Roelant Savery's - Wondrous world

Roelant Savery’s

wondrous world

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Roelant Savery’s

wondrous world Ariane van Suchtelen

MAURITSHUIS THE HAGUE WA ANDERS PUBLISHERS Z WOLLE

The exhibition Roelant Savery’s Wondrous World has been made possible by Friends of the Mauritshuis The Friends Lottery Stichting de Johan Maurits Compagnie The Dutch Masters Foundation The Cultuurfonds M.A.O.C. Gravin van Bylandt Fund

The exhibition has been supported by the Dutch government: an indemnity grant has been provided by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands on behalf of the Minister of Education, Culture and Science

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Foreword 7

introduc tion Roelant Savery (1578-1639) – A Protean Artist 9

LANDSCAPES

FLOWERS

ANIMALS

PEOPLE

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61

Notes 135

Exhibited Works 138

Literature 141

47

101

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f o r ewo r d

The year 1576 marked a pivotal moment in the early stages of the revolt against King Philip II and his Spanish compatriots. In Ghent, the rebellious regions voiced their demand for the withdrawal of Spanish troops from their territories, as enshrined in the Pacification of Ghent. Roelant Savery was born in nearby Kortrijk a mere two years later, in 1578.

Instead of subsiding, however, tensions escalated.

In 1580, Kortrijk was taken by Spanish loyalist Catholic troops, prompting Roelant’s parents to relocate to Bruges. Unfortunately, Bruges fell four years later and the Savery family was uprooted once again.

They fled, along with many other Protestant Flemings, to Haarlem seeking a safe environment in which to raise their five children.

Roelant and his elder brother Jacob Savery developed as painters and draughtsmen. While the eldest brother, Hans, became a marine painter, only one picture by him has survived. In this exhibition, the focus is on the youngest sibling, Roelant Savery, with his rich and compelling artistic legacy. There is more than enough to discover and tell about him. The Mauritshuis boasts three exceptional works by Roelant. Peasants Dancing outside a Bohemian Inn from around 1610, a gift from Willem Baron van Dedem, has hung in the museum since 2016. In the same year, Vase of Flowers in a Stone Niche from 1615 was acquired. And the 1627 Orpheus Charming the Animals with his Music once owned

by Amalia of Solms, thence part of the stadholder’s collection and subsequently of the Mauritshuis’ royal collection.

Just as Orpheus charmed the animals, the multifaceted Savery undoubtedly enchanted many an admirer with the diversity of genres and subjects that he pioneered. His depictions of animals, people, landscapes, and flowers are a feast for the eyes, so vivid and endearing that his fans, from the emperor in Prague to Amalia in The Hague, likely revelled in them as much as we still do today.

I encourage you not only to explore and appreciate Savery’s works in this catalogue, but also take note of the eloquent language used by curator Ariane van Suchtelen. As the author of this catalogue, she elucidates Savery’s works with the same accessible and occasionally spellbinding tone with which he himself imbued his paintings. She approaches Savery’s oeuvre with a spirit of curiosity and wonder, words that aptly describe his worldview.

Especially for the exhibition, the Mauritshuis oversaw the conservation of Savery’s Stable Interior with Witches from the Rijksmuseum, carried out by our FullbrightAmerican-Friends conservation intern Khanh Nguyen under the guidance of Sabrina Meloni. Additionally, at the Phoebus Foundation’s conservation studio in Antwerp, Sven Van Dorst restored Savery’s Cattle Market, part of the collection bearing the same name.

The exhibition owes much to the extraordinary generosity of museums at home and abroad as well as private collectors, who were willing to part temporarily with their precious drawings and paintings. Every member of the project group led

by Suzan van den Berg contributed to the successful realisation of Roelant Savery’s Wondrous World. The design of the exhibition was in the hands of Jelena Stefanović; Gert Jan Slagter was responsible for the design of the book published by Waanders Publishers; and Kist & Kilian provided the English translation.

The exhibition was made possible thanks to the generous support of our Friends of the Mauritshuis, The Friends Lottery, Stichting de Johan Maurits Compagnie, The Dutch Masters Foundation, The Cultuurfonds and the M.A.O.C. Gravin van Bylandt Fund.

