The Drawings of Cornelis Visscher (1628/9-1658) John Charleton
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The Drawings of Cornelis Visscher (1628/9-1658) John Charleton Hawley III Jamaica Plain, MA M.A., History of Art, Institute of Fine Arts – New York University, 2010 B.A., Art History and History, College of William and Mary, 2008 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Art and Architectural History University of Virginia May, 2015 _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................... ii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: The Life of Cornelis Visscher .......................................................................................... 3 Early Life and Family .................................................................................................................... 4 Artistic Training and Guild Membership ...................................................................................... 9 Move to Amsterdam .................................................................................................................. 13 Last Year and Death ................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 2: The Status of Drawing in the Dutch Seventeenth Century .......................................... 27 Drawing and Karel van Mander’s Schilder-boeck (1604) ........................................................... 27 Notions of Drawing in Later Treatises........................................................................................ 41 The Development of the Autonomous Drawing in Seventeenth-century Holland ................... 43 Use and Display of Portrait Drawings and Tronies in the Seventeenth Century ....................... 49 Chapter 3: Style and Subject Matter of Cornelis’ Drawings .......................................................... 54 Portrait Drawings ....................................................................................................................... 54 Tronies ....................................................................................................................................... 76 Multi-Figure Genre Drawings ..................................................................................................... 80 Chapter 4: Collectors and the Market for Cornelis’ Drawings ....................................................... 87 Early Collectors from Cornelis’ Lifetime to around 1700 ........................................................... 87 Dutch Collectors of Cornelis’ Drawings through the Middle of the Eighteenth Century .......... 94 The Market for Cornelis’ Drawings in Holland in the Later Eighteenth Century ....................... 99 Foreign Collectors of Cornelis’ Drawings ................................................................................. 101 Changing Taste for Cornelis’ Drawings in the Nineteenth Century ......................................... 109 Chapter 5: Critical Reception of Cornelis’ Works ......................................................................... 114 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 130 Catalogue ..................................................................................................................................... 159 Accepted Works ....................................................................................................................... 160 Problematic Attributions ......................................................................................................... 245 Portraits of Male Sitters ....................................................................................................... 245 Portraits of Female Sitters ................................................................................................... 247 Tronies ................................................................................................................................. 247 Historical, Religious, Allegorical, and Genre Subjects .......................................................... 250 Animals ................................................................................................................................. 251 Rejected Works ........................................................................................................................ 253 Portraits of Male Sitters ....................................................................................................... 253 Portraits of Female Sitters ................................................................................................... 278 Tronies ................................................................................................................................. 292 Allegorical and Genre Subjects ............................................................................................ 309 Animals ................................................................................................................................. 311 Landscapes ........................................................................................................................... 313 Untraced Drawings of Uncertain Attribution .......................................................................... 314 Portraits of Male Sitters ....................................................................................................... 314 Portraits of Female Sitters ................................................................................................... 318 Tronies ................................................................................................................................. 320 Historical, Religious, Allegorical, and Genre Subjects .......................................................... 322 Animals ................................................................................................................................. 323 Drawings Known only through Pre-1850 Sales Records, Copies by Other Artists, Inscriptions on Prints, or Early References in the Literature ............................................................................ 325 Drawings Known only through Pre-1850 Sales Records ...................................................... 325 Drawings Known only through Copies by Other Artists ...................................................... 336 Drawings Known only through Inscriptions on Prints .......................................................... 338 Drawings Known only through References in the Early Literature ...................................... 339 Appendix: Documents .................................................................................................................. 341 Supplement .................................................................................................................................. 350 Illustrations .................................................................................................................................. 351 i Abstract This dissertation discusses the drawings of Cornelis Visscher (1628/9-1658), a draftsman and printmaker active in Haarlem and Amsterdam in the middle of the seventeenth century. Though largely unknown today, Visscher was highly regarded in his own lifetime, and his drawings were eagerly sought by collectors in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Provided is a biographical sketch of the artist, discussions of the changing status of drawing, Cornelis’ artistic progression, interest among collectors, critical responses to his works, and a catalogue of all known drawings by the artist. ii Acknowledgements Numerous individuals provided me with great help in the evolution of this dissertation. I am particularly grateful to my parents, who encouraged me from an early age to pursue my passions. Without their steadfast support, I would not have been able to complete such a project. Catherine Levesque, Associate Professor of Art History at the College of William and Mary, first nurtured my interest in Dutch art as an undergraduate. My dissertation adviser, Larry Goedde, has furnished me with all the advice and support a young graduate student could need. His enthusiasm for the project and intellectual curiosity has been infectious. I would never have been able to complete this project without the financial support from numerous museums and foundations. I would particularly like to thank the Jacob K. Javits Foundation, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the American Friends of the Mauritshuis. A pre-doctoral fellowship through the Kress Foundation enabled me to spend the better part of an academic year engaged in research at The Morgan Library & Museum pulling together information about the provenances of Cornelis’ drawings and early interest in his works. Generous support from the VMFA and American Friends of