Lot Essay
After the tulip had first been imported from Turkey to Holland in 1594 it soon became fashionable to collect and grow special varieties of tulips and other flowers, and prices fluctuated with the various fashions. Flowers were sold at nurseries and in shops, but also at fairs, markets and later at auctions. The speculative trading of tulips became pure 'windhandel', a paper gamble, and in 1637 the market collapsed completely. Even the Government's legislation in the following years could not prevent the majority of investors losing most of their money or going bankrupt. A design for an allegorical print satirising the tulip trade in the 17th Century attributed to Pieter Nolpe (1613/4-1652/3) was sold in these Rooms, 21 November 1989, lot 34, and is now in an American private collection.
In the 17th and 18th Centuries many drawings of flowers, especially tulips, were commissioned by both collectors and flower dealers. These were mostly kept in albums, which have only rarely survived intact.
The draughtsman of the present album has kindly been identified by Robert-Jan te Rijdt on the basis of a comparison of the text in the present album to that of a manuscript in a Dutch private collection discussed in the article by Miss I.H. van Eeghen (op. cit.). Frans der Kinderen was born on 29 May 1667 in Amsterdam, and baptised in the Westerkerk. His father, Adam der Kinderen, was a goldsmith and jeweller, and the verger of the English Church on the Begijnhof in the city. In 1679 Frans joined his father, training as a goldsmith, and in 1691 he went to London for more than one year's apprenticeship. For his work he learnt to draw, mainly ornaments and flowers, in which he excelled. Back in Amsterdam, he married Susanna van der Eycke (1665-1719) on 25 May 1694. They lived in the Handboogstraat, and had six sons: Adam, John, Emanual, Jacob, Francis and Pieter.
Frans was a learned amateur gardener, he drew the flowers in his garden both for pleasure and as a record. He also had a keen interest in insects, which he often incorporated in his drawings and is known to have been a collector of drawings and prints. He was a very religious man, who related everything in life to his belief in God.
Often in combination with activities related to his profession, Der Kinderen acquired flowers for his garden at markets, fairs, with botanists and at sales in several cities, visiting other gardens and meeting their owners, with whom he sometimes exchanged flowers. 'De Heer Oker' mentioned in text no. 5 of 1728 can be identified as the man to whom Frans' son Emanuel was sent as an apprentice when he was fourteen years old (Van Eeghen, op.cit., p. 146). The goldsmith Verbrugge from Delft, a collegue and friend of Der Kinderen that Van Eeghen discusses (pp. 134-5) is mentioned in text no. 45 of 1730, where Der Kinderen notes that he has exchanged flowers with him. In 1731 Der Kinderen mentions the name of Dirk de Wolf, a botanist in the Diemermeer (text no. 60), whose knowledge of Latin he praises. As Mrs. Oldenburger- Ebbers has kindly suggested, he may be identified as Diderik Wolferingh, author of the Index herbarum plantarum fruticum, et arborum...., Amsterdam, circa 1730, who is known to have lived in the Diemermeer. Der Kinderen and his first wife first rented and in 1719 bought the garden at the Otterspad near the Weteringspoort of Amsterdam. That same year his wife died (Van Eeghen, p. 139). He remarried in 1729, his second wife died in 1735.
The manuscript in a Dutch private collection described by Van Eeghen is illuminated with 87 prints and 67 drawings that Frans bought, handcoloured, and glued to the texts as illustrations. These include work by artists such as Willem van de Velde, Johann Georg Rudolphi, Jan Saenredam and Mattheus Merian, as well as 18th Century prints chosen for special occasions such as marriages and deaths. Also included is a drawing of a tulip and a plant with insects which may be compared to the drawings in the present album. In his will of 1734 it is stated that Der Kinderen's son Emanuel will inherit his 'blomboek' (Van Eeghen, p. 153), which may identified as the present album.
