RKD STUDIES

Biografische gegevens

... januari en februari exposeert Donker opnieuw in het Institut Néerlandais in Parijs, waar zijn etsen nu te zien zijn in combinatie met de drogenaaldprenten van zijn kunstbroeder Frans Pannekoek. Het Institut toont gelijktijdig werk van hun artistieke voorvader Wenzel Hollar (1607-1677) uit de verzameling van de Fondation Custodia. Met zijn overbuurman Roewen Shekel maakt Donker in het voorjaar een vogelreis door Shekels geboorteland Israël. Van tekenen komt weinig.1980Niovy Donker gaat vanaf 1980 enkele jaren gebukt onder depressies. In een van Donkers etsen uit die periode, Aanwas in Rhijnauwen met dakpannen (CD 80-3), treden de huwelijksproblemen aan het licht: normaal gesproken zijn het vogelgeluiden en observaties over het weer die hij in spiegelbeeld aan de rand van de plaat noteert, maar nu lezen we daar ineens de woorden ‘twijfel’ en ‘UITZICHTLOOS’. In de loop van de jaren tachtig vindt Niovy, formeel Grieks-orthodox maar nauwelijks godsdienstig opgevoed, een roeping als Jehova’s Getuige. Haar godsvertrouwen brengt de blijmoedigheid en de rust terug in het huwelijk.1982Een uitvoerig interview door Betty van Garrel in NRC Handelsblad van 5 maart 1982 draagt bij aan het verkoopsucces van etsen op een tentoonstelling bij Galerie Petit in Amsterdam, waar Donker van 19 februari tot 4 april exposeert met Peter Vos.1986Begin jaren tachtig zijn er veranderingen in Donkers werkwijze opgetreden die onmiskenbare gevolgen hebben. De formaten van zijn etsplaten zijn groter geworden en de composities steeds complexer. Bijgevolg is het aantal prenten dat hij jaarlijks maakt afgenomen. De prentmaker loopt vast in zijn streven het landschap bij Rhijnauwen tot in de kleinste details weer te geven. Dat verandert wanneer hij in 1986 in het polderlandschap met sloten bij Breukelerveen gaat werken. Hij vindt er nieuwe motieven, die hij in één keer op de plaat kan zetten. Het landschap in Rhijnauwen is hierna niet langer het hoofdthema in zijn werk. In de jaren negentig zullen de bossen op de Utrechtse Heuvelrug een belangrijk motief gaan vormen en in de nieuwe eeuw gaan ook de uiterwaarden langs de Lek behoren tot Donkers werkterrein.1990In mei 1990 neemt Donker deel aan een werkweek van 25 kunstenaars aan Schiermonnikoog . Het initatief tot Wild life artists meet on Schiermonnikoog is genomen door Erik van Ommen, Robin d’Arcy Shillcock en Ysbrand Brouwers (zie d’Arcy Shillcock e.a. 1992; CD 90-17 en CD-T-1990). Een jaar later resulteert deze samenkomst in de oprichting van de Artists for Nature Foundation. De op Schiermonnikoog gemaakte werken worden in de zomer van 1992 tentoongesteld in Slot Zeist en afgebeeld in de eerste uitgave van de stichting, het boek Wind, Wad en Waterverf.1992Donker reist in het voorjaar van 1992 met de Artists for Nature Foundation (ANF) naar de Bierbzavallei in Polen (zie d’Arcy Shillcock e.a. 1993; CD 92-2/7 en CD-T-1992).1994Een derde ANF-excursie brengt Donker in februari van 1994 naar de Extremadura in Spanje (zie Hammond e.a. 1995; CD 94-2/5 en CD-T-1994).1995-2000Als in de loop van de jaren negentig hun inkomen daalt als gevolg van een afnemende verkoop van zijn prenten, besluiten Donker en zijn echtgenote een dag per week via een schoonmaakbedrijf kantoren te gaan schoonmaken. Zo verdienen ze tussen 1995 en 2000 een bescheiden extra inkomen en worden hun sociale lasten gedekt.1996De vereniging Vrienden van de Amsterdamse Binnenstad geeft Donker opdracht een prent te maken voor haar donateurs. Dat resulteert in de ets Achtergevel van de Begijnhofkapel (CD 96-17).2001In juli maakt Donker met de ANF een reis naar de Catalaanse Pyreneeën (zie Brouwers e.a. 2003; CD 00-3 en CD-T-00).2002Museum Het Rembrandthuis in Amsterdam presenteert van 10 november 2002 tot 23 februari 2003 een overzicht van Donkers grafische werk onder de titel Charles Donker, etser. De catalogus bij de tentoonstelling, geschreven door Eddy de Jongh en Peter Schatborn, wordt uitgegeven door de Hercules Segers Stichting. Het is na het Dagboek Rhijnauwen de tweede publicatie met reproducties van Donkers grafiek, en ditmaal doet de kwaliteit van de afbeeldingen wél recht aan zijn werk. Tentoonstelling en boek worden in NRC Handelsblad enthousiast besproken door Marianne Vermeijden, die schrijft dat ‘Donker etst zoals