and an proportions and placements of the under-lying band figures and architec­tural elements. are visible. Compare In fact, the under­drawing shows that Fig. 13 with normal light, Andriessen followed the guidelines of Infrared reflectogram fig. 10 on p. 52. classicism advocated by De Lairesse, of detail of the over­ whom he greatly admired.24 There is door, sketchy under­ a vertical line in both paintings to drawing is visible. treatment in Italy. This tape and over­ indicate the middle of the niches. On Fig. 14 paint that covered all tacking edges this line are marks perfectly dividing Infrared reflectogram were removed, revealing original paint the female figures into eight sections, of the face of Peace, remnants of a grey and pink imitation in accor­dance with the classical ideal a vertical line with a marble in these areas. Cleaning win­ of human proportions (figs. 13-14). marker (a circled dot) dows were also made on the face of To confirm the theory of the original between the eyes is the paintings, along the overpainted visible (the black placement of the wall hangings, it was spots present in the borders, revealing a narrow purplish important to investigate the edges of the face and background band with imitation marble (fig. 15). canvases. Paper tape had been applied are retouchings from These original details correspond to to the edges of the canvases during the the 2006 restoration). Andriessen’s designs. On this sketch,

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c. 1 cm c. 1.5 cm c. 1.5 cm Fig. 15 the brown and yellow marbling beside Details of cleaning the niche is framed by a narrow dark windows showing the band, followed by a broader strip of band with imitation grey and pink marbling. The original marble. paint layers that were exposed corres­ pond exactly to this design (figs. 15- Figs. 16a, b 16a). Moreover, the grey and pink Details of turnover edge (right) and the rouge imitation marble resembles the rouge royal mantelpiece­ (left). royal marble of the original mantel­ See also the cleaning piece in the Beuning Room, indicating window (fig. 15) and that Andriessen adapted his designs to design ii (fig. 11).

89 the rijksmuseum bulletin the location (figs. 15-16a).25 It is now quite dramatic. The missing borders clear, given the paint remnants found create more visual depth, adding to the along most tacking margins and the illusion that the painted statues are three corres­pondence with the border dimensional. The measurements of marbling and bands in the sketch, that the different elements are essential in the paintings were originally around determining the exact placement of ten to fifteen cm wider. It is apparent the paintings on the wall in order to that Andriessen adapted his designs – establish a detailed reconstruction format, colour and figures – to fit the of the fragments within the painted surroundings, an important aspect of ensemble in the Beuning Room. a commission for a painted ensemble. Andriessen noted several measure­ments in his first series of sketches.26 These Reconstruction of the Original dimensions were compared with those Appearance of the actual room nowadays. The With the design sketches as a guide, it sketches were also scaled to the wall Fig. 17 was possible to make a digital recon­ plan using Photoshop (fig. 17). Digital reconstruction of the missing borders struction of the original setting of the The digital reconstruction of the of Bacchante and allegorical figures in the room (fig. 17). paintings in the room shows that every­ Peace and design The difference in visual effect compared thing fits well, with the exception of the sketches in the to the present state of the paintings is position of the concealed door in the Beuning Room.

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Fig. 18 The wall hangings in their current condition superimposed on the rear wall of the Beuning Room.

wall facing the windows. The measure­ five cm if placed centrally above the ments Andriessen gives for the door panelling, is puzzling.29 The current, vary slightly from its present dimen­ adjusted door could not be opened in sions. This hidden door has always this configuration. The digital recon­ caused some confusion. For instance, it struction was therefore made with is elaborately decorated on the inside, the door closed. The reconstruction and this is curious, considering that in shows how the room most likely the original situation in the Keizers­ looked when Jan de Groot, the man gracht house the door only opened on who commissioned the wall paintings, a cupboard and was never intended to owned the house. Although it is a give access to a passageway.27 When the digital manipulation, and the design room was installed in 2013, the conser­ sketches rather than the paintings are vators established that this cupboard projected on to the walls, it does give door and the panelling to the left of the an impression of the space and the door were not original.28 The altera­tions effect of the painted wall hangings. were probably made during the instal­ When the paintings in their present lation of the room in the Stedelijk condition are digitally depicted on to Museum at the end of the nineteenth the green wall, their appearance is century, when several changes were somewhat disappointing compared made to it. Since we know that to the overall digital reconstruction Andriessen always placed his painted (fig. 20). The green wall covering wall hangings carefully aligned with seems to have an overpowering effect the wainscoting – as can be seen in and emphasizes the incomplete nature his design sketches – the fact that the of the wall hangings (with their painted wall hanging on the left would overpaint and altered dimensions, overlap the door by approximately and without the central landscape