As T.T. Mantel has kindly pointed out, by 1720 hyacinths had become more popular than tulips leading to speculative dealing which culminated in the same 'windhandel' in 1736 as that of tulips exactly one hundred years earlier (see also the many drawings of hyacinths done by members of the Van der Vinne family, some of which were sold in these Rooms, 21 November 1989, lots 107-22). Der Kinderen seems not to have appreciated this new fashion; in his text for the flowers drawn in 1730 he recalls going to a garden in Haarlem in 1728 seeing exceptionally beautiful hyacinths, one kept in a glass holder, which had cost vast amounts of money in a sale: 'Maer datse mij Seijde dat daer 1600= guldens voorgebooden was kon ik niet wel geloove, doen ik weg ging sij ik tegen Gerrit van den berg dier mijn daer gebrogt hadt Zijn daer nog zulke gekke in der weerelt.....' and he commented on the bad results of the dealing: 'Dog de gierighijt bedroog de Wijsheijt' (but avarice deceived wisdom). The present album includes only two drawings of hyacinths, which seems to confirm that Der Kinderen did not grow flowers following the current fashion, but according to his own - old fashioned - taste. Indeed, at the height of the hyacinth market in 1736 he drew tulips and other flowers that grew in his garden that year, but no hyacinths. Of the flowers he did cultivate, only a few names are inscribed in the album: the tulip 'Moor' (nos. 44 and 85) was still grown by the Haarlem grower Nicolaas Huyn in circa 1730, but by 1740 the Haarlem growers had excluded it from their wares. The tulip 'Groote Sultaene' (nos. 5 and 29) was cultivated by the famous Haarlem grower Dirck Voorhelm in 1730, and offered for only 3 stuivers in Nicolaas van Kampen's catalogue. Some carnations' names are also mentioned: 'Orson' (no. 24), 'De Kooning van Poole' (no. 51), which is known from 1701, and the 'Gouden Trompet' (no. 77).
In the document described by Miss van Eeghen (p. 152) Der Kinderen announces in 1727 that he will finish it that year and start a new book in 1728, the first year in the present album, which may thus be regarded as this new book. In 1735 Der Kinderen wrote his last and longest text on page 104, which includes his comments on the print by Jan Goeree on that page. He writes that he doubts to live until the next spring, and ends with a farewell. While the text page for 1736 is left blank, the texts of 1735 are completed with a short line in different ink stating that he has completed the drawings of narcissi (p. 106) and of small blue flowers (p. 113) on 12 May 1736. In text no. 46 of 1730 Der Kinderen mentiones 'mijn buurman Goetval', and Van Eeghen (p. 153) notes that he sold his garden to his neighbour Anthony Goetval on 2 March 1736 for f. 6,000. The last drawings date from slightly later, probably just before he moved to Nederhorst den Berg, where he would die in 1737
In the 17th and 18th Centuries many drawings of flowers, especially tulips, were commissioned by both collectors and flower dealers. These were mostly kept in albums, which have only rarely survived intact.
The draughtsman of the present album has kindly been identified by Robert-Jan te Rijdt on the basis of a comparison of the text in the present album to that of a manuscript in a Dutch private collection discussed in the article by Miss I.H. van Eeghen (op. cit.). Frans der Kinderen was born on 29 May 1667 in Amsterdam, and baptised in the Westerkerk. His father, Adam der Kinderen, was a goldsmith and jeweller, and the verger of the English Church on the Begijnhof in the city. In 1679 Frans joined his father, training as a goldsmith, and in 1691 he went to London for more than one year's apprenticeship. For his work he learnt to draw, mainly ornaments and flowers, in which he excelled. Back in Amsterdam, he married Susanna van der Eycke (1665-1719) on 25 May 1694. They lived in the Handboogstraat, and had six sons: Adam, John, Emanual, Jacob, Francis and Pieter.
Frans was a learned amateur gardener, he drew the flowers in his garden both for pleasure and as a record. He also had a keen interest in insects, which he often incorporated in his drawings and is known to have been a collector of drawings and prints. He was a very religious man, who related everything in life to his belief in God.