We are also greatly indebted to: Veerle Van den Abeele, Niels de Boer, Katrijn Van Bragt, Hans Buijs, Laurence des Cars, Katharina Van Cauteren, Taco Dibbits, Sven Van Dorst, Blaise Ducos, Douglas Durr, Dorine Duyster, Carina Fryklund, Corinna Gannon, Marlyn van Gool, Andrea Hart, Liesbeth Helmus, Holger Jacob-Friesen, Sarah Keymeulen, Jennifer Kilian, Katy Kist, Ina Klaassen, Katja Kleinert, Anna Krekeler, Friso Lammertse, Austėja Mackelaitė, Pia Müller-Tamm, Mirjam Neumeister, Khanh Nguyen, Susanna Petterson, Rosie Razzall, Laura Ritter, Epco Runia, Bart Rutten, Manfred Sellink, Klaus Schröder, Andreas Schumacher, Cécile Tainturier, Ilona van Tuinen, Lisanne Wepler and Ineke Wolf.

As always, mounting an exhibition is not a solitary endeavour, and this one is no exception. The Mauritshuis extends its heartfelt gratitude to the multitude of hands and minds that contributed to the realisation of Roelant Savery’s Wondrous World.

ma rt i ne go sse l i nk

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I N T RO D UC T ION

Roelant Savery (1578-1639) – A Protean Artist

Roelant Savery was a trailblazer in many respects, spearheading several new themes in Dutch painting, such as flower still lifes and landscapes filled with animals. His interest as a draughtsman and painter was centred on the visible world around him, which he observed and recorded with intense attention. In addition to landscapes, he depicted flora and fauna, including plants and animals that had been imported from distant lands to Europe for the first time. Roelant Savery enjoys fame as the painter of the earliest Dutch flower still life and is also known as the painter of the dodo, the legendary extinct bird from Mauritius (fig. 1), among other achievements.1 The most creative and productive period of his career spanned the more than ten years that he worked as a young artist at the court of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague. During this time, he emerged as an avid draughtsman. He captured breath-taking waterfalls in the Tyrolean Alps and made a unique group of topographical drawings of Prague. Furthermore, he

portrayed ordinary people. Savery was the first artist to look for models out of doors and sketch them from life; he did so without asking them and was seemingly unnoticed. He portrayed peasants, beggars, and market women, adding detailed notes about their attire (fig. 2). Notably, his drawings of Jewish worshippers in the Prague synagogue rank among the earliest depictions of contemporary Jews in Europe. By far the majority of Savery’s drawn oeuvre dates from his Prague years.

Whereas Savery’s drawings closely mirrored visible reality, his approach differed when it came to his painted landscapes and animal pieces. His early forest and mountain landscapes are quite true to nature, but as time passed, especially after his return to the Netherlands, his paintings took on a more imaginative quality. The anecdotal scenes he incorporated into his landscapes became increasingly fairytale-like in his later works, featuring fantastical ancient ruins and wondrous vistas. Often, these depictions diverged

Fig. 1 ← Detail of Roelant Savery,

Orpheus Enchanting the Animals with his Music (20). A dodo looks on from a rock.

Fig. 2 → Detail of Roelant Savery,

Seated Beggar and a Study of a Man’s Head (29). The beggar’s head covering is a ‘dirty white cloth with red stripes’ (‘vijllen witten doeck / met ro strepen dar op’).

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Detail of Roelant Savery, Ancient Ruins in a Fantasised Landscape (11)

Fig. 3

Fig. 4 → Geertruydt Roghman after Paulus Moreelse,

Portrait of Roelant Savery, 1647. Engraving, 267 x 162 mm.

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam The inscription below the print was penned by Hendrick Roghman, father of the engraver Geertruydt Roghman. Geertruydt’s mother was Marie Savery, one of seven children of Roelant’s brother Jacob.

The portrait of Roelant Savery by Paulus Moreelse has not survived.

significantly from what could be directly observed in nature (fig. 3). In his animal compositions, this fantasy landscape serves as the stage for displaying the creatures. While individual animals are indeed rendered realistically, their collective presence in the landscape is actually impossible. In that regard this parallels the bouquets of blossoms with different flowering seasons, which could never have existed in reality. Savery straddled the boundary between fantasy and reality in his paintings, with imaginative elements gaining prominence over the course of his career.

