École

réf. 20786 — Pen and grey and brown ink grey wash on laid paper on an archival mount. Fine condition. Sheet size: 18 x 23 7/8 inches. Provenance: Dr. C.A. Pompe; G. Meijer; L. Houthakker with his collector's mark at lower right corner not in Lugt. A beautiful and very rare drawing of one of the most beautiful "Wunderkammern" of the day which later became the property of the Empress of Russia. This drawing shows the interior of the cabinet of curiosities of Catharina van Grovestins-von Schutz in the family house in The Hague. There is another earlier drawing of the same cabinet by the artist Daniel Marot the Younger 1695-1769 dated 1756 and currently in the collection of the Gemeentearchief in The Hague. This earlier drawing shows the interior just after it was completed but before the expanding collection necessitated certain improvements that are shown in the present drawing: additions include a shaped central cabinet bearing what may be a portrait bust of Catharina van Grovestins-von Schutz. Other improvements include the display shelves for taxidermy specimens that have been added between the built-in display cases and the architrave above; and the central bracketed display of coral and shells that was added above the fireplace. Catharina lady-in-waiting to Princess Anna of Orange employed the talents of the well-known naturalist and collector Arnout Vosmaer to help assemble the Cabinet. Vosmaer later commented in his memoirs that the cabinet was 'one of the most beautiful collections . covering every domain of nature" and noted that it was eventually sold to the Empress of Russia. The present drawing may perhaps have been intended as part of the successful attempt to sell the collection to the Empress The earliest cabinets were gathered together in the 16th century. They initially represented a genuine attempt to begin to understand the natural world but also came to be seen as an expression of the power and influence of the owner: the larger the 'wunderkammer' the more important the owner. They were the precursor to today's museums the most famous in England being the collection of Elias Ashmole 1617-1692. His private collection founded by the naturalist John Tradescant circa 1570-1638 was presented to Oxford University and opened to the public on 24 May 1683 as the Ashmolean Museum. One of the best known American examples was the Peale Museum founded in Philadelphia in 1784 for Charles Wilson Peale a painter and a scientist. His son Rembrandt Peale more famous today as a portrait painter subsequently established a 'branch' of the Peale Museum in Baltimore Maryland and this is now the oldest museum building in the Western hemisphere. The museum differed from the earlier more private collections in that it was always the Peales' intention to open the museum to the public. In its heyday the show included 90 specimens of mammals more than 700 bird specimens mounted in 'naturalistic' mini-dioramas a whole room of marine specimens about 4000 insects numerous minerals as well as their famous mammoth skeleton the first such display as well as scores of Peale's portraits. Cf. H. Engel Alphabetical list of Dutch Zoological Cabinets and Menageries Amsterdam: 1986; P. Fuhring Design into Art: drawings for architecture and ornament the Lodewijk Houthakker Collection London 1989 vol. II p. 761 #1102. unknown books