Wybrand Hendriks

Still life with a dead swan, heron and other wildfowl, two hunters in a boat on a river behind

Lot Closed

January 25, 09:19 PM GMT

Estimate

5,000 - 7,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Lots 306-373: Property from the Collection of A.M. ('Ton') van den Broek

Wybrand Hendriks

Amsterdam 1744 - 1831 Haarlem

Still life with a dead swan, heron and other wildfowl, two hunters in a boat on a river behind

Pen and black ink and watercolor, within black ink framing lines;

signed or bears signature in black chalk, verso (over another, more extensive, erased inscription: W. Hendriks fect.

362 by 468 mm; 14¼ by 18½ in.

Sale Amsterdam, Sotheby Mak van Waay, 18 May 1981, lot 148,
where purchased by A.M. ('Ton') van den Broek (1932-1995), Haarlem (bears his mark, verso, not in Lugt)

Wybrand Hendriks 1744-1831. Keuze uit zijn schilderijen and tekeningen, exh. cat., Haarlem, Teylers Museum, 1972, fig. 58;
Leslie A. Schwartz, The Dutch Drawings in the Teyler Museum. Artists born between 1740 and 1800, Haarlem/Ghent/Doornspijk 2004, p. 157, under no. 157

Though surely an original composition of Hendricks' own invention, this grand still life of dead fowl in a landscape is strongly reminiscent of works by earlier Dutch masters, and in particular Jan Weenix (circa 1642-1719), several of whose paintings Hendriks actually copied in watercolor. Indeed, one such copy is also in the Van den Broek collection, and will be offered for sale this week. The present composition is very similar in conception to a smaller watercolor by Hendriks in the collection of the Teylers Museum, Haarlem (see Literature).

Born and trained in Amsterdam, Hendriks initially worked as a painter of wall-hangings. In 1776, he moved to Haarlem, becoming a director of the Haarlem Drawing Academy, and from 1785 until 1820 he was Keeper of the art collections of the Teylers Museum, which holds a substantial group of his drawings and watercolors. It was during Hendriks' tenure that the Teylers acquired the exceptional group of Italian Renaissance drawings from the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden that remains one of its crowning glories.

A talented and varied draughtsman, Hendricks made portraits, landscapes and lively animal studies, as well as copies after earlier masters. An exhibition dedicated to his life and works will be held at the Teylers Museum, Haarlem, in the autumn of 2023.