Artist: Frans De Hulst
Date: 1650
Size: 36 x 58 cm
Technique: Oil On Panel
De Hulst’s View of the Valkhof is taken from the north west. It shows the city of Nijmegen rising up on the banks of the river Waal with its ancient Imperial Palace called the Valkhof, which was built by Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (c. 1122/24-90).1 The foreground is enlivened with a ferry-boat with figures, cattle and a coach. There are many similar views by De Hulst, some of which are painted in an oval format. Signed versions are in Rotterdam, Cape Town and in a private collection.2 A drawing of this subject is in London, catalogued under the name of De Hulst.3 Topographical accuracy was not De Hulst’s main concern, as the many differences in the architecture in the several versions of this subject suggest. The subject of the Valkhof was popularized by Jan van Goyen, whose work De Hulst was obviously acquainted with (cf. SK-A-122). Despite the presence of De Hulst’s signature, the present painting was once catalogued as by or in the manner of Van Goyen,4 and it is not surprising that some of De Hulst’s views of the Valkhof are falsely signed Van Goyen. The technique with the thin, whitish or transparent ground is comparable to that of Van Goyen, and the same applies to De Hulst’s palette, which is dominated by browns and greens. As no dated paintings by De Hulst have come to light, the chronology of his work remains more or less obscure. In the Rijksmuseum painting the Hoenderpoort and the Hoendertoren are depicted as they were before being rebuilt into the Belvedere in 1646-49.5 However, a dating after the mid-1640s is suggested by the dendrochronology, and is likely for other reasons as well. Beck dates De Hulst’s views with prominent architecture after 1645, for the artist’s compositional schemes then became increasingly uniform and routine.6 The staffage in the present painting, such as the coach on the ferry-boat, and the location of the boat at lower right, near the edge, is related to Van Goyen’s work from around 1646.7 Similar views of the Valkhof by other Van Goyen followers are dated 1647 and 1649, indicating that this was a popular theme at that time.8 It is tempting to assume that the demand for paintings with this subject increased after Van Goyen painted his large view of the Valkhof in 1641, possibly commissioned by the City of Nijmegen.9 De Hulst may have based his views of the Valkhof on a prototype made prior to 1646, possibly a painting or a drawing by Van Goyen.10 Gerdien Wuestman, 2007 See Bibliography and Rijksmuseum painting catalogues See Key to abbreviations and Acknowledgements This entry was published in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, I: Artists Born between 1570 and 1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2007, no. 152.
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