Peter Oudenaarde

Watercolor, ink and pencil on paper

Inscribed (translated from Dutch) recto, ink: A representation of a house in East Jersey on the Passaic River twenty miles northwest of New York and sixteen miles northeast of Morristown. Drawn by Peter Oudenaarde (New Jersey) 1786

Sotheby's New York, January 28-31, 1993, lot 704

"A Place for Us: Vernacular Architecture in American Folk Art," American Folk Art Museum, 1996-1997

American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum, p. 93, fig. 59

Appears to be in excellent condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The lengthy inscription on this watercolor pinpoints, with fair accuracy, the area of New Jersey where this Dutch farmstead—and those of many other Dutch families—once stood. Today, it would be situated roughly in Wayne, New Jersey, an area known as Preakness in the eighteenth century. This is now part of Passaic County but in 1786 would have been the western edge of Bergen County.¹ The Dutch in New Jersey established farms along rivers and creeks, using the flats for their architecture. Areas of settlement included eastern Passaic County and parts of nearby Morris and Essex Counties.²

As seen in this watercolor, small garden plots were planted close to the farmhouses, with the orchard, here precisely drawn with shade and shadows, placed high on the hillside. By the time this watercolor was made, the influence of English architecture had already been felt in these areas, and the most distinctively Dutch characteristic of this farmhouse is the double Dutch door. Utilitarian buildings were less responsive to change. The hay barrack to the right, for example, is a form that remains in common use in the Netherlands today. The peaked roof could be raised and lowered by a jack on poles according to the amount of hay being stored.³ The wagon, too, is a typical Dutch type visually recorded as early as 1733 in the overmantel depicting the Van Bergen farm.⁴ The farm's tidy appearance and fertile crops support observations made during the Revolutionary War by French officers, who noted that the region was "populated by Dutchmen who seem very prosperous. The land is well cultivated and yields abundant harvests."⁵ -S.C.H. 

¹ James L. Kochan, Morristown National Historical Park, letter to Heidi Wilkinson, Sotheby's, Dec. 2, 1992 (American Folk Art Museum files).
² Roderic H. Blackburn and Ruth Piwonka, Remembrance of Patria: Dutch Arts and Culture in Colonial America, 1609-1776 (Albany, New York: Albany Institute of History and An, 1988), p. 118.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Collection New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, New York; see ibid., pp. 120-21.
⁵ Kochan letter.