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Savery’s oeuvre is believed to consist of approximately 300 paintings and 250 drawings, although these estimates may be on the conservative side. Unknown paintings and drawings continue to come to light, several of which are on view to the public for the first time in the current exhibition at the Mauritshuis.2

On the basis of a rigorous selection of 43 drawings and paintings, Roelant Savery’s fascinating oeuvre is described here in four chapters, the titles of which reflect his versatility: Landscapes, Flowers, Animals, and People. However, before delving into his art, let us first take a closer look at the artist’s eventful life. li fe i n a n utshe ll Roelant Savery was born in Kortrijk (West Flanders) in 1578. He was the fifth and youngest child in the family, which included three sons who became painters (fig. 4).3 The years around Roelant’s birth were turbulent, falling right in the midst of the Eighty Years’ War against the rule of the Spanish kings. In 1580, Kortrijk was captured by Spanish loyalist Catholic troops, leading the Mennonite Savery family to move to Bruges. However, that city also fell under Spanish control four years later, uprooting the family yet again.

This time they went to Haarlem, a place where many Protestants from Kortrijk and the surrounding area had settled. The Saverys were thus part of a large wave of Flemings who had to emigrate to the Northern Netherlands (today’s Netherlands) in the late sixteenth century to escape religious persecution. This influx of countless well-educated artists from the South played a pivotal role in the remarkable flourishing of the arts that occurred in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century.

Around 1590, Roelant – then about twelve years old – moved from Haarlem to Amsterdam with his twelve-year-older brother Jacob Savery (c.1566-1603), to learn the art of painting from him.4 This was first recorded by the writer and painter Karel van Mander in his 1604 Schilder-boeck. Like the Saverys, Van Mander, belonged to the Kortrijk immigrant community in Haarlem.5 At that time, twelve was the typical age for becoming a painter’s apprentice. After completing his training, Roelant became a fully-fledged assistant in the Savery workshop, actively contributing to its production. While our knowledge of Roelant’s early work is fragmentary due to the scarcity of surviving pieces from his Amsterdam period,6 it is evident that many of the subjects he would later specialise in had already been explored by his brother Jacob.

Throughout the years when the brothers worked together after Roelant’s apprenticeship in Amsterdam, they undoubtedly shared a common style and choice of subject matter that made the output of the Savery workshop easily recognisable. to pr ag u e On 27 August 1602, Jacob and Roelant Savery drew up their wills together, in all likelihood in preparation for their intended journey abroad.7 They were both to enter the service of the Habsburg emperor Rudolf II, the leading collector of his time, who attracted prominent artists to Prague to work for him (fig. 5).

An avid admirer of the famous Antwerp painter Pieter Bruegel I (1526/30-1569), the emperor may have been seeking artists capable of emulating Bruegel’s style (compare nos. 42 and 43). However, their plans took an unexpected turn when Jacob suddenly fell ill and succumbed to the plague that raged in Amsterdam in 1603. He was laid to rest in the Zuiderkerk (South Church) on 23 April. In the autumn of 1603 or the spring of 1604, Roelant left for Prague on his own, ultimately becoming court artist to Emperor Rudolf II. In Prague, Savery’s eyes must have bulged in wonder. In the emperor’s renowned Kunstkammer, he had immediate access to a veritable treasure trove of art, culture, and science. Apart from art in its broadest sense, the emperor collected objects from nature (naturalia), such as exotic shells, coral,

Aegidius Sadeler, Portrait of the Habsburg Emperor Rudolf II, 1609. Etching and engraving, 308 x 223 mm.

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Fig. 5

Rudolf II of Habsburg (1552-1612) became emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1576. In 1583, he moved the imperial court from Vienna to Prague. Under Rudolf’s rule, Prague grew into a leading centre of art and science in Europe. After his death, Rudolf II was succeeded by his younger brother Matthias, who resided in Vienna.

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minerals, and taxidermied animals. His gardens boasted rare flowers and his zoos and aviaries were home to an array of unusual creatures. The Prague court must have buzzed with lively artistic exchanges.

