Lot 245: JOHANNES DE BOSCH AMSTERDAM 1713 - 1785

signed and dated, verso: J: De Bos / 1747.


bears signature on pedestal, lower left: Van Huyzen
pen and black and grey ink and brown wash, over indications in black chalk
Inv.nr. N 42

161 by 198 mm.

Amsterdam/ Dordrecht 1994-5, cat. no. 44

A. Mos and J. Nieuwenhuizen Kruseman, sale, Amsterdam, R.W.P. de Vries, 7-8 November 1928, lot 104;
Prof. Dr. I.Q. van Regteren Altena, Amsterdam

Born into a cultured Amsterdam family, Johannes de Bosch took drawing lessons from Michiel van Huysum, the half-brother of Jan van Huysum. The influence of the latter is very evident in his work (viz the spurious Van Huysum signature on the present drawing), as is that of Isaac de Moucheron and Jacob de Wit. De Bosch seems to have been a rather melancholic character. Having worked with diligence but apparently little enthusiasm as a book-keeper for the Amsterdamse Wisselbank, he eventually took refuge with an Evangelical Brotherhood at Zeist, making a number of drawings of that town and its castle and gardens. His life story is recorded in an autobiography, now in the Algemeen Rijksarchief, Utrecht (published in J. Meerdink, Johannes de Bosch (1713-1785) en zijn tekeningen van Zeist in het midden der 18e eeuw, Zeist 1979, pp. 12-22).