Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch Dutch, 1824-1903

Collection Mr. A.L.C. Kleijn, The Hague
Collection Mrs. C. Kleijn-Eschauzier, The Hague 1946
Sale The Hague (Venduhuis der Notarissen), 5-7 November 1946, no. 130 (Dfl. 4.000)
Kunsthandel D. Sala & Zn., The Hague
Collection Dr. A.F. Lodeizen 1946-1980
Kunstandel P.A. Scheen, The Hague 1980

The Hague, Pulchri Studio, Werken van overleden meesters, 1913, no. 75
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Regeringsjubileum 1898-1923, Tentoonstelling van Nederlandsche beeldende kunsten, 1923, no. 456 D
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Zestig-jarig bestaan der Vereeniging tot het vormen van eene openbare verzameling van hedendaagsche kunst. Tentoontelling van aquarellen, 1934, no. 132 illustrated
The Hague, Haags Gemeentemuseum, Honderd jaar Pulchri Studio, 1947, no. 441
The Hague, Haags Gemeentemuseum, Meesters van de Haagse School, 1965, no. 132
Paris, London, The Hague, Haags Gemeentemuseum, De Haagse School, Hollandse Meesters van de 19de eeuw, 1983, no. 143
The Hague, Kunsthandel P.A. Scheen (no. XXVII), no 31.
Paris, London, The Hague, De Haagse School, Hollandse meesters van de 19de eeuw, 1983, no. 143

J. de Gruyter, De Haagse School, Rotterdam 1968-1969, part I, p. 114, ill.no. 86
Tableau, (1979-1980), p. 389, 390, illustrated
P.A. Scheen, Lexicon Nederlandse Beeldende Kunstenaars, 1750-1880, The Hague 1981, ill.no. 652
R. de Leeuw, J. Sillevis, Ch. Dumas, De Haagse School, Hollandse Meesters van de 19de eeuw, exh.cat., The Hague, p. 286, ill.no. 143
W. Laanstra, S. Ooms, J.H. Weissenbruch, 1824-1903, Amsterdam 1992, no. OA/45-2, p. 186, illustrated

In this watercolour, Weissenbruch greatly exploited the backlighting effect, with a part of the houses forming a silhouette against the water and sky. He no longer bothered about details, nor about topographical accuracy, however, he did care about an atmosphere, a mood. An extensive townscape, possibly from that same period, is titled Souvenir de Haarlem with which Weissenbruch wanted to point out that it was not about an exact depiction of a recognisable location, but about an image from a dream, a vision of a town. In the same way Corot sometimes named his landscapes Souvenir d’Italie.

This watercolour is a typical example of the unusual approach Weissenbruch took to his water colour drawing. He would wash away a part of the depiction, let the paper dry and washed the drawing again. He would then repaint a section and slowly the sharp outlines blurred. Sometimes he would keep a watercolour for years and would then suddenly pick it up to repeat the bathing and washing. Thus, an overall picture was created in which colours and lines would blend into one another. However, Weissenbruch managed to add enough features so that the result would be strong and bright with a rhythmical variation of light and dark passages.