Lot 205: Hendrik Voogd (Amsterdam 1782-1839 Rome)

A view of the Roman Campagna with the ruins of the Claudian Aqueduct beyond
signed 'H. Voogd.fc' (lower right)
oil on canvas
26 3/4 x 36 in. (68 x 91.2 cm.)

C.J. de Bruyn Kops, 'Hendrik Voogd, Nederlands landschapschilder te Rome (1768-1839)', Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, XXI, 1970, p. 365, no. 21.

with W. Pieksma, Amsterdam, 1942, from whom bought by a private collector.

Hendrik Voogd has been a largely forgotten artist. G.J. Hoogewerff ('Nederlandsche Kunstenaars te Rome in de XIXde eeuw', in Mededeelingen van het Nederlandsch Historisch Instituut te Rome, III, 1933, pp. 149-50), followed by C.J. de Bruyn Kops (loc. cit.), were the first to bring him out of obscurity and to reconstruct his oeuvre. So far, only a small number of his pictures have been identified; the majority remain undiscovered in private collections throughout Europe. Trained under Jurriaen Andriessen in Amsterdam, Voogd left for Rome on a stipendium from his maecenas Dirk Versteegh in 1788. He would never return to the Netherlands. In Rome, Voogd associated with the German landscape painters, such as Joseph Anton Koch. He went on numerous sketching journeys through the Roman Campagna, which he later utilised in his finished compositions. For these, Voogd followed the idiom established by Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin, which had been revitalised by Jacob Philipp Hackert and English painters, such as James Moore. Well-balanced compositions, a cool palette and dramatic light effects are characteristics of these pictures. Voogd exploited these light effects in his later works. The present picture can be dated to circa 1822, on the basis of comparison with the picture signed and dated 1822, in the Pinacoteca Tosio e Martinengo in Brescia (de Bruyn Kops, op. cit., p. 363, no. 9, fig. 49) in which the same well appears. A preliminary drawing is in the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague. It was published as one of a series of lithographs by Giovanni dall'Armi in Rome (de Bruyn Kops, op. cit., p. 355, fig. 29). The construction of the aqueduct, Aqua Claudia, measuring 65 km., was instigated by Emperor Caligula in 49 A.D. and completed by Claudius. Voogd sketched the remains in a drawing in the Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam (inv. no. 1959:252; Ontmoetingen met Italië tekenenaars uit Scandinavië/Duitsland/Nederland, 1770-1840, exhibition catalogue, Rijksprentenkabinet Amsterdam, 1971/2, no. 41, illustrated).

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