There, Roelant Savery became acquainted with fellow artists, including his compatriots Peter Stevens (15671626), Aegidius Sadeler (1568-1629), and Paulus van Vianen (1570-1613). con strijc ken ( a rtf u l ) l a n d s c a p e pa i n te r The death of Rudolf II in January 1612 heralded the end of this unique era in Prague. Roelant Savery continued to serve under Rudolf’s brother and successor, Matthias, for some time. This is evident from inscriptions such as ‘Roelant Savery Painter of Rudolf and Matthias, Holy Roman Emperors’ (‘Roelant Savery Schilder van Rodolphus en Mathias Rooms Keijsers’) on his posthumous portrait print (fig. 4).

And in 1613, he received back wages as ‘the imperial court painter’ (‘kaiserliche Kammermaler’).8 However, his employment with Matthias does not seem to have been particularly significant. After Rudolf’s death, Savery did not go to Vienna, where Matthias held residence, but remained in Prague. During his final years in Prague, he made multiple trips to Amsterdam for family-related matters, including settling the estate of Jacob’s widow, who died in 1612. In 1615, Savery returned to the Netherlands permanently and took up residence in Amsterdam. His Stable Interior with Witches from that year (no. 26) features the Amsterdam city coat of arms (fig. 6). In a eulogy for the artist Hendrick Goltzius, who died in 1617, ‘Roelant Savery, Artful Landscape Painter’ (‘Rolandt Savrey Constrijcken Landtschap-Schilder’) is included among the grieving Amsterdam painters. The poem praised Savery’s ability to make the fields bloom even in winter, attributing his talent to nature itself (‘Savrey die spijt Hyems, de velden bloeyen doet, Soo schoon dat Natuer hem t’hebben ophevoet’).9 He spent some time in Haarlem in 1618,10 and in the same year is mentioned for the first time in Utrecht, where he would reside for the remainder of his life.

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s et t led per ma n e n tly i n u tr ec ht Savery joined the Utrecht Guild of Saint Luke in 1619.

His nephew and workshop assistant Hans Savery (1589-1654), who was the son of Jacob and had also joined him in Prague in 1609, followed Roelant to Utrecht and continued to live and work with his uncle until the latter’s death. Initially, Savery lived in the Snippevlucht neighbourhood on the south side of Oudegracht. He shared his home not only with Hans, but also his sister Catharina and her husband.

On 7 November 1621, Savery purchased a house on Boterstraat (the Lombardenhuis, now number 20),11

Detail of Roelant Savery, Stable Interior with Witches (26)

Fig. 6

in which the unmarried Roelant accommodated even more relatives, including his sister Maria, widowed for the second time, and several other of Jacob’s children. Savery attached particular importance to his former status as a court painter, evident in the name he bestowed upon his house, Het Keyserswapen (The Imperial Arms), in honour of his erstwhile patron.

In Utrecht, Savery was part of a close-knit community of painters. One of his well-known pupils was Allaert van Everdingen (1621-1675), whose Scandinavian landscapes with waterfalls clearly bear the influence of Savery’s work. Interesting in this context is a document from 1622 in which the prominent Utrecht painters Paulus Moreelse, Aert van der Eem, Balthasar van der Ast, Herman van Vollenhoven, and Adam Willaerts stated that they visited Roelant Savery on a daily basis.12 They seem to have formed some sort of club or gathering of likeminded people, with Savery playing a central role. fi nal ye ars In 1634, Savery drew up a will once again, likely due to mounting physical and mental health issues.

Naturally, to his nephew Hans he bequeathed his workshop, along with all of the equipment and

Fig. 7 Roelant Savery and Workshop, Elijah Fed by Ravens, 1634 (?). Copper, 40.3 x 49.2 cm.

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

working material: ‘all of his paintings with all of the drawings relating to the art of painting and the like’ (‘alle syne schilderijen mit al die teykeningen die schilderkunst aengaende ende betreffende’).13 Incidentally, Hans did not establish himself as an independent artist outside his uncle’s workshop; in this regard, the partnership between uncle and nephew differed from that between the brothers Jacob and Roelant. It is notable that the quality of Savery’s paintings declined in his later years. Some of those works, often signed only with ‘Savery,’ are believed to be the handywork of Hans. Moreover, in his final years, Savery’s mental faculties also deteriorated. The inscription under his portrait print reads: ‘Nature took his life by scattering his mind’ (‘De Natuur benam him ‘t leven door verstrooinge der sinne’) (fig. 4). As a result, his financial situation also went downhill.

