RKD STUDIES

Only during the reign of Johann Wilhelm (1658-1716) [1-2] the Düsseldorf residence became the centre of artistic life on the Rhine. Italian, German, Flemish and Dutch painters, sculptors and architects worked at his court. Fantastic building plans, of which only few were realized, kept the elector occupied. As a collector, he was only surpassed by August the Strong, whose son continued this hobby to an even larger extent. Johann Wilhelm’s successor Karl Philipp however swiftly put an end to this extravagance. More Dutchmen than Flemings worked at Johann Wilhelm’s court. From these only Jan Frans van Douven (1656-1727) and Anthon Schoonjans (1655-1726) [3] are worth mentioning.¹

Douven’s style comes closer to the Dutch finepainting from the school of Dou than to the Flemish genre painters of around the turn of the century, which makes him an example of a Flemish painter working under the influence of Dutch art. According to Houbraken Jan Frans van Douven came to Düsseldorf as a court painter in 1682. He also had to travel for his patron to buy paintings and to portray princes. In 1686 he went to Vienna to portray Empress Eleonore, a sister of the Elector.² In 1695 he accompanied Johann Wilhelm on a trip to Holland and in 1696 he went to Copenhagen with Anthon Schoonjans to portray Sophie Hedwig, daughter of King Christian V [4-5].³ In 1697 we encounter him in Modena and Florence, where he painted the archduke [6] for his daughter, the Electress of the Palatinate [7]. He left his self-portrait behind [8]⁴ and later on more works by his hand ended up in Florence.⁵

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Anthon Schoonjans
Self-portrait of Anthon Schoonjans (1655-1726)
Oberschleißheim, Staatsgalerie im neuen Schloss Schleissheim, inv./cat.nr. 4580

In October 1707 he was in Rotterdam again. In Frankfurt he was looking for old master paintings, but only found a work by Hans Rottenhammer, that was not to the taste of the elector. His activity was divided between painting portraits and dealing in art. In both capacities, as an artist and as a buyer, he travelled a lot. Large sums went through his hands. In 1695 Johann Wilhelm had him payed out 1,000 Thaler for purchased ‘Schildereien’; in 1705 he got paid 1,000 again, in 1706 5,000, in 1713 12,180, in 1715 19,000, etc. He also was the custodian of the Gallery. All of this, perhaps, better illustrates his importance for cultural life in Düsseldorf than his paintings.⁶

During the Dutch trip of 1695 Johann Wilhelm acquired a painting from Eglon van der Neer for 200 Thaler. Soon after the painter must have travelled to Düsseldorf, where he married Adriana Spilberg in 1697.⁷ Maria Anna, a sister of Johann Wilhelm, was married to Charles II of Spain and Van der Neer probably worked for her as well, which brought him the title of court painter of Spain [9].⁸ However, he did not profit much from this position, since the elector still tried to recover the money for him in 1696 and 1699.

In 1691 Johann Wilhelm married Maria Anna Luisa, a daughter of Cosimo III de’ Medici. Many paintings by Van der Neer went to Florence as a gift of the son-in-law [10-12].⁹ But enough stayed in Düsseldorf itself: about four genre paintings [13-14] and 13 landscape paintings [15-18] are documented to have been in the possession of Johann Wilhelm.¹⁰

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Jan Frans van Douven
Self portrait with the double portrait of the Elector Johann Wilhelm and Anna Maria Luisa, c. 1715
Düsseldorf, Museum Kunstpalast

But admired most of all at the court in Düsseldorf was Adriaen van der Werff (1659-1722).¹¹ In 1696 Johann Wilhelm paid him a visit in Rotterdam and bought a work by his hand from an art lover in Amsterdam. From the artist himself he ordered a self-portrait which was intended for the gallery of self-portraits of his father-in-law in Florence [19] as well as a representation of the Verdict of Solomon [20]. When Van der Werff delivered the paintings in Düsseldorf, he was richly rewarded.¹² In addition he received a princely annual salary from that time on. In return he had to work six months, later nine months for the elector, but he was allowed to stay in Rotterdam. From time to time he appeared in Düsseldorf to bring a painting or to sketch the portraits of the elector and electress [21]. His patron showered him with gifts: he was knighted and received a coat of arms.

