RKD STUDIES

The distinctive contours seen in the mythological Arcadian Scene of 1653, alternatively bulging and angular, can be observed in various other drawings of narrative themes, which can be dated to the same period . For the further development of his draughtsmanship, after his return from Italy, we only have however one significant, albeit undated, work to guide us. A sheet in the Rijksmuseum depicts the established theme of Jupiter and Mercury visit Philemon and Baucis [67]. Various Dutch artists had already interpreted this theme from Ovid, of the hospitality shown by an aged couple to the gods in incognito, typically based on Hendrick Goudt’s (1583-1648) famous print after Adam Elsheimer’s (1578-1610) painting in Dresden. Van Hoogstraten here followed a painting of it by Rembrandt dated 1658, most likely studied on a visit to Rembrandt’s studio, while the painting was being made or when it was just finished. We have already seen that his painting of Christ crowned with thorns also presents possible evidence for such a visit, around 1657, perhaps even joined by his Dordrecht friends, and former pupils, Nicolaes Maes (1634-1693) and Abraham van Dijck (c. 1635-1680), who went around the same time.¹

This connection supplies crucial evidence of chronology for the development of Van Hoogstraten’s drawing hand, in which he pushes further his use of angular and bulging, ‘jointed’ contour lines. It also shows him starting to apply very thick, directly brushed lines, especially in the architecture and the kneeling figure of Philemon. It appears that he is investigating an efficient painterly manner of sketching. His idea was very likely prompted by his study of open brush work in Rembrandt’s late paintings, accompanied by discussion with his former master on the effects of form, space and dynamism that could be achieved with such bold brush strokes. We see them again in various compositional drawings that can be placed in this period, such as the Apostles Peter and Paul healing the lame man, the Supper at Emmaus, Saint Peter in the house of Cornelius, and the especially loose and dynamic Hagar and the angel [68][69][70][71]. He also revisited the theme of Christ blessing the children, but with very different effects than his previous study series. Similar handling appears again in a drawing of The resurrection, a copy after a lost original that recast the elements of Rembrandt’s painting of 1639 for the Stadholder. Van Hoogstraten would return to the theme, much later, in a painting of around 1671, with a radically different conception, banishing the Rembrandtesque vigour in his draughtsmanship of around 1658, preserved in a copy.

One of the most extreme uses of such heavy drawn brush lines occurs in his Adoration of the magi, combined with areas of light and fine lines for an otherworldly effect [72]. Although primarily used in narrative compositional studies, Van Hoogstraten did also apply this new technique in a Family portrait, as well as some genre interior scenes.² This contrasts with the more restrained approach in sheets such as his Joseph in Prison, dominated by very thick, heavy contours [73]. The result comes across as somewhat artificial, contrasting for example with his similarly conceived John the Baptist receives Christ’s answer in prison in Hamburg, which shows a more conventional buildup incorporating lighter and thinner lines, and can be placed earlier in the 1650s, before the Philemon and Baucis.

67
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Jupiter and Mercury visit Philemon and Baucis (Ovid, Metamorphoses 8: 621-696), c. 1660
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv./cat.nr. RP-T-00-223

68
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Apostles Peter and John healing the disabled man (Acts 3:6), c. 1658
London (England), art dealer Alfred Brod Gallery

69
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Supper at Emmaus (Luke 24:30-31), c. 1658-1663
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv./cat.nr. RP-T-1898-A-3516

70
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Saint Peter in the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:25-27), c. 1658
Budapest, Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, inv./cat.nr. 1522

71
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Hagar and the angel (Genesis 16:7-12), ca. 1660
Private collection

72
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Adoration of the kings (Luke 2:16), c. 1658
Berlin (city, Germany), Kupferstichkabinett der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, inv./cat.nr. KdZ 2808

A Few Late Drawings
From the evidence of Samuel van Hoogstraten’s drawings it appears that this rich production of compositional studies, steadily evolving in manner and culminating in a daring boldness, all but ended soon after 1660. This was probably predicated by the artist’s move to London in 1662. There, he presented himself as an artist who explored innovative optical illusions in paint, aiming to repeat his success at the court in Vienna.

There is one brief moment in his later years, when he takes up the pen and brush again, producing three drawings that relate directly to his painting of Salmacis and Hermaphrodite in the Leiden Collection [74]. There, we can follow Van Hoogstraten as he first studies the main figures in his characteristic late mix of angular and rounded thick brushed contours, in one sheet in Rotterdam [75]. A drawing in Oslo explores the main gesture, with Salmacis more fully restraining Hermaphrodite by reaching around their arm [76]. In another sheet in Rotterdam this idea is set in a wider composition incorporating a tree [77]. Many elements were adopted in the final painting, including much of the pose of Hermaphrodite, only Salmacis was given a much tamer presence, peering over the pile of clothes between tree trunks. It remains possible that Van Hoogstraten made these drawings earlier than the painting, which dates to around 1670/71, but it is more likely that he reverted to his Rembrandtesque vocabulary of sketchy lines for these working drawings, not intended for connoisseurs’ eyes, as part of the creative process for the striking finished painting.

For the other history paintings that Van Hoogstraten made around this time, we do not have any such studies, let alone groups of them. It appears that the artist instead mostly went directly to work on the canvas, much as Rembrandt had done for many of his paintings, composing the scene directly in paint.³ More significantly, Van Hoogstraten appears to have made a significant switch, from making narrative compositional drawings to finished history paintings. This effective substitution strongly suggests that the late history paintings had a similar function as the drawings, as demonstrative exercises of his creative ability as an artist, much as Rembrandt had done in the small-figured history paintings to which he turned his attention in the 1640s, in the wake of the Night Watch. There even seems to be a double echo (first the drawings, then the paintings) of the virtuoso small-figured compositions of the so-called Passion Series painted for stadholder Frederik Hendrik (1584-1647), with Constantijn Huygens (I) (1596-1687) playing an intermediary role. It is fair to suggest that the many compositional studies of the period 1646-1651 also pursued a similar aim, of exercising and demonstrating artistic ability for the consideration of artist friends, pupils, and connoisseurs. And that his late history paintings may have been more of a discretionary exercise, according to his own fancy, in search of fame (causi fama) than fortune (causi lucra).

On first glance, the portrait drawing of the poet Mattheus van de Merwede van Clootwijk (1613-1664) in Leiden looks like it could be a misattribution, a conventional portrait drawing in an appealing manner, with Van Hoogstraten’s monogram added for salability [78]. However, the sitter belonged to Van Hoogstraten’s literary circles, and the delicate handling does show many correspondences with the one late core work, his design for the chapter title page of Erato, for the Inleyding, especially in the fine hatching yielding subtle tonal variations. The portrait must likewise date to the late 1670s, which aligns with the costume, but the face may have been based on an earlier portrait, as the sitter still looks quite young here. Van Hoogstraten evidently cultivated a more reserved manner for such functional works. They are far removed from the experimental techniques, particularly in the contours, of his narrative compositional drawings.

74
Samuel van Hoogstraten
Salmacis and Hermaphroditus, c. 1671-1676
New York City, The Leiden Collection, inv./cat.nr. SH-101

75
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Salmacis and Hermaphroditus (Ovid, Met. IV, 285), c. 1655
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, inv./cat.nr. R.56

76
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Salmacis and Hermaphroditus (Ovid, Met. IV, 285), c. 1652-1653
Oslo, Nasjonalmuseet, inv./cat.nr. B.15805

77
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Salmacis and Hermaphroditus (Ovid, Met. IV, 285), c. 1648-1650
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, inv./cat.nr. R.5