Ruins of the Abbey of Rijnsburg: Small Version

c. 1618-1622

Hercules Seghers

Associated Names
Hercules Seghers

Artist, Dutch, c. 1590 - c. 1638

The image shows an old, deteriorating architectural structure surrounded by foliage. The perspective is at eye level, displaying the facade and side of the building with arched entries and rectangular windows. The horizon is not clearly visible due to the structures in the foreground. The sky in the upper portion of the image is slightly visible. The painting style features detailed stippling and cross-hatching techniques creating texture. The color palette includes shades of gray, brown, and black. Vines and bushes encroach around the ruins, with the structures extending into the overgrown landscape beyond.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching printed in black on linen (prepared with ground) and hand-colored with blue watercolor

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed within plate mark): 10 x 17.5 cm (3 15/16 x 6 7/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1944.5.132

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Leeflang 2016, no. HB 47, State i/ii (impression d)

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Arnold Houbraken [1660-1719], Dordrecht and Amsterdam; by descent to his son, Jacobus Houbraken [1698-1780], Amsterdam; purchased by Karl Heinrich von Heineken [1707-1791], Dresden, for Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony [1696-1763], between 1746 and 1756; transferred to Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden (Lugt 1616, Lugt 685, and Lugt 2483); acquired by exchange and purchase by Frits Lugt [1884-1970], Maartensdijk, 1923; (Richard Zinser, New York); purchased by Walter Bareiss [1919-2007], New York, 1940; (Richard Zinser, New York); purchased by Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], 1944; gift to NGA, 1944.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1945

  • New acquisitions in the Rosenwald Collection, NGA, 1945.

1948

  • Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition, Worcester Art Museum, 1948.

1953

  • Masterpieces of Graphic Art from the Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1953-1954, no catalogue.

1954

  • Masterpieces from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1954, no catalogue.

1956

  • Prints, 1400-1800, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts; The Cleveland Museum of Art; The Art Institute of Chicago, 1956-1957, no. 157.

  • Masterpieces of Graphic Art from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, NGA, 1956.

1962

  • Color in Prints: an Exhibition of European and American Color Prints from 1500 to the Present, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT, 1962-1963, no. 27, repro.

1965

  • Landscape Prints by Rembrandt and other Dutch Artists from the Rosenwald Collection, NGA, 1965.

1982

  • Lessing J. Rosenwald: Tribute to a Collector, NGA, 1982, no. 40, repro.

Bibliography

1973

  • Havercamp-Begemann, E. Hercules Seghers: The Complete Etchings. Amsterdam/The Hague, 1973.

1981

  • Ackley, Clifford S. Printmaking in the Age of Rembrandt. Exh. cat. Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1981:, pp.109-10, 67.

1982

  • Fine, Ruth E. Lessing J. Rosenwald: Tribute to a Collector. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1982, p. 122, no. 40.

2016

  • Leeflang, Huigen, and Pieter Roelofs, et al. Hercules Seghers: Painter, Etcher. Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 2016, no. HB 47, state i/ii (impression d).

Inscriptions

none

Markings

recto, upper right, stamped in black ink [too faint to read]: Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Kupferstich-Kabinett (Lugt 1645-1648?) verso, center, stamped in black ink: Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Kupferstich-Kabinett (Lugt 685; 2483; and 1616); verso, bottom left, stamped in black ink: [unidentified stamp, initials PI [?]]

Watermarks

none

Wikidata ID

Q65021102

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