Savery accrued ever mounting debts, partly because he was ‘easily tempted by drink to sign one thing or another’ (‘bijden dronck lichtelijck tot het teijckenen van het een of het ander te brengen was’), making him easy prey for swindlers. Presumably, these problems contributed to his reduced artistic output. His last dated painting, Elijah Fed by Ravens, appears to be dated 1634, however the year is not entirely legible

(fig. 7). The painting was partly executed by workshop assistants.14 As far as we know, no other dated works by him from the 1630s have survived, although the workshop’s production continued for some time. The curtain fell on Savery in September 1638 when he declared bankruptcy. His house was sold to benefit his creditors, resulting in the loss of his workshop.

Soon thereafter, Roelant Savery died at the age of 61. He was laid to rest in the Buurkerk (Neighbours’ Church) in Utrecht on 25 February 1639.15 Hans Savery married Roelant’s maidservant shortly after Roelant’s death and continued to live in Utrecht. How he fared professionally after the workshop was disbanded is unknown. li fe li k e de tai ls How can the artistic legacy of Roelant Savery, whose life ended rather sadly, be summarised in a few sentences? The question regarding the scope of an artist’s influence is complex and ambiguous. Roelant followed in the footsteps of his brother and teacher Jacob, but went on to develop his own unique style and ventured into uncharted territory. Surveying his oeuvre, it is amazing how many new themes he depicted both as a painter and a draughtsman, ranging

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from flower still lifes to stable interiors and from lifelike waterfalls to ordinary people on the street. Savery’s work made a lasting impact on a host of artists who came after him. For instance, Balthasar van der Ast (1593-1657) drew inspiration from his flower still lifes, Adam Willaerts (1577-1664) introduced motifs

by Savery into his coastal landscapes,16 Allaert van Everdingen (1621-1675) specialised in Savery-inspired landscapes with waterfalls, and Jacob van Ruisdael (1628?-1682) incorporated Savery’s gnarled oaks in his monumental landscape compositions. One can even speculate that Rembrandt’s depictions of everyday life may have been partly based on Savery’s innovative figure studies (see p. 34).

Fig. 8 Detail of Roelant Savery, A Group of Hungarian Horsemen (40)

Detail of Roelant Savery, Stable Interior with Witches (26)

Fig. 9

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Roelant Savery has left us a large and multifaceted body of work rife with much to see and discover. Full appreciation of his art requires close and mindful examination in order to find new details time and again: an insect on a flower petal, a lizard in a cowshed, a child hanging languidly over his father’s back, two crayfishermen at the base of a waterfall, or a horseman’s fluttering leopard cape (fig. 8), and a bulky elephant rubbing itself against a tree trunk. It is these lifelike details that make this kind of depiction so appealing. Even when Savery’s imagination takes flight, there is still much to enjoy. Then you discover amusing witches (fig. 9), a little monster with the abdomen of a lobster and the head of a dodo, fairytale-like pseudo-Roman ruins, or a skull in a charnel field. The variety is great, and Savery is definitely not a one-note artist.

Roelant Savery, Adam and Eve in Paradise, 1626.

Panel, 80.5 x 137.6 cm. Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin

Fig. 10

Earliest Owners Our knowledge of the earliest owners of Savery’s paintings and the prices they fetched during his lifetime is particularly patchy. For instance, we lack precise information about the terms of Savery’s employment for Rudolf II, although he was apparently able to sell his work to other patrons as well during those years at court. The earliest inventory of Rudolf’s paintings collection – which was dispersed after his death – dates from 1621. Seventeen paintings by Savery are listed, including an ‘An Orpheus with Wild Animals in a Landscape’ (‘Orpheus mit wilden Thieren in einer Landtschaft’) and a painting described as ‘The Big Boar’ (‘Das grosse Schwein’).17 These paintings cannot be identified with certainty.

