Jacobus Van Looy (1855 – Haarlem - 1930)

Jacobus van Looy (1855 – Haarlem - 1930) A Water Carrier in Tangier, 1886 or 1901 Pastel on paper 12 5/8 by 9 7/8 inches (32 by 25 cm.) Signed ‘Jac.v. Looy’ Provenance The artist, by descent to the previous owners Private collection, The Netherlands Exhibited Possibly Haarlem, Huis van Looy, Schilderijen en Teekenwerk van Jacobus van Looy, 1934, as ‘Een waterdrager langs de blauwe baai’ (cat. p. 8) Haarlem, Frans Halsmuseum, Jacobus van Looy, 13 November 1982 - 9 January 1983 Haarlem, Teylers Museum, Looy met den noorderzon, weg!! De reizen van Jacobus van Looy, 19 December 1998 – 7 March 1999 Literature E. Scheepers, C. Will a.o., Looy met den noorderzon, weg!! De reizen van Jacobus van Looy, Zuthpen, 1998, ill. frontcover Note Jacobus Van Looy was born on 13 September 1855 in Haarlem as the son of a carpenter. His father lost his job when his eyesight began to fail. His mother died when he was five years old and when his father died soon afterwards he ended up in the local orphanage. He trained to become a house painter, but was able to follow drawing classes, from 1877 at the Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. In 1884, Van Looy received the Prix de Rome, which allowed him to travel abroad. The following year, Van Looy starts his Grand Tour and leaves for Rome, followed by visits to Venice and Genoa. In 1886 he traveled to Spain and following Don Quichotte, he also visited Spanish Morocco. It is in Tangiers that he is inspired not only to make numerous drawings but also followed by a novel Gekken (Crazies), published in 1892. Van Looy lived in Amsterdam until 1894, where he married Titia van Gelder, and then moved to Soest. In November 1901, they left together for Spain and Morocco until the following June. By 1913, Van Looy moved back to Haarlem, when the orphanage where he grew up was converted to the Frans Hals Museum. He bought a house on the corner of the Haarlemmerhout Park, that was converted to a museum after his death in 1930, although it closed in 1976. The estate was given to the Frans Hals Museum, while the Teylers Museum holds most of Van Looys drawings from his Italian travels. While in Tangier during November/December 1886, Van Looy produced primarily black chalk drawings.1 He only had his sketchbook available since he had left his paint supplies in Sevilla to save costs, which he later regretted. He wrote in a letter to August Allebé, dated 21 November 1886, that Tangiers had been the most inspiring place and planned to visit again.2 Fifteen years later, accompanied by his wife, he was able to accomplish this. Together they left the Netherlands on November 1901 and arrived in Morocco in January 1902 via France and Spain. It is only then that he was able to execute a few small oil studies, colourful pastels and the book Reizen (Travels). The present pastel was most likely executed during the artist’s first trip to Tangier and is considered one of the best works executed there.3 Van Looy produced several works depicting figures carrying water. The earliest exhibition catalogues of Van Looy’s work include works with such title, possibly the present work, but as these were rarely illustrated, this remains uncertain. A smaller pencil drawing of an African water carrier appeared on the art market recently.4 1 Chris Will, a.o., Jacobus van Looy 1855-1930. Niets is zo mooi als zien…, exh.cat. Frans Halsmuseum, 1998, p. 124 2 F.P. Huygens, Jacobus van Looy; Wie dronk toen water! Bloemlezing uit de briefwisseling met A. Allebé gedurende zijn Prix de Rome-reis 1885- 1886, Amsterdam 1975, pp. 265-270 3 J. de Hond & E. Scheepers, “’Gij zit dat maar den heelen dag op kameelen, drommedarissen en giraffen en platte daken, maar wij zitten hier stil te Baarn’. Twee Marokaanse reizen”, in: Looy met den noorderzon, weg!! op.cit., p. 83 4 Sale, Christie’s, Amsterdam, 18-19 January 2000, lot 388, together with a drawing of a group of Arabs, not illustrated. .

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