The most proliferous painter, draughtsman and printer (and also editor) Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne left a huge oeuvre of paintings, drawings and prints. In order to illustrate and depict the moralising poetry of his contemporary Jacob Cats (1577-1660), van de Venne drew numerous illustrations to Cats' publications. The collaboration between Cats and van de Venne started in 1618, when Cats published his first great work, the anthology of emblems known as Sinne- en Minnebeelden for which van de Venne drew numerous designs for the prints. This lifetime collaboration would last until Cats' death in 1660.[1] One of the most well-known publications is Cats' Houwelick, a manual telling women how they should behave on their path of love, courtship, marriage and motherhood and finally widowhood, with the edifying engravings by Adriaen Matham (1590-1660) and Cornelis van Kittensteyn (1598-1652) after drawings by van de Venne, edited by Adriaen's brother, the editor, printer and art dealer Jan Pietersz. van de Venne, first published in 1625.[2]
After apprenticeships to the painter and goldsmith Simon de Valck (active c.1588-1607) and Jeronymus van Diest (active c.1600-1605), who was a specialist in grisaille painting, Adriaen moved to Middelburg in 1614 where he lived until 1625, after which he moved to The Hague where he would live until his death in 1662.[3]
Although many of the prints after van de Venne's drawings closely follow the dimensions of our drawing, there's no print recorded in Hollstein after the present drawing. An anonymous print though, is beyond doubt based on the drawing, as it corresponds closely regarding the main elements of the composition. The barking dog, the fallen hats on the foreground, the kolf sticks and the position of the man beaten down to the ground and the Binnenhof in the distance have been copied closely in the print. The print nevertheless lacks the Gevangenpoort (a medieval prison) opposite to the Binnenhof and the composition is less crowdy compared to the preliminary design. It was published as one of the nineteen illustrations to Cats' Invallende Gedachten op voorvallende gelegentheden ('Thoughts Occurring on Passing Occasions'), published in Amsterdam in 1656. This publication is the sequal to Ouderdom, Buytenleven, en Hof-gedachten published in 1656. The Invallende Gedachten counts a total of fifty-two moralising poems, illustrated by nineteen engravings after drawings by van de Venne.[4]
The print, based on our drawing, is the illustration to poem no. XXV titled Op't gesichte van Iongens op de straet tegen malkander vechtende' ('On seeing boys fighting each other in the street') on p.12 of the publication. The poem describes how two boys end up in a fight where the father of one intervenes to end the quarrel. The Father personifies God the Father who serves as guard to prevent humanity from going astray.
Given the current and recent complications in national (and international) political affairs, the drawing is a most humorous and witty devotional reflection on human nature in optima forma.
Teylers Museum preserves another drawing for the publication, nr. VIII, "Op de gelegentheyt van een iager (die om een haes te vangen) sijn beste peert te berste rijdt, en dus spreeckt" (On a Hunter, who -to catch a hare- rides his best horse to pieces). In this drawing the hare symbolises Profit pursued by man: during the hunt our soul (symbolised by the horse) is in moral danger.[5][6]
Another drawing in the Rijksprentenkabinet Leiden: XIV, "Op 't gesicht van yemandt die hem een tandt laet uyt trecken". Though the dentist drawing is in the same direction, which is unusual.[7] Actually, the preparatory (and probably incised for transfer) design to the print was sold in the rooms of Sotheby's, New York.[8]
Another non-related drawing depicting two men talking in the Buitenhof, The Hague is with the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.[9]
[1] Edwin Buijsen, Ick soeck en vind, De schilderijen van Adriaen van de Venne.
Waanders, Zwolle, 2023.
[2] Jacob Cats, Houwelyck, dat is De gantsche gelegentheyt des Echten-Staets.
Jan Pietersz. van de Venne, Middelburg, 1625.
[3] Laurens J. Bol, Adriaen van de Venne. Davaco, Doornspijk, 1989. pp.99-141.
[4] F.W.H. Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts c.1450-1700, vol. XXXV, Roosendaal 1990, pp. 126-7, no. 385
[5] Adriaen van de Venne, Een jager te paard met twee honden achtervolgt een haas, rechts twee jagers te voet met lansen. Black chalk, pen and brown and grey ink, grey wash, 103 x 135 mm.
Teylers Museum, Haarlem, inv. nr. O 037
[6] Michiel C. Plpmp, The Dutch Drawings in Teylers Museum, Vol. II, Artists Born Between 1575 and 1630. Davaco, Doornspijk, 1997. p.417.
[7] Adriaen van de Venne, Dentist: man pulling a tooth in the market place.
Rijksprentenkabinet Leiden, inv. nr. PK-1933-T-3
[8] Adriaen van de Venne, Quack Dentist Removing a Tooth from a Seated Woman.
Black chalk, pen, brown ink, grey wash, within brown ink framing lines/paper, 110 x 141 mm.
Sotheby's, New York, 25 January 2017, lot 129
[9] Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne, Two Men Conversing on the Buitenhof, with the Stadholder’s Quarters and the Ridderzaal in the Background.
Pen and brown ink, brush and grey ink, grey wash over traces of black chalk, 159 x 139 mm.
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, inv. nr. RP-T-1918-447
