FEATURES ARCHIVE

Artists have always been fascinated by the ideal and this selection of Dutch coloured drawings, in watercolour and bodycolour, demonstrates that quest for perfection, whether in the arcadian idyll, or in fantastical worlds of classical gardens and villas. Typical of Dutch drawings of the period, the artist can also be seen as scientist – expanding human knowledge with rigorous examinations of the natural world. The delicacy of these drawing allows artists to bring exquisite detail to their depictions, both real and imagined.

The Illusion of a Perfect World

Admired and sought-after by wealthy patrons during his lifetime, Isaac de Moucheron’s elegant views of Italianate gardens continue to captivate today. Many of his works were inspired by, or preparatory for, large wall-paintings in country houses which gave the impression that the rooms opened onto a classicised dream-world. The present drawing, in which figures languidly stroll or boat beneath the walls of a Palladian villa, evokes the same sense of escapism and calm, while the delicate washes have kept their subtlety and help to suggest the hazy distance between the villa and the idealised port beyond.

The Town by the River

Having taught himself the arts of drawing, painting and printmaking, Abraham Rademaker devoted his career to recording the topography of the Netherlands. During the 1720s and 1730s he contributed prints to at least six publications on the region’s landscapes, and the same fascination with his country is evident in his bustling, naturalistic drawings. The present scene combines the calm grandeur of the landscape with the pulse of everyday life: Rademaker’s towns are vibrant places, busy with incidental details such as the carter resting
outside the cottage with its waterwheel in the foreground, or the ships setting out from the harbour beyond.

The Ideal Countryside

Executed in 1780, this exquisite pair of drawings displays Hendrick Meyer’s skill as a painter in bodycolour. Each represents an idyllic pastoral landscape populated by herdsmen and their flocks, fishermen and travellers. While the first shows the scene at sunrise, with delicate touches of white bodycolour simulating the touches of sunlight on the grass and trees, the second shows a similar view at sunset, with the western sky tinted red and the inhabitants returning home or resting after their day’s work. Both works remain remarkably fresh, allowing the rich colours and the intricately fine detail, such as the reflections of trees in the water, to be
enjoyed to the full.

Ducks and Drakes: A Study in Wildfowl

Pieter Holsteyn the Younger, who spent his career in Haarlem, specialised in the depiction of flora and fauna. His consummate ability as a painter of nature is visible in this delicately detailed scene of water-birds, including herons, mallards and other ducks, clustered together on the shore of a lake against the soft glow of a sunset. His decision to represent many of the species in pairs, the male with the female, indicates that this vividly accomplished bodycolour was not purely an artistic endeavour but also an expression of his age’s
burgeoning fascination with natural history.

The best way to appreciate a drawing is to see it in person – get close to the artist’s hand at Christie’s King Street from 2-4 July.