Daniël Johannes Torman Kerkhoff (Amsterdam 1766-1831)
THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN (LOT 52)
Daniël Johannes Torman Kerkhoff (Amsterdam 1766-1831)

Popular celebrations in Dam Square, Amsterdam, on 19 January 1795, marking the erection of the Liberty Tree and the success of the Batavian Revolution

Details
Daniël Johannes Torman Kerkhoff (Amsterdam 1766-1831)
Popular celebrations in Dam Square, Amsterdam, on 19 January 1795, marking the erection of the Liberty Tree and the success of the Batavian Revolution
signed 'D.l Kerkoff delin' and titled 'HET FEEST TER INWYDING DER VRYHEIDS BOOM OP HET REVOLUTIE PLYN VOOR T' HUIS DER GEMEENE GEVIERD IN AMSTERDAM OP DEN 4 MAART 1795 HET EERSTE JAAR DER BATASSFSCHE VRIJHEID.' (both on a separate strip added to the mount beneath the drawing)
traces of black chalk, pen and black ink, grey wash
15½ x 21¾ in. (39.2 x 55.2 cm.)

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Benjamin Peronnet
Benjamin Peronnet

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Lot Essay

On 18 January 1795, after months of simmering anti-Orangist unrest inspired by the American and French revolutions, the government of Amsterdam was transferred to the hands of the Batavian Revolutionary Committee. King William V of Orange fled the city on the same evening and the following day the Revolutionary Committee announced their success in Dam Square and promised imminent democratic elections to select the new city councillors. Later on 19 January French troops, who were allied to the revolutionaries, marched into Amsterdam to support the new republic. The present drawing shows the public exhilaration that followed the announcement and commemorates the erection of a Liberty Tree in the centre of the square to celebrate the populace's freedom from the Orangist regime. The Batavian Republic endured until 1806, when Louis Bonaparte took the throne of Holland.

A pupil of P. Pietersz. Barbier, Daniel Kerkhoff was highly regarded by his contemporaries and is now best known for his military scenes, of which examples are in the Boijmans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam.

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