Often in combination with activities related to his profession, Der Kinderen acquired flowers for his garden at markets, fairs, with botanists and at sales in several cities, visiting other gardens and meeting their owners, with whom he sometimes exchanged flowers. 'De Heer Oker' mentioned in text no. 5 of 1728 can be identified as the man to whom Frans' son Emanuel was sent as an apprentice when he was fourteen years old (Van Eeghen, op.cit., p. 146). The goldsmith Verbrugge from Delft, a collegue and friend of Der Kinderen that Van Eeghen discusses (pp. 134-5) is mentioned in text no. 45 of 1730, where Der Kinderen notes that he has exchanged flowers with him. In 1731 Der Kinderen mentions the name of Dirk de Wolf, a botanist in the Diemermeer (text no. 60), whose knowledge of Latin he praises. As Mrs. Oldenburger- Ebbers has kindly suggested, he may be identified as Diderik Wolferingh, author of the Index herbarum plantarum fruticum, et arborum...., Amsterdam, circa 1730, who is known to have lived in the Diemermeer. Der Kinderen and his first wife first rented and in 1719 bought the garden at the Otterspad near the Weteringspoort of Amsterdam. That same year his wife died (Van Eeghen, p. 139). He remarried in 1729, his second wife died in 1735.
The manuscript in a Dutch private collection described by Van Eeghen is illuminated with 87 prints and 67 drawings that Frans bought, handcoloured, and glued to the texts as illustrations. These include work by artists such as Willem van de Velde, Johann Georg Rudolphi, Jan Saenredam and Mattheus Merian, as well as 18th Century prints chosen for special occasions such as marriages and deaths. Also included is a drawing of a tulip and a plant with insects which may be compared to the drawings in the present album. In his will of 1734 it is stated that Der Kinderen's son Emanuel will inherit his 'blomboek' (Van Eeghen, p. 153), which may identified as the present album.
As T.T. Mantel has kindly pointed out, by 1720 hyacinths had become more popular than tulips leading to speculative dealing which culminated in the same 'windhandel' in 1736 as that of tulips exactly one hundred years earlier (see also the many drawings of hyacinths done by members of the Van der Vinne family, some of which were sold in these Rooms, 21 November 1989, lots 107-22). Der Kinderen seems not to have appreciated this new fashion; in his text for the flowers drawn in 1730 he recalls going to a garden in Haarlem in 1728 seeing exceptionally beautiful hyacinths, one kept in a glass holder, which had cost vast amounts of money in a sale: 'Maer datse mij Seijde dat daer 1600= guldens voorgebooden was kon ik niet wel geloove, doen ik weg ging sij ik tegen Gerrit van den berg dier mijn daer gebrogt hadt Zijn daer nog zulke gekke in der weerelt.....' and he commented on the bad results of the dealing: 'Dog de gierighijt bedroog de Wijsheijt' (but avarice deceived wisdom). The present album includes only two drawings of hyacinths, which seems to confirm that Der Kinderen did not grow flowers following the current fashion, but according to his own - old fashioned - taste. Indeed, at the height of the hyacinth market in 1736 he drew tulips and other flowers that grew in his garden that year, but no hyacinths. Of the flowers he did cultivate, only a few names are inscribed in the album: the tulip 'Moor' (nos. 44 and 85) was still grown by the Haarlem grower Nicolaas Huyn in circa 1730, but by 1740 the Haarlem growers had excluded it from their wares. The tulip 'Groote Sultaene' (nos. 5 and 29) was cultivated by the famous Haarlem grower Dirck Voorhelm in 1730, and offered for only 3 stuivers in Nicolaas van Kampen's catalogue. Some carnations' names are also mentioned: 'Orson' (no. 24), 'De Kooning van Poole' (no. 51), which is known from 1701, and the 'Gouden Trompet' (no. 77).
In the document described by Miss van Eeghen (p. 152) Der Kinderen announces in 1727 that he will finish it that year and start a new book in 1728, the first year in the present album, which may thus be regarded as this new book. In 1735 Der Kinderen wrote his last and longest text on page 104, which includes his comments on the print by Jan Goeree on that page. He writes that he doubts to live until the next spring, and ends with a farewell. While the text page for 1736 is left blank, the texts of 1735 are completed with a short line in different ink stating that he has completed the drawings of narcissi (p. 106) and of small blue flowers (p. 113) on 12 May 1736. In text no. 46 of 1730 Der Kinderen mentiones 'mijn buurman Goetval', and Van Eeghen (p. 153) notes that he sold his garden to his neighbour Anthony Goetval on 2 March 1736 for f. 6,000. The last drawings date from slightly later, probably just before he moved to Nederhorst den Berg, where he would die in 1737