RKD STUDIES

The finished compositional drawings of the core group form a basis for attribution of other finished compositional drawings in a similar manner, unsigned, to the artist. Sumowski identified twelve such sheets.¹ One of these is the Visitation in the Amsterdam Museum [30]. Although it has no signature, the date of 1646 is inscribed above the doorway to the right, placing it alongside the Balaam in London. The extensive modulated washes yield a smokey effect, as also seen in that drawing, and particular to his earliest drawings. Strong Rembrandtesque chiaroscuro modelling of the figures likewise links the two sheets, something no longer evident in a second interpretation of the Visitation theme, formerly with Einar Perman [31]. It shows much stronger flattening effect of frontal light in the faces, and the billowing contours, reflecting developments that mark it as a later recasting of the theme, from around 1650.

A stylistically closely related drawing to the Balaam is the unsigned Baptism of Christ in Vienna. However, this sheet demonstrates much greater refinement and subtlety in the modulation of the washes, and achieves much greater concentration and interaction, which strongly suggests that it followed later, in 1647 or 1648. Departing from a purely pictorial effect however is Van Hoogstraten’s use of contours, which are heavy and solid, particularly in the main figures. Furthermore, the lines are not straight or angular, but generally smoothly curved, evoking rounded volumes. This geometric inclination emerges in his paintings already in his Young Woman at an Open Half-Door in Chicago, and persists as a characteristic trait in his art over the ensuing decades. He even recommends searching for geometric forms in the subject, in his treatise.² Notable in this respect is that drawings with solid, heavy contours have also been linked to his fellow pupil Carel Fabritius (1622-1654), for example in Bode with Saul's crown for David in the Rijksmuseum.³ The two pupils likely studied worked-up pen drawings of the period by Rembrandt such as his magisterial Return of the Prodigal Son in Haarlem and Boaz and Ruth in Amsterdam [32].⁴

Equally significant is Van Hoogstraten’s adaptation of Rembrandt’s use of grey ink washes to tone down the background and provide contrast with the figures, lending clarity to the composition. Rembrandt’s friend Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1621-1674) was also incorporating wash in pictorial drawings by this time, for instance in his David's promise to Bathsheba in New York of around 1646, and may have provided some impulse as well [33].

An unusual outlier in the “Balaam Group” is the depiction of Esther before Ahasuerus in Haarlem [34]. This work corresponds closely in composition to a drawing of the same theme in the Rijksmuseum, long thought to be by Rembrandt, an attribution astutely discarded by Schatborn.⁵ That is the effort of a fellow pupil, making the scenario of Van Hoogstraten closely copying much less likely: with his dominant presence in the pupils’ atelier, it was probably the other way around. Furthermore, Van Hoogstraten’s drawing shows many traces of an original creative effort, in his earliest manner, probably around the time of the Balaam, c. 1646. It probably served as a model for the ex-Rembrandt in the Rijksmuseum. That sheet does show impressive evocation of emotion, also in the faces, projecting quite sternly. This was a penchant of Willem Drost (1633-1659), and one may tentatively speculate that it was he who made a creative copy of his young teacher’s composition, with his own emphasis, a few years later.

30
Samuel van Hoogstraten
Visitation (Luke 1:39-40), dated 1646/1648
Amsterdam, Amsterdam Museum, inv./cat.nr. TA 10153

31
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
The visitation (Luke 1:40), c. 1646
Private collection

32
Rembrandt
Return of the prodigal son, vroege 1640s
Haarlem, Teylers Museum, inv./cat.nr. O* 48

33
Gerbrand van den Eeckhout
David's promise to Bathsheba
New York City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Death of the Virgin
Another equally important and ambitious drawing that Sumowski grouped together with the Balaam is the spectacular Death of the Virgin with the Fondation Custodia [35]. It does bear the apparent traces of a monogram, obscured by the addition of a false Rembrandt signature, making verification impossible. It shows a similarly rich buildup in a combination of techniques, highlighted with areas of red chalk. However, at the same time the composition points to further progress in draughtsmanship: it is much more fully resolved, with a clearly articulated complex spatial arrangement. The artist applied prominent use of thick contours and colour accents to define relationships. It likely follows the Balaam by a year or so, in c. 1647. The incorporation of alternating zones of light and dark, through the depth progression, is a demonstration of virtuosity, and yields a pulsating effect familiar from the paintings. The prominent curtain hanging from a rod in front of everything is a nod to Rembrandt’s painting of The Holy Family in Kassel [36], and the legend of the illusionistic competition between Zeuxis and Parhassius.⁶ The inclusion of a self-portrait may again hint at a Dordrecht audience for such a work.