91 the rijksmuseum bulletin painting). The following dilemmas intended symmetry of the paintings, arise from such a reconstruction: how and is probably the reason why these can these remnants of a painted wall details were overpainted in the first hanging ensemble be represented? place. A second option is to flatten What is the most desirable conser­ the turned over edges and make all vation treatment? How will these two the original paint remnants visible. aspects influence each other? And how Again, the result would be fragmented, can the experience of the Andriessen because the composition has been cut ensemble be defined and safeguarded? off irregularly. A third option is to add The first option is to keep the paint­ an extra strip of canvas along all the ings in their current – fragmented – borders (a strip-lining), to reconstruct states. If all the overpaint is removed, the most probable original size of however, the image will be fragmentary, the two canvases as identified by the because of the presence of the narrow research. This would mean adding ten- purplish band and the surrounding to fifteen-cm strips of canvas, depending grey and pink marbling, which is not on the unequal widths of border rem­ equally divided or not present along nants, to each edge. Such a strip-lining every edge. This will distract from the could be toned in a neutral colour

Figs. 19a, b Digital reconstructions with strip-lining in a neutral tone.

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Fig. 20 Digital reconstructions with strip-lining in imitation marble.

(fig. 19). Another option is not to tone Original Context versus the strip-lining in a neutral way, but to Reconstruction make a physical reconstruction of the Bacchante and Peace were temporarily marbling, on the basis of the fragments installed in the Beuning Room in 2015 of original paint. The actual rouge royal so that the impact of the painted wall marble of the mantel would also provide hanging fragments in the room they guidance. A digital reconstruction of were originally designed for could be this last option in Photoshop, super­ experienced. This exercise proved a imposed on to the current wall covering highly important step in the process of the Beuning Room indicates how of deciding on the new presentation this would look (fig. 20). In the actual and subsequent treatment. Digital room, it might also be an option to fill reconstructions can give an indication the empty space in the middle and the of the visual impact, but they cannot missing borders of the allegorical replace the experience of a real-life figures with a digital reconstruction by construction. Curators, conservators means of augmented reality (real time and external specialists were invited to digital information: while visitors hold express their opinions while the wall a touch screen tablet in front of the hangings were in situ. The paintings wall, an image of Andriessen’s design were positioned on easels in front of sketch would be superimposed). The the wainscoting, which meant that missing wooden framework separating different configurations could be the two female allegories and the tried out (fig. 21). When Bacchante is landscape wall hanging could also be positioned on the left and Peace on reconstructed physically or digitally. the right, the painted shadows suggest In short, there is a whole range of light coming from the upper centre possibili­ ties­ for presentation. of the room. In this configuration the

93 the rijksmuseum bulletin light as it were spreads out from the and creating a coherent whole. The upper centre of the wall, so Peace is debate as to whether to provide a tem­ lit from the upper left, creating cast porary or more permanent housing for shadows on the right of the figure in the Bacchante and Peace is nevertheless the niche behind her, and on the steps ongoing. We are left with the dilemma underneath the horn of plenty. The of showing either the 1748 configuration Bacchante is then lit vice versa. This of the room, or a fragmentary repre­sen­ follows the indication of the shadows tation of the 1786 situation. The 2017 in Andriessen’s designs, as is clearly presentation will contribute to that visible in the second series. There discussion. The treatment or, more also appear to be iconographic connec­ specifically, the uncovering of the tions between the Bacchante and the original details would furthermore ceiling decoration directly above. This significantly contribute to reaching a sequence moreover shows Andriessen’s ‘final’ decision. The questions of how signature as soon as one enters the to present and how to reconstruct the room.30 missing borders prove inseparable. The overall response was positive; The Andriessen Beuning Room case in other words the Andriessen frag­ study illustrates the importance of ments were generally appreciated in integrated research, not only of the their ‘home-coming’. Despite the green individual objects themselves, but also wall covering, the overall consensus of the context when dealing with parts was that the wall hangings blended of ensembles. Such a study is necessary harmoniously into the room, and added to present the female personifications to its attractiveness. The connection in a museum setting and help decide on with the different elements in the the conservation treatment of the Fig. 21 Temporary ensemble was astonishing, showing that canvases. installation, ‘trial’ of Jurriaan Andriessen was highly skilled the wall hangings in in adapting the design of his painted the Beuning Room, wall hangings to their surroundings, 2015.

