HENDRICK VERSCHURING (Gorinchem 1627 – Dordrecht 1690)
The Pont des Treilles on the Maine in Angers (also known as the Pont-Neuf in Angers)
signed and dated H. Verschuring fecit A° 1663 in the lower center foreground
oil on canvas
26 x 36 ½ inches (66 x 92.7 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Brussels
Private Collection, South Carolina
Private Collection, New Jersey, 2000 until the present time
LITERATURE
Stijn Alsteens & Hans Buijs, Paysages de France: dessinés par Lambert Doomer et les artistes, hollandais et flamands des XVIe et XVIIe siècles, Fondation Custodia, Paris, 2008, p. 133, fig. c, illustrated (as location unknown)
Erik Spaans review, “Paysages de France dessinés par Lambert Doomer et les artistes hollandais et flamands des XVIe et XVIIe siècles”, The Burlington Magazine, volume cLI, no. 1278, September 2009, p. 623
“Hendrick Verschuring, Figures nearby the Pont de Treilles in Angers” on Collection Netherlands Museums, Monuments and Archaeology at data.collectienederland.nl, illustrated
For five months in 1646 Lambert Doomer and Willem Schellinks traveled together around France. Both executed drawings of the Pont des Treilles in Angers. Doomer’s painting of The Pont des Treilles, now on view at the Louvre (inventory no. RF3733), was probably based on the drawing he did during this trip. Schellinks drawing of The Pont des Treilles, in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels (and now thought to be cut on the right side) is believed to be the source of our painting by Verschuring. Possibly at one-point Verschuring owned Schellinks’ drawing.[1]
Verschuring depicts a view from upstream on the Maine River in Angers showing the old stone Treilles Bridge crowned by an obelisk. On the right side is the part of the bridge known as the Pont-Neuf that was rebuilt on stilts in 1623-1625. The bridge was partially ruined in 1649, and by 1672 the Pont-Neuf no longer existed. Further damaged by several floods the bridge continued to deteriorate during the eighteenth century until its last parts finally disappeared in the nineteenth century.[2] Bathed in a golden light, the setting is idyllic with a group of travelers at rest in the central foreground. The scene abounds with life; horses are being watered, dogs idle or romp in the sunshine, sheep, and goats rest on grass in the shadow of the bridge, while a herd of cattle are driven across the span of the Pont- Neuf. The work’s expansive sense of space has been created by the employment of a diagonal band of shade in the foreground that acts as a repoussoir countered by the use of contre-jour lighting.
Hendrick Verschuring is counted among the Bamboccianti painters, a label given to him and other Northern compatriots that include Jan Baptiste Weenix, Michael Sweerts, Karel Dujardin and Anton Goubau. The group specialized in Italianate landscapes created from invented settings of ports, courtyards and streets.[3] According to Arnold Houbraken in De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen (1718-1721), Verschuring, the son of an army officer, began his studies with Dirck Govaertsz. a portrait painter in Gorinchem.
From the ages of 13-19 he was a pupil of Jan Both in Utrecht. Afterwards he traveled to Italy to complete his studies and stayed there until 1656 when he returned to Gorinchem. His earliest known works date from 1651. He mainly painted Italianate landscapes, cavalry battles and camp life, hunting scenes, animal subjects, Dutch beach scenes as well as some portraits and genre. He also did some etchings. It has been recorded that Philips Wouwerman occasionally painted the horses in Verschuring’s works. Verschuring painted staffage for the forest landscapes of Pieter-Jansz van Asch. He lived in Gorinchem his entire life and at one point was its mayor, throughout enjoying a very prosperous career. Sadly, he died in a storm at sea near Dordrecht on April 26, 1690.[4]
Works by Hendrick Verschuring formed part of the permanent collections of the museums of Amsterdam; Angers; Braunschweig; Bremen; Bucharest; Cape Town; Chicago; Edinburgh; Gratz; Haarlem; The Hague; Leeuwarden; Leipzig; London; Montreal; Nantes; Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia; Stuttgart and Trieste among others.
[1] Stijn Alsteens & Hans Buijs, Paysages de France, op.cit., p. 133; and Erik Spaans, The Burlington Magazine, op.cit., p. 623.
[2] Hugues Courant, “Le Pont des Treilles à Angers, Engagement et désengagement de la ville XVIe – XVIIe siècles” in Annales de Bretagne et des pays de l’Ouest, volume 104, no. 1, 1997, p. 18; and “Lambert Doomer, The Pont des Treilles”, Musée de Louvre, at https//collections.louvre.
[3] Laura Laureati, “Johannes Lingelbach” in The Bamboccianti, Ugo Bozzi Editore, Rome, 1983, p. 259.
[4] Biographical information taken from John Denison Champlin, Jr. and Charles C. Perkins, eds., “Hendrik Verschuring” in Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings, volume IV, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1900, pp. 360-1; “Hendrik Verschuringh” in Bryan’s Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, volume V, Kennikat Press, Inc., Port Washington, N.Y., 1903-4, p. 293; Walther Bernt, “Henrick Verschuring” in The Netherlandish Painters of the Seventeenth Century, volume III, Praeger Publishers Inc. N.Y., 1970, p. 127; Neil MacLaren & Christopher Brown, “Henrick Verschuring 1627- 1690” in The Dutch School 1600-1900, volume I, National Gallery Publications Limited, The National Gallery, London, 1991, p. 470; and Hans Fransen, “Hendrick Verschuring” in Michaelis Collection, The Old Town House, Cape Town, Waanders Uitgevers, Zwolle, 1996, p. 152.