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Acquired from Christie's, Amsterdam
Acquisition 2002
Date 1762-1880
Size 20 x 12 cm.
Signature 79 L 10
In October 2002, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek succeeded in purchasing a most unusual album. The lavishly decorated red morocco-bound book is a robust work with over 180 pages, produced in the workshop of the Tweede Stadhouderlijke Binderij. An inlaid piece of green leather on the front and back cover bears the name of the owner: S.R. van Nispen.
Samuel Rudolphus van Nispen (1733-1775) intended to turn the album into a handsome friendship book, according to the inscription written by Petrus Verbruggen on 20 April 1762 in The Hague. Not much came of this plan, but Van Nispen's offspring used the book to collect a huge number of drawings, watercolours, gouaches, portrait silhouettes and engravings. They did so with such gusto that the album literally bulges with material.
The most dedicated collector was Lodewijk Johan van Toulon van der Koog (1822-1901), who became the owner of the album in 1875.
He did not stop at sticking individual pictures in the album, however; he also added entire series, such as the 'Album belonging to P. van der Koog born Van Toulon 1810-1820 (13 drawings)' and 'Ten drawings from the collection of Mr G. van Loon'. The signed drawings include works by famous artists such as Johannes Bosboom, David Bles, Jan van Ravenswaay and Johannes H.B. Koekkoek. The undisputed highlights are two watercolours by Anton Mauve. Unlike most of the other illustrations, these were not stuck in the album; instead, they were painted directly on the page, which indicates that he and Van Toulon had some type of personal contact. Both watercolours were painted in The Hague in 1875. The first shows several fishing boats on the beach, the second portrays a farmer woman and a goat. The album also contains dozens of other curiosities, such as two photographs from 1867 and 1868 depicting the construction of the railway bridge over the river Lek near Culemborg.
(KT)
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