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notes * This research is supported by the Fonds De zijn, zonder de noodzakelijke herstellingen Haseth-Möller/Rijksmuseum Fonds. It is part te hebben ondergaan.’ of the project ‘From Isolation to Coherence: 15 Archive of Carel F.L. de Wild (sr.) in the rkd: An Integrated Technical, Visual and Histor­- Nov. 97 29 Dessus de porte, ical Study of 17th and 18th Century Dutch 2 vrouwfiguren Painting Ensembles’ supported by the Verdoekt,schoongemaakt, Netherlands Organization of Scientific bijgeschilderd en gevernist 240 Research. This project is based at Delft J. de Wit […] University of Technology. The Rijksmuseum 2 d – d [idem?] 250 and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Juni 1 bij betaling 490 Nether­lands (rce) are partners in the project. 16 See the articles by Ter Brugge-Drielsma and See: www.fromisolationtocoherence.nl. Van Duin. The outcome of this research was presented 17 See the article by Van Duin. in 2015 at the annual meeting of the American 18 For a more general discussion on the period Institute of Conservation and published as room then and now, see the article by Ter postprints of the Paintings Specialty Group: Brugge-Drielsma. Lisette Vos et al., ‘Researching and Presenting 19 See the article by Harmanni. Fragments of Late 17th and 18th Century 20 Conservation studio Valdo Romanovici and Dutch Painted Chambers: “Re-Presenting” Malagutti, Milano. Jurriaan Andriessen (1743-1819), a Case- 21 Harmanni 2006 and his article in this Bulletin. Study’, Postprints of the American Institute 22 Ibid. of Conservation, AIC 43rd Annual Meeting 23 irr osiris detector: InGaAs, Infrared Miami FL 2015. Sensitivity: 900-1700 nm, with a 16 x 16 tile system of 512 x 512 focal plane array. 1 With special thanks to Josephina de Fouw 24 Harmanni 2006, p. 68. Andriessen owned a and Jenny Reynaerts. copy of De Lairesse’s Groot Schilderboeck. 2 Van Eikema Hommes 2012, chapter 3; 25 Another example of fitting painted wall Harmanni 2006, chapter 2. hangings into an existing ensemble is that 3 Van Eikema Hommes 2012, p. 15. of 475 Herengracht, Amsterdam. In 1792 4 Harmanni 2006, pp. 154-67. Andriessen was commissioned to make 5 See website Netherlands Institute for Art four wall hangings. The room was already (rkd), Inventory Decorative Interior decorated with four painted wall hangings Paintings in the Netherlands 1600-1940. depicting landscapes by Isaac de Moucheron 6 Harmanni 2006, vol. 1, p. 14; Loos et al. (after 1733). Here again, Andriessen added 1997. painted borders – in this case a grey 7 Snoep 1970, p. 188. imitation marble – that echo the tonality 8 Roy 1992, p. 79. of the mantelpiece in the room. Ibid., vol. 3, 9 De Lairesse 1712. pp. 473-94 (cat. no. d29). 10 Harmanni 2006, vol. 3, pp. 478-79; 26 See the article by Harmanni. Harmanni 2008. 27 See the articles by De Fouw and Harmanni. 11 See the article by Ter Brugge-Drielsma. 28 See the article by Van Duin. 12 See the article by De Fouw. 29 Harmanni 2006. 13 See the article by Harmanni. 30 See the article by Harmanni. 14 Conservation archive of the Amsterdam Museum. The minutes of the ‘vijftiende vergadering gehouden in Burgemeesters­ kamer op vrijdag den 2e October 189[5/6?] des namiddags ten 21/2 uur’: ‘Daarna brengt de conservator ter sprake het schoorsteen- stuk en de overblijfselen van het geschilderde kamerbehang bestaande uit twee liggende vrouwenfiguren, behorende tot de mahonie- houten kamer in Louis xv stijl. Deze stukken verkeeren in zeer verwaarloosde toestand, het schoorsteenstuk vertoont zelfs drie gaten, zoodat zij onmogelijk aan te brengen

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