Other pictures in the inventory can no longer be traced, partly because they were described with an extremely brief title or none at all.

Upon his return from Prague, Savery primarily created paintings for the open market.

Research into seventeenth-century estate inventories indicates that pictures by him could be found in many houses, signifying their considerable popularity. They fell into a moderate price range,

with an average estimated value of 55 guilders.18 Even after his years as court painter, Savery’s works still occasionally found their way to princely collectors. In 1626, the States of Utrecht purchased one of Savery’s scenes of Paradise for 700 guilders as a gift for Amalia of Solms in honour of her marriage to Stadholder Frederick Henry (fig. 10).19 Additionally, three more paintings by Savery were part of Frederick Henry and Amalia’s collection.

In 1628/29, Prince Gundaker von Liechtenstein acquired two paintings by Savery through an Amsterdam dealer for 1000 guilders. 20 Three pictures by Savery hung in the palace of Frederick of the Palatinate and Elizabeth Stuart (nicknamed the Winter King and Winter Queen) in Rhenen. 21 Paintings by Savery were also found in the English royal collection.22 In addition, works by him were found in various charitable institutions in Utrecht.23 In 1628, Savery donated a ‘Large landscape with beasts’ (‘Groot landschap met beesten’) to the St-Jobsgasthuis (Saint Job’s Hospital).24 The regent chamber of this hospital seems to have functioned as a showroom for the Utrecht Guild of Saint Luke.

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LANDSCAPES

Roelant Savery specialised in landscapes. He drew and painted forests, mountains, and waterfalls, with a keen focus on the rendering of trees and bushes. In Savery’s time landscape art was considered a typical speciality of the Low Countries, a fact that probably played a significant role in Emperor Rudolf II’s decision to invite the young artist to Prague. According to the biographer Arnold Houbraken, the emperor dispatched Savery to ‘Tyrol [...], to draw all the handsome vistas of landscapes and waterfalls after life’ (Tyrol […] reizen, om alle fraaije gezichten van Landschappen en Watervallen na ‘t leven af te teekenen’).25 The German painter and writer Joachim Sandrart, who became personally acquainted with Savery in Utrecht, praised him not only as an animal painter, but also highlighted his ‘… experience in [the rendering of] stone masses, cliffs, rocks, mountains, and waterfalls, which is why Emperor Rudolf sent him to Tyrol to explore more of nature’s rare wonders; thus, he drew the most beautiful and astonishing mountains and valleys of this country’ (‘eben so grosse Erfahrung liess er auch merken in Steinfelsen, Klippen Rotzen Bergen und Wasserfallen, dahero Kayser Rudolphus bewogen, ihn in Tyrol verschickt, um darinne der Natur seltsame Wunder mehr zu erkundigen: ‘also zeichnete er alle schönste und verwunderlichste Gebürge und Thäler dieses Landes’).26 Dutch landscape art underwent rapid development in the early seventeenth century. Artists ventured out of doors and discovered the world around them, finding inspiration from the sights they observed firsthand. The fantasised landscape that had previously prevailed gave way to a true-to-life representation of the land. A powerful impetus to this development came from Flanders, with its long tradition of landscape art. Flemish specialists who had fled north at the end of the sixteenth century because of the Eighty Years’

War took that rich heritage with them. Roelant Savery was a typical representative of the Flemish landscape art that had taken root in the Northern Netherlands around 1600. Trained in Amsterdam with his brother Jacob Savery – in turn a pupil of the Mechelen landscape painter Hans Bol (1534-1593) – he descended directly from the illustrious Flemish tradition that harked back to the work of the Antwerp artist Pieter Bruegel I (1526/30-1569).

Savery’s stint in Prague as court artist to Rudolf II must have been of particular importance to his development as a landscape artist. We know of very few works by him prior to his sojourn in Central Europe, which makes it difficult to trace his growth in the earliest phase of his career.27 Be this as it may, he seems to have been summoned to Prague primarily as a landscape specialist, as an artist capable of following in the footsteps of the esteemed Bruegel.28 Rudolf’s encyclopaedic collections could not do without extraordinary landscapes; however, these could obviously only be included through images.