35
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Death of the Virgin, c. 1646
Paris, Fondation Custodia - Collection Frits Lugt, inv./cat.nr. 1971-T.51

36
Rembrandt or studio of Rembrandt
Holy Family, dated 1646
Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel), inv./cat.nr. GK 240

Further Attributions
Comparing closely to the complex and thoroughly articulated spatial arrangement of The Death of the Virgin drawing is the The miraculous draught of fishes in the Morgan Library, rightly regarded by Sumowski as one of the artist’s finest efforts in the medium [37]. Here again, heavy, solid contour lines fix the figures’ positions relative to each other, in alternating zones of shadow and illumination, demonstrating virtuosity. Newly discovered is a loose preparatory sketch of the composition on the verso.

37
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
The miraculous draught of fishes (Luke 5:8), c. 1650
New York City, The Morgan Library & Museum, inv./cat.nr. 449285/BAT 24

Expanded Colour: Bathsheba and Solomon
The Death of the Virgin provided the basis for Sumowski’s attribution of another, similarly lavish drawing to Van Hoogstraten, of David Promising Bathsheba to Name Solomon as his Successor, in Vienna [38]. There is a similarity between King David’s head and that of the old man to the left in the Mary scene. The composition is arranged differently: more crowded and with greater emphasis on flowing, curving contours, which show some relation to the work of Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, to whom it had previously been attributed, with his name appearing to the lower left. The rendering of light is however much more Van Hoogstraten’s priority. A loose study of the same theme has been posited as preparatory for this sheet, but it does not contain many of the ideas and is moreover far removed from Van Hoogstraten’s sketchy hand, which will be discussed below. Sumowski rightly saw the close link to another sheet also given to Van den Eeckhout, later identified as Rachel asking Leah for mandrakes, with similar crowding and meandering contours [39]. Van Hoogstraten may well have taken note of some of these more decorative elements in Van den Eeckhout’s work, but at the same time explored the spatial effect produced by emphasizing foreground forms in red chalk, in both these drawings. Although he discussed red chalk in his book as part of making drawings that are like paintings, as William Robinson has discussed, such sheets retained a study-like character. Perhaps this element played to the interest of informed connoisseurs.

38
studio of Rembrandt
Bathsheba demands that King David name Solomon as his successor (I Kings 1:30-31), c. 1638-1640
Private collection

39
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Rachel and Leah (Genesis 30:14-15), c. 1646
London (England), British Museum, inv./cat.nr. 1895,0915.1550

A Drawing for a Painting: The adoration of the shepherds, c. 1647
In his signed drawing of Adoration of the shepherds in Hamburg, Van Hoogstraten prioritized the effect of light. This sheet was made in preparation for his painting of the same theme now in Dordrecht, of 1647, and it is thus datable to 1646/47 [40]. Van Hoogstraten’s point of departure was the painting for stadholder Frederik Hendrik (1584-1647), now in London, which Rembrandt had just completed in 1646 [41]. But instead of its murky darkness, bright light coming in from the left, possibly from an open doorway, bathes Van Hoogstraten’s figures, and casts Joseph’s face in shadow. Several other faces are even blanched out by the light, defined mainly by contours, accentuating their squat proportions and rounded forms. This would form a tendency in his drawings, one that had little to do with Rembrandt, and perhaps instead acquired during his earlier training under his father Dirck, to judge from comparison with a signed drawing by him of The fall of the titans, in Munich [42]. Something of the dynamism of his father Dirck van Hoogstraten (1596-1640) rubbed off as well, as seen in the ecstatic gesticulation of the rough-hewn shepherds in Samuel’s drawing, contrasting with the Virgin’s calm. With similarly expressive gestures, the signed drawing of The mourning of Abel in Konstanz aligns with this sheet, but adds the element of facial expression, in Adam’s tormented features.