Except for portraits, Van der Werff painted a series of 16 representations from the lives of Christ and Mary (the ‘Mysteries’, as Weyerman says) [22-25], that precede an allegorical glorification of the princely couple.¹³ Of the 30 paintings now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, 29 of them are derived from the collection of Johann Wilhelm. When we add thereto the works that Johann Wilhelm gave away to Florence, Dresden and Poland, one arrives at a quite considerable number.

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Adriaen van der Werff
Self-portrait of the artist with a double portrait of his wife Margaretha van Rees (1669-1732) and their daughter Maria (1692-1731), dated 1697
Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv./cat.nr. 971

Karl Philipp III von der Pfalz, Johann Wilhelm’s successor, removed the annual salary of Van der Werff in 1719, but still paid handsomely for the paintings that were commissioned. In the same year he sent over three works to Mannheim, which reflects his predilection for the art of this master.¹⁴ In 1721 Karl Philipp employed Van der Werff’s pupil Johan Philips van der Schlichten (1681-1745?), in whose works the style of the celebrated finepainter lived on until far in the 18th century [26-28].

Johann Wilhelm had some paintings of Van der Werff copied by his pupil Bartholomeus van Douven (1691-in or after 1726) [29].¹⁵ The goldsmith Peter Boy (c. 1650-1727) used Van der Werff’s Entombment of Christ [30] and the portraits of the princely couple in an enamel work [31-32].¹⁶ Isaac Walraven (1686-1765), a weak follower of Adriaen van der Werff, visited Düsseldorf around 1710. Maybe the mythological scene of 1716 (now in Mannheim) [33] was painted for Johann Wilhelm.¹⁷

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Jan Philips van der Schlichten
Portrait of Karl III Philipp, Elector Palatine (1661-1742), dated 1729
Heidelberg, Kurpfälzisches Museum, inv./cat.nr. G 1861

This was, however, not the end of the activity of Dutch painters for this patron, although no other artist ever acquired a position like Van der Werff. Godefridus Schalcken (1643-1706) sent some paintings to Düsseldorf [34-40], without ever working there.¹⁸

The flower painter Rachel Ruysch was appointed to the court in 1708, but does not seem to have lived there continuously. Uffenbach visited her in 1711 in Amsterdam. She couldn’t paint more than two pictures a year and one of them was reserved for the Düsseldorf elector, who paid her an annual salary [41-46].¹⁹

Herman van der Mijn did work in Düsseldorf from 1712 on, but returned to the Netherlands after the elector’s death four years later [47-48]. Possibly the paintings listed as ‘2 v.d. Min’, which were transported to Düsseldorf from Bensberg Castle in 1793, were products of his hand as well.²⁰ A still-life from Coenraet Roepel (1678-1748) [49] must have been bought by the elector shortly before his death.²¹ All in all, the late flower still-life was not badly represented in Johann Wilhelm’s art collection.

Apart from cabinet painters, Johann Wilhelm employed a number of ‘decorative’ artists, who had to adorn his castles. At the top of his list was Jan Weenix. In Bensberg he covered the walls of a long gallery with large still-lifes and hunting scenes [50-57]. He was paid the impressive amount of 3.239 Thaler in 1705, for which he had worked ten years, from 1702 until 1712. The paintings were executed in Amsterdam and slightly damaged parts were touched up on the spot. The 15 works, now in Munich and Schleissheim, belong to the best decorative ‘wall paintings’ from the Northern Netherlands.²²

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Coenraet Roepel
A floral still life in a stone vase on a stone sculpted base, dated 1715
Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, inv./cat.nr. 1346

Jan van Nickelen (1655/6-1721) worked on the decorations of Benrath and painted two views of the castle in 1714 and 1715 [58-59].²³ After the death of Johann Wilhelm the artist moved on to Kassel. In 1711 Jan van Huchtenburg (1647-1733) was at the court of the Palatine , which he must have supplied with his usual paintings of battle scenes [60-61].²⁴ The elector rewarded him with a golden medal. The same way in which the style of Hondecoeter became known in Düsseldorf through Weenix, Huchtenburg transmitted that of Wouwermans. Of some other painters we know they stayed for a shorter or a longer while at the court, without having a clear idea about the works they executed there. They are: Theodor Hartzoecker (1696-1740/41), who was sent to Rome by the Elector in 1711, Willem Troost I (1684-1752/9) [62],²⁵ Jan Maas, Albertus van der Burch (1672-1760), N.N. Roukens and Tobias van Nijmegen (born c. 1665), who took Gerard Sanders (1702-1767) with him.²⁶