RKD STUDIES

In the 1650s, Van Hoogstraten produced illustrations for two of his own books. Schoone Roseliin, of de getrouwe liefde van Panthus ('Fair Rosaline, or the steadfast love of Panthus'), was published in 1650 before he traveled to Vienna, and Den eerlyken jongeling, of de edele kunst, van zich by groote en kleyne te doen eeren en beminnen ('The honourable youth, or the noble art of making oneself loved among the higher and lower classes'), appeared in 1657 after he had settled once again in Dordrecht. The former is sometimes considered the first novel in the Dutch language.¹ The latter adapts a conduct book written by the French author Nicholas Faret, which in turn draws on Baldassare Castiglione’s Il libro del cortegiano.² With these two projects, Van Hoogstraten developed the complementarity of word and image that would culminate in the Inleyding.

None of the seven plates to Schoone Roseliin is signed or dated, but they were most likely designed close to the time of publication in 1650. The title page presents the heroine of the story, Rosaliin, as a quasi-celestial figure [25]. Some aspects of the illustrations recall narrative scenes drawn by Van Hoogstraten in the 1640s and 1650s; compare, for instance, the seated figure in Panthus and his friends search for Rosaline with the young man in the foreground of a market scene in pen and ink, signed and dated 1650 [26][27].³

The publisher of Schoone Roseliin was Jasper Goris (d. 1672) of Dordrecht, the same publisher who had marketed Johan van Beverwijck’s Schat der ongesondheyt in 1644 with illustrations by Van Hoogstraten. Hollstein erroneously mentions a second edition of Schoone Roseliin with the title 'Schoone Rufina', issued in 1669.⁴ However, there has never been a second edition. Instead, some of the plates were reused in two translated Spanish works by Alonso de Castillo Solórzano; it is there that the revised title page appeared. The translations from Spanish into Dutch by Guilliam de Bay (b. c. 1625) were published respectively as ‘t Leeven en bedrijf van den doorsleepen bedrieger and Het tweede deel van den doorslepen bedrieger (‘Life and profession of the cunning impostor’ and ‘The second volume of the cunning impostor’).⁵ Both volumes, often bound together, were published by Baltes Jansen Boekholt (1636-1692) in Amsterdam. While volume 1 bears the date 1670, volume 2 is dated 1669.

In the year 1669 Boekholt also published Van Hoogstraten's second novel, De gestrafte ontschaking of zeeghafte herstelling van den iongen Haegaenveld ('The punished abduction, or the victorious reparation of the youth Haegaenveld').⁶ This work has eight illustrations including the title print [28]. Although listed in Hollstein's catalogue, these cramped compositions, with their weighty figures clad in courtly pastoral dress, are not consistent with Van Hoogstraten's graphic style. They are intriguing, however, for their renditions of dramatic moments in the story, including a sword fight featuring women combatants [29].⁷ It is possible that Van Hoogstraten designed the images to be engraved by someone else. In the text, he writes of his dual occupations and of the descriptive power of painting.⁸ Laudatory poems that open the volume praise him as both artist and poet; one of these is by Heyman Dullaert, another painter-poet in Rembrandt's orbit. Since this publication brought Samuel into contact with Boekholt, it seems likely that he passed along the copper plates of the Schoone Roseliin to Boekholt to be reused.⁹ In addition to the change of title, the plates were reworked with the burin, but it is impossible to say whether Samuel himself was responsible for this.

In 1652, while Van Hoogstraten was at the court of Ferdinand III (1608-1657), the Dordrecht publisher Abraham Andriesz (1614-1662) issued his volume of devotional poems and songs entitled Goude schalmey, klinkkende van heilige gezangen op de toonen Salomons, en stemmen der heiligen. (‘Golden shepherd’s flute, resounding like holy songs to the tune of Solomon and voices of the saints’). There are no illustrations. The manuscript was certainly in progress before Samuel left for Vienna and his brother François van Hoogstraten (I) (1632-1696) must have seen it through to publication; he contributed a laudatory verse and two poems dated 1650 and 1652.¹⁰ After the death of their father Dirck in 1640, François had been apprenticed to Andriesz to learn the trade of printing and bookselling.¹¹ In 1657, when Van Hoogstraten was back in Dordrecht, Andriesz published Samuel's conduct book, Den eerlyken jongeling.¹² The title page and one of the two internal illustrations, while unsigned, are attributable to Samuel, while the other illustration, depicting Fortuna, is signed with Dirck's monogram, 'DvH' [30][31]. François, after becoming an independent publisher himself, used several of Dirck's copperplates in his own publications. Thus, he must also have kept the Fortuna and passed it along to Andriesz.¹³

In 1652-1653, Van Hoogstraten traveled from Vienna through the German lands on a trip to Italy. In the Inleyding, he writes that while spending a few days in Frankfurt am Main in June 1652, he was 'well-received by Mr. Merian' who 'urged [him] to advance steadily'.¹⁴ This would have been Matthäus Merian (II) (1621-1687), the Swiss engraver and portrait painter whose family included several prolific printmakers. At the time of Van Hoogstraten's visit, Matthäus and his younger brother Caspar were busy running the publishing house established by their father, Matthäus the Elder. In Regensburg in 1653, Samuel must also have met another German printmaker, Jakob von Sandrart (1630-1708); shortly thereafter, Von Sandrart engraved a portrait of the Moravian cleric Alphons Steinmoos with a dedication written by Van Hoogstraten.¹⁵ These experiences may well have stimulated Van Hoogstraten's interest in prints and their uses.

25
Samuel van Hoogstraten
Schone Roselin, before 1650
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv./cat.nr. RP-P-OB-12.793

26
Samuel van Hoogstraten
Panthus and his friends search for Rosaline, before 1650
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv./cat.nr. RP-P-OB-12.795

27
Samuel van Hoogstraten
Street scene with two women quarreling, dated 1650
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv./cat.nr. RP-T-1958-2

28
Anonymous Northern Netherlands (hist. region) before 1669
Title page Haegaenveld, before 1669
Amsterdam, Allard Pierson, inv./cat.nr. OTM: OK 61-2749 (2)

29
Anonymous Northern Netherlands (hist. region) before 1669
Two women sword fighting, before 1669
Amsterdam, Allard Pierson, inv./cat.nr. OTM: OK 61-2749 (2)

30
Samuel van Hoogstraten
Title page of "Den eerlyken jongeling" ("The Honorable Youth"), before 1657
London (England), British Library

31
Samuel van Hoogstraten
Figures with two horses and a wagon, before 1657
London (England), British Library