Newsletter summer and winter 2011/2012:
On 24 June 2011, the unveiling of the beautiful painting of Joachim Camphuysen took place in the Gorcums Museum. Mayor P.IJssels and Mr P.Hoogendoorn, managing director of the Rabobank Alblasserwaard North and East, carried out the unveiling in the presence of many interested parties.
From left to right, Misters Hoogendoorn, Biemans and IJssels in front of the painting of Camphuysen. Photo: Annet Ardesch |
 The Golden Age Team in front of the new acquisition Photo: Erna Lambinon |
On 10 November 2011, Annet Ardesch and Bert Biemans visited the opening of the exhibition ‘The Bloemaert-Effect. Colour and composition in the Golden Age’ in the Centraal Museum in Utrecht (www.centraalmuseum.nl) by Dr Marcel Roethlisberger from Switzerland. The latter is a great Bloemaert-specialist, just like the Dr Marten Jan Bok who was also present at the event. During the opening night Mrs Ardesch and Mr Biemans became acquainted with Mr Roethlisberger as well as with Dr Gero Seelig, curator of the Staatliches Museum Schwerin (Germany) and a specialist in the field of the drawings of Abraham Bloemaert.
 From left to right Mrs Roethlisberger, Dr Marcel Roethlisberger, Bert Biemans and Gero Seelig. Photo: Annet Ardesch |
The exhibition ‘Der Bloemaert-Effect! Farbe im goldenen Zeitalter’ will run from
24 February until 28 May 2012 in the Staatliches Museum Schwerin.
(www.museum-Schwerin.de)
On 20 November 2011, the Golden Age Team, accompanied by Mr Marius Cloostermans and Mrs Everdien Hamann, visited the art fair ‘De Pan’ in the RAI in Amsterdam. At the stand of Floris van Wanroij Fine Arts, they noticed an excellent painting by Jan Olis, ‘A portrait of a shepherd’. Completely different from the Rembrandtesque countenance of Olis that can be found in the Gorcums Museum, this painting was bright and colourful and therefore a great addition to the collection. After extensive negotiations and finding a sponsor for the painting, the Golden Age Team announced on 25 November 2011 that the work could be acquired. On 19 December 2011, the painting was unveiled in the Gorcums Museum by the Municipal Executive for Culture, Mrs Trix van der Torren and the managing director of Poort6, the sponsor of the painting, Mr Dick van Zanten. Poort6 has presented the painting as a long-term loan to the Golden Age Gorinchem Foundation, which in turn gives it as a long-term loan to the council of Gorinchem, in this case the Gorcums Museum.
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Mrs Trix van der Torren and Mr Dick van Zanten
Photo: Annet Ardesch |
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Bert Biemans and Mr Dick van Zanten
Photo: Annet Ardesch |
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From left to right Misters Van Zanten, Biemans and Dunsbergen at the signing of the loan agreement between Poort6 and the Golden Age Gorinchem Foundation. Photo: Annet Ardesch |
Friday afternoon, 13 January 2012, Bert Biemans gave a lecture in Leiden in a packed Lokhorst Church (1638), which is of the ‘Remonstrantse’ and ‘Doopsgezinde’ congregation (both Protestant movements). Bieman’s talk was about the economic and art-historian developments in the Golden Age, and it included some thoughts on the amount of paintings that was produced in this period. After the intermission, Biemans discussed the painting by Jan Steen ‘A burgomaster of Delft and his daughter’, in which Biemans presented the idea again that the older woman is not begging, but has come to ask for the money that is due to her. After the lecture, a lively discussion about the different topics took place.
In January 2012, Mrs Monique Feyen-Verbelen from Oud-Turnhout (Belgium), a descendant of the painter Aert van der Neer who was born in 1603 in Gorinchem, approached us with the question whether Aert van der Neer had indeed been a help in the service of the Lords van Arkel, as is mentioned in several biographies. The archivist of the Regional Archive in Gorinchem, Mr René van Dijk, has researched the Lords van Arkel and he states that, with the death of Willem van Arkel in 1417, the main branch of the family was extinguished. However, side branches and bastards ensured the survival of the name. Until his death on 18 February 1616, nobleman Roelof van Arkel was ‘drossaard’, a local official, of Gorinchem. This means that Aert van der Neer, born in 1603, could only have worked as a child labourer for Roelof. Based on these findings, we will no longer mention in our descriptions that Aert van der Neer worked in the service of the Van Arkels.
In February 2012, a discussion started about the exact place of birth in Gorinchem of Jan van der Heyden. Mr René van Dijk, archivist at the Regional Archive Gorinchem had discovered in the archives that the father of Jan van der Heyden, Jan Goris (later Van der Heyden), had bought the house ‘De Eland’ on Eind 24 in 1639. Since Jan van der Heyden was born in 1937, it is unknown where he was born. He lived one year on Eind 24, because with the New Year of 1640/1641 the family moved to the house ‘De Wetering’, on the Gasthuisstraat 36. The family lived there until 1646 after which they moved to Amsterdam, according to the findings of Mr René van Dijk.
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Eind 24, third house from the left.
Photo: Annet Ardesch |
In February 2012, we were approached by Mr Allard van Haeften from Amsterdam about the painter Nicolaes (Walraven) van Haeften, who was born in 1663 in Gorinchem. His parents were the baker Walraven van Haeften and Anneken Verhulst. They prepared their prenuptial agreements on 22 February 1663 and got married before the Aldermen in Gorinchem on 11 March 1663. Walraven van Haeften bought the house in the Gasthuisstraat 49 on 1 July 1664, in which the bakery was set-up. According to the aforementioned Mr René van Dijk, the young Van Haeften lived in Gorcum until around 1670, after which he moved to Rotterdam with his parents.
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Gasthuisstraat 49 Photo: Annet Ardesch |
In the first week of July 2012, there will be an exhibition with thirty oil paintings and drawings by Nicolaes van Haeften in the gallery of the art dealer Johnny van Haeften on 13 Duke Street in London (www.johnnyvanhaeften.com). Paintings of Nicolaes van Haeften can be found in several great museums, such as the British Museum in London, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam.
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The second half of 2011 was not only characterised by tracing paintings of artists from Gorcum and exchanging information, but also by acquiring new sponsors for paintings that will be obtained in the future. We are pleased to announce in this Newsletter that the Golden Age Gorinchem Foundation was able to secure the future acquisition of paintings by Old Masters from Gorcum.
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