Hendrik Tavenier (Haarlem 1734 – 1807 Haarlem)

Seven Views of Gouda and Environs:

View of Moordrecht
Pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash, 126 x 198 mm
Inscribed ‘geZigt op Moordregt van gouderak af te zien’ (recto, pen and grey ink)

View of Moordrecht
Pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash, 128 x 159 mm
Inscribed ‘Moordrecht’ (recto, pen and grey ink) and ‘ant[?]inkoome te Moordreg komende Van Rotterdam 1786 / H: Tavenier’ (verso, pen and grey ink)

View of Moordrecht
Pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash, partial watermerk French lily, 128 x 159 mm
Inscribed ‘Moordrecht’ (recto, pen and grey ink) and inscribed, signed and dated ‘Het dorp Moordregt 1786 / H: Tavenier’

View of Gouderak from Moordrecht
Pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash, watermark crowned monogram GR, 137 x 265 mm; mounted onto old collector’s mount with framing lines in pencil and grey wash
Inscribed ‘Gezigt van Moordrecht op Gouderak.’ (recto, pen and grey ink) and inscribed, signed and dated ‘Gezigt Van Moordregt op Gouderak 1786 / H: Tavenier’

View of Moordrecht from Gouderak
Pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash, framing lines in pencil, watermark French lily, 158 x 298 mm; mounted onto old collector’s mount with framing lines in pencil and grey wash
Inscribed ‘Gezigt te Gouderak ziende op Moodrecht’ (recto, pen and grey ink) and inscribed, signed and dated ‘Gezicht te Gouderak ziende op Moordregt 1785 / H: Tavenier’ (verso, pen and grey ink)

View between Gouda and Rotterdam
Pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash, framing lines in pencil, 160 x 330 mm; mounted onto old collector’s mount with framing lines in pencil and grey wash
Inscribed ‘tusschen Gouda & Rotterdam.’ (recto, pen and grey ink) and inscribed, signed and dated ‘tussen ter Gou & Rotterdam 1787 / H: Tavenier’ (verso, pen and grey ink)

View near Gouderak, outside of Gouda
Pencil, pen and grey ink, grey wash, framing lines in pencil, watermark French lily, 150 x 295 mm; mounted onto old collector’s mount with framing lines in pencil and grey wash
Inscribed ‘Gezigt buiten Gouda bij Gouderak.’ (recto, pen and grey ink) and inscribed, signed and dated ‘Gezigt buijte Gouda by Gouderak 1785’ / H Tavenier’ (verso, pen and grey ink)

Provenance
A.M. van den Broek, Haarlem

***

Hendrik Tavenier was taught in Haarlem by the decorative painter Jan Augustini (1725–1773), who specialised in large-scale ‘behangsels’.1 In 1759 Tavenier joined the Haarlem Guild of St Luke as an independent painter. Tavenier was highly influenced by the topographical drawings of Cornelis Pronk (1691–1759) and his pupil Abraham de Haen (1707–1748). Such depictions were a relatively new genre.

Tavenier was highly productive as a draughtsman of topographical views around Holland and groups of his works are preserved in municipal archives around the country. This interesting group of seven drawings depicts the villages of Moordrecht and Gouderak, near Gouda, and other views in the close vicinity of this city. Interestingly, they were not drawn during the same journey, as the drawings are dated to three different years, 1785, 1786 and 1787, which illustrate that Tavenier was as active a journeyman as he was a draughtsman. These drawings are among the very earliest representations of these small villages, in some cases the earliest views yet known.

SOLD TO MUSEUM GOUDA, GOUDA

1. For Tavenier, see Pieter A. Scheen, Lexicon Nederlandse beeldende kunstenaars 1750-1880, The Hague 1981, p. 513.