40
Samuel van Hoogstraten
The adoration of the shepherds, dated 1647
Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, inv./cat.nr. DM/980/567

41
Rembrandt
The adoration of the shepherds, dated 1646
Munich, Alte Pinakothek, inv./cat.nr. 393

A Finished Option: The Presentation of Christ
Probably with a new audience in mind, in Dordrecht around 1648/49, Van Hoogstraten developed a smoother approach in some of his finished compositional drawings, as in the Presentation in the temple in the Louvre. There, a complicated architectural scheme evokes the interior of the Temple of Herod, much like Rembrandt’s paintings of the same setting, but at the same time revealing an interest in engaging the eye with through-views, for which he would become famous in his paintings. A complete oddity however is the lettering appearing prominently above the opening to a passageway to the right. What on first glance appears to be a pseudo-Hebraic script, is probably instead a kind of shorthand code that Van Hoogstraten developed for his own use, perhaps based on English publications in the 1640s, and incorporated in several of his other drawings as well [43].⁷

43
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Study of a camel, c. 1645-1650
Paris, Fondation Custodia - Collection Frits Lugt, inv./cat.nr. 9027

Independent Development, c. 1649: Contour Prevails
It did not take long, however, for the former disciple to move more decisively away from Rembrandt, as seen in drawings such as The Mourning of Abel in Konstanz, and even more in The angel departing from Manoah and his wife in Braunschweig, of 1649. Here he starts to adopt pen strokes that are more even and unmodulated in thickness, reducing the variety of line exercised in earlier drawings, as acquired under Rembrandt. Very heavy contours accentuate the figures in the foreground, drawing them forward. Regular open hatching in various directions fills in foliage and the ground, yielding a dynamic effect, consistent with the dramatic theme of divine revelation. Comparable handling appears in an Abraham and the Three Angels in Dresden [44], and Blind Tobit in front of the fireplace in Berlin and many other sheets, which can likewise be dated to around this year. Tonal washes and modelling give way to solid contours, as a method to evoke volume and depth, and even light. The effect is a bit simple, with boldness and clarity prevailing over sensitivity and fluidity. Notably, Van Hoogstraten did not pursue extreme virtuosity in his drawing or painting hand, as did Carel Fabritius and Willem Drost for example: instead of subtle attenuation of thick and thin, and variation from passive to bold, he adhered to a more solid and workmanlike approach in his drawings, with more abrupt transitions of thickness and weight. Perhaps Van Hoogstraten was seeking a way to evoke the powerful physical presence of Rembrandt’s figures and forms, but through other means.

44
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Abraham entertaining the angels (Genesis 18:8-13), c. 1649
Cambridge (England), Fitzwilliam Museum, inv./cat.nr. PD. 417-1963

A Further Turn, Around 1650
From the evidence of a signed and dated Market Scene of the next year (1650) in the Rijksmuseum, Van Hoogstraten continued to forge ahead on the new path of technique in his drawings. Its raucous everyday theme, of a street quarrel in a market, partakes of comic genre traditions for peasants. But women take the leading role, in the main public context where they dominated, the market. Van Hoogstraten cleverly incorporates a stage in the background where Italian Commedia dell ‘Arte is being performed, to underscore the humour of the foreground scenario. The forms are not rendered in the lavish pictorial technique of earlier biblical representations, but instead mainly with contour lines, abruptly alternating thick and thin for an unrefined effect, suited to the theme. Here we see the beginnings of a lumpy, lobed effect of billowing curved contour lines, that regularly resurfaces in his later drawings. This approach is also evident, although less pronounced, in biblical narrative scenes from the same year, including a recasting of a Rembrandt composition of the Circumcision, with some touches of wash, and a Descent from the cross, which leaves it out entirely. The same applies to his Elisha and the Shunamite woman, but with a more pronounced lobed pattern in the edge of the widow’s mantle spread on the ground as she kneels.

Van Hoogstraten continued on this path in the following years, to judge by his last early dated drawing, the Arcadian Scene in Paris. It is signed and dated 1653, which means that he made it while on travels, during his second stay in Vienna. In the meantime he had been to Italy and back, visiting all of the major centres of art there. Surprisingly, he did not leave us with any drawn records of those things that he went there to study: ruins, sculpture, or copies after Renaissance and contemporary masters. This sheet too only shows indirect evidence, in the choice of a mythological theme, and in its pyramidal composition, reminiscent of Raphael’s loggia frescoes. There also does not seem to have been any study of contemporary drawings in Italy, as Van Hoogstraten simply continued to apply the heavy, undulating contours, with abrupt variations of thickness, that he used before his trip. He did leave us with one, albeit impressive, snapshot of his travel in a striking view of a window with artist’s accoutrements, in a fully-worked out tonal technique with rich effect of light, on paper that bears the same watermark with the Arcadian Scene [45].

45
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Artist's worktable by a window, c. 1653
London (England), British Museum, inv./cat.nr. 1848,0911.4