The emperor commissioned Savery to capture the scenic beauty of the Tyrolean countryside. The artist embarked on this mission in 1606-1607, discovering a world entirely new to him.29 Savery’s expeditions to the mountains surely took place during the warmer months of the year when most of the snow had melted and the terrain was passable again. Coming from the Low Countries, he must have been overwhelmed by the forbidding nature of the Alps, with its jagged rock formations, weather-beaten trees and, above all, dramatic waterfalls.30 He meticulously recorded what he saw on the spot in his sketchbook. In some drawings, he even included depictions of himself sketching, occasionally accompanied by a guide pointing out the natural

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beauty with sweeping arm gestures (figs. 1 and 2).31 These sketches after nature served as the foundational material for the paintings and drawings he later worked up in his studio. From 1608 onwards, Rudolf’s court engraver Aegidius Sadeler (1568-1629) produced a series of prints after Savery’s landscapes, which contributed significantly to the renown of his work (figs. 3 and 4).32

Savery’s interest as a landscape artist was very broad and extended well beyond grand natural vistas.

He also depicted simple motifs in the landscape after life: fallen trees, run-down farms, and rustic wooden bridges over a stream. He also ventured into Prague and its immediate surroundings and his drawn views of and in the city can be characterised as urban landscapes.

Aegidius Sadeler after Roelant Savery, Draughtsman Sitting on a Rock before a Bridge (from the series Landscapes of Tyrol), c. 1608.

Engraving and etching, 205 x 264 mm. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Fig. 3

Roelant Savery, Mountain Landscape with Rainbow, 1606/07. Black and red chalk, with wash, 498 x 413 mm. Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna

Fig. 1

Aegidius Sadeler after Roelant Savery, Deer Hunt near a Woodland Lake (from the series Six Landscapes), c. 1608.

Engraving and etching, 224 x 284 mm. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Fig. 4

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Detail of fig. 1

In the Mountains 1

Roelant Savery, Landscape with Waterfall, 1606/07 Black chalk, enhanced with oiled black chalk, red chalk, with wash, and heightened with white, 306 x 201 mm Fondation Custodia (Frits Lugt Collection), Paris

2

Roelant Savery, Mountain Landscape with Waterfall, 1606/07 Black chalk, brush and watercolour, 383 x 413 mm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

3

Roelant Savery, Rocky Landscape, 1606/07 Pen and brown ink, 116 x 153 mm Private collection

The famous waterfalls of Tivoli outside Rome have been depicted by artists since the sixteenth century. In numerous portrayals, these cascades serve as the picturesque backdrop for classical antiquity’s renowned relics. In his Schilder-boeck from 1604, the writer and painter Karel van Mander was the first to exhort painters to use waterfalls in the wild as a motif. In his chapter on landscapes, he urged the reader to: ‘emulate, oh Brushes, also the rushing of the water, the bubbling and furious flow between rocky outcrops’ (‘bootst naer, o Pinceelen, oock t’waters ghedruysch, dat af comt gheborrelt, al rasende tusschen steenen gemortelt.’ Such a waterfall was found amidst ‘the fearsome rocks that fill up the Swiss countryside’ (‘die grouwelijcke steenen, die der Switsen Landt vervullen’).33 So, rather than Tivoli, Van Mander had the Alpine landscape in mind, which he had come to know on his trip to Italy. Savery’s depictions of waterfalls in the Alps, observed first-hand, were a new phenomenon and stand as compelling testaments to his experiences in nature. He portrayed the natural violence of cascading water not from a safe distance but from very close up.

Landscape with Waterfall (1) is likely one of Savery’s outdoor nature studies.34 Unlike his more elaborate landscape compositions, this drawing is devoid of human presence. Using black chalk, he sketched the imposing waterfall among the towering cliffs on which a few slender spruce trees grow. He observed the details of the spectacle from close by, such as the snapped-off tree trunks here and there caught behind the rocks. Remarkably, the central rock in the picture somewhat resembles a human head, with its mouth open and a sideways glance. Savery had a predilection for unusual natural forms reminiscent of living creatures. Presumably, back in his workshop, he further elaborated the drawing with some colour accents in red and white chalk. Such a nature study could subsequently be used as a model for other work.

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