RKD STUDIES

By 1642, Samuel had begun to develop a more fluent proficiency with the etching needle. This is apparent in his book illustrations for Johan van Beverwijck (1594-1647), a more commercial endeavour that required firm, steady draftsmanship to create designs suitable for publication. Like the etchings just discussed, these prints were based on designs by others.

The well-known Dordrecht physician Van Beverwijck wrote authoritative medical treatises that were reprinted until long after his death. The first edition of Schat der ongesontheyt ofte geneeskonste van de sieckten ('Treasury of disease or medicine for the sick') was published in 1642, with illustrations by Salomon Savery (1593-1681). In this volume, the preface, dated 25 May 1642, announces his separate treatise on Blauw-schuyt (scurvy).¹ That treatise would indeed be printed separately in Dordrecht, also in 1642.² It contains two etchings, one of which bears the signature 'SvH / fecit / 1642'. This is Van Hoogstraten's earliest dated work, as noted above. As Brusati observed, the monogram, composed of interlinked letters, seems consciously modelled on that of his father, Dirck.³ The scene shows the herb scurvy-grass (also known as spoonwort) as it is growing at the edge of the lake called Wijkermeer. The village in the background must therefore be the town of Beverwijk, the location possibly being a pun on the author's name. The only other etching in the 44-page treatise depicts three medicinal herbs growing on a dike of the Dordtse Waard polder near Dordrecht [6]. Although not signed or dated, it is close in style and design to the illustration of scurvy-grass and can be accepted as Van Hoogstraten's work as well.

The publication history then becomes more complicated. In 1644 an unaltered reprint of the 1642 edition of Schat der ongesontheyt appeared, still bearing the preface that announces the treatise on Blauw-schuyt that had appeared two years earlier. This reprint, still with illustrations by Salomon Savery, was a joint project of the bookseller Jasper Goris (d. 1672) and the printer Hendrick van Esch.⁴ In the same year 1644 (14 October, to be exact), Goris separately published an edition of the second part of the Schat der ongesontheyt combined with the text of the Blauw-schuyt. This publication no longer contains the illustrations by Savery. Instead, the two illustrations by Van Hoogstraten for the Blauw-schuyt are repeated, along with eleven new illustrations plus a new title-page print.⁵

All this points to a commission to Samuel in 1642 to produce additional illustrations for an intended combined publication. One of the reasons must have been that Savery's illustrations were not specifically related to diseases, medications or the human body. By the time the new edition appeared, in 1644, Samuel was in Amsterdam. Of the thirteen illustrations in the combined edition, only Samuel's etching of scurvy-grass, repeated from 1642, is signed and dated. One of the new illustrations is so closely related to it in format and style that it must be by Samuel's hand as well: here, too, we see a medicinal herb depicted in a landscape setting, in this case scordium (also known as water germander), shown growing in the dunes near The Hague or Leiden [7].⁶ Close examination of the other etchings in this rare volume confirms that the whole series must be attributed to Samuel. Only the title print stands out and must have been made by a different artist.

The thirteen illustrations are, at least in part, derived from images that must have been provided by Van Beverwijck, drawing on medical publications and records in his library. Nine depict anatomical specimens. While their compositions are quite different from the herbal landscapes, the regular, fluent linework is consistent with them in graphic style. Three are derived from Observationum Medicarum by the renowned Amsterdam physician Nicolaes Tulp (1593-1674), published in Amsterdam in the autumn of 1641.⁷ Other images illustrate Van Beverwijck's own research. The illustration on page 394 depicts the deformed bladder of the renowned Huguenot scholar Isaac Casaubon, who died in 1614 [8]. The famous specimen was kept in the anatomical theatre and cabinet of curiosities of Leiden University.⁸ Images circulated among humanists and medical scholars after an autopsy revealed it as the cause of Casaubon's painful illness and death; Van Beverwijck discussed it in several publications.⁹

An image that must have been of particular interest to the young artist depicts a camera obscura [9]. Van Beverwijck uses it to explain the workings of the eye. From the text it is clear that he experimented with such a device in the tower room of his house in the Wijnstraat in Dordrecht, where Van Hoogstraten may well have visited.¹⁰ Thus, the young artist was already introduced to the scientific study of optical effects before he became an apprentice to Rembrandt.¹¹ Later on, while working at the court in Vienna, he saw the camera obscura with the Jesuits, as described in the Inleyding; he also notes seeing such devices in London. Although this passage does not mention Van Beverwijck, it is noteworthy that he recommends 'that seeing this reflection in the dark will much enlighten the vision of young painters; for apart from acquiring knowledge of nature through it, one can also see here, in an overall or general way, the characteristics a truly natural painting ought to have'.¹² In Van Hoogstraten's later work, perspectival illusion, possibly achieved with the help of optical instruments, plays a key role.¹³

Some of the copper plates from the combined edition, including the one depicting scurvy-grass, were later used in editions published in Utrecht (1651) and Amsterdam (1652).¹⁴ In 1650 Jacob Braat (d. 1664) published an edition of the second part of Schat der ongesontheyt in Dordrecht. He must not have had access to Van Hoogstraten's plates, since he replaced them with copies; they are almost indistinguishable from the originals, and only one is in mirror image. Johan van Beverwijck had died in Dordrecht in January 1647, and Braat's edition includes not only Van Beverwijck's portrait, etched by Salomon Savery, but also eulogies honoring Van Beverwijck as a physician and scholar. Among them is a poem by Samuel van Hoogstraten.¹⁵

6
Samuel van Hoogstraten
Pennywort (penning-kruyt), stream thistles (beke-boom) and water buttercups (water-hanen-voet), near Dordrecht, c. 1642
Amsterdam, Universiteit van Amsterdam

7
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Scordium (water gemander) in the dunes, c. 1642-1644
Utrecht, Universiteit Utrecht, inv./cat.nr. WRT 155-217

8
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Medical illustration of the bladder with a rare disorder of Isaack Casaubon, c. 1642-1644
Utrecht, Universiteit Utrecht, inv./cat.nr. WRT 155-217

9
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Camera Obscura of Johan van Beverwijck, c. 1642-1644
Utrecht, Universiteit Utrecht, inv./cat.nr. WRT 155-217