zestiende-eeuwse groten als Dürer en Holbein tekenden’.2003In november reist Donker met de ANF naar Peru en Ecuador (zie Williams 2004 ; CD 02-14/16 en CD-T-03). Het Rijksprentenkabinet van het Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam verwerft de ruim 400 prenten en tekeningen van Donker die Joop Nieuwstraten verzamelde tussen 1976 en 2001.2005In de zomer doet Donker mee aan een ANF-project over molens in de Provincie Utrecht (zie Y. Brouwers e.a., 2006; CD 04-19). Hij maakt er een groep penseeltekeningen en een ets voor (CD 04-9). In het najaar reist hij met de ANF naar Engeland, waar hij werkt in het natuurreservaat Great Fen in Suffolk (zie Gerrard (red.) 2006; CD 06-1 en CD-T-05). Vanaf 2005 heeft Donker recht op AOW en behoren de geldzorgen van Niovy en hem tot het verleden. Verder verandert er weinig in hun leven.2008Museum Het Rembrandthuis wijdt in de herfst van 2008 een tentoonstelling aan Grafisch Gezelschap De Luis 1960-80. In een boek met dezelfde titel, samengesteld door Roman Koot, Saskia de Bodt en een groep Utrechtse kunstgeschiedenisstudenten, wordt de geschiedenis van De Luis beschreven en de rol die Charles Donker daarin speelde.2009Donker reist in het voorjaar met de ANF naar de Hula-vallei in Israël (zie Labinger & Gorney 2011: CD-T-2009). Het wordt zijn laatste reis met de stichting.2010Het Rijksmuseum koopt een grote groep etsen van Donker in aanvulling op de eerder van Joop Nieuwstraten verworven verzameling. Kort daarna worden er nog prenten uit het Instituut Collectie Nederland aan het Rijksprentenkabinet overgedragen en verwerft het museum etsen van Donker uit de verzameling van de Utrechtse historica Marietje van Winter (1927). Het Rijksmuseum bezit daarmee tot dusverre de grootste en meest gevarieerde collectie werk van Charles Donker die er bestaat. Van 11 september 2010 tot 9 januari 2011 vindt in het Centraal Museum in Utrecht een tentoonstelling van Peter Vos en Charles Donker plaats. Het is de eerste keer in decennia dat het museum werk van de beide Utrechtenaars laat zien. Bij de tentoonstelling verschijnt een kleine catalogus met teksten van Eddy de Jongh en Jan Piet Filedt Kok. Peter Vos overlijdt in de tentoonstellingsperiode, op 6 november, 75 jaar oud.2011Het Utrechtse College van Burgemeester en Wethouders kent Charles Donker de Maartenspenning 2010 toe vanwege zijn verdiensten voor de stad. In opdracht van het Fentener van Vlissingenfonds maakt hij de ets Utrechtse muur met stadswapen en opschriften (CD 10-13) en in opdracht van de Stichting Sanssouci de ets Hout en hop I (CD 10-14).2012De Fondation Custodia koopt een omvangrijke groep prenten van Donker aan. Op 30 november vindt bij Galerie Petit in Amsterdam, waar Donker op dat moment exposeert met Wendelien Schönfeld en Kris Spinhoven, de lancering plaats van de online oeuvrecatalogus van zijn grafische werk tot 2010 als RKD-monograph, waarvan in 2021 de huidige herziene vorm, die tot op heden is aangevuld en bijgewerkt.2013In februari 2013 reist Donker naar El Burgo in Spanje om een bezoek te brengen aan zijn broer Frank, die daar een vakantiehuis heeft. Hij maakt er ook tekeningen. In september en oktober is zijn grafiek onder de titel Charles Donker – Histoires naturelles te zien bij Galerie Documents 15 in Parijs.2016Vriend en verzamelaar Peter Hecht stelt in het voorjaar van 2016 een tentoonstelling van recente etsen van Donker samen voor de Waalgalerie in Tiel. De Willem den Ouden Stichting publiceert daarbij een boekje waarvoor Hecht de inleiding schrijft. De Utrechtse documentairemaker Peter-Paul van der Houven maakt voor RTV Utrecht een twintig minuten durend videoportret van Donker, die te zien is op de website artforever.nl. In december exposeert Donker opnieuw bij Galerie Documents 15 in Parijs.2017Op 17 november 2017 overlijdt Niovy Olympia Donker-Chiotakis plotseling. De uitvaart vindt op 23 november plaats in crematorium Daelwijck in Utrecht.2019De Volkskrant wijdt op 21 augustus 2019 twee hele pagina’s aan Charles Donker. Kunstjournalist Stefan Kuiper noemt hem in het artikel ‘een van de beste levende etsers van ons land’.2020Het Volkskrant-interview leidt ertoe dat Uitgeverij Lecturis ter gelegenheid van Donkers tachtigste verjaardag een monografie over hem uitbrengt: De etsen van Charles Donker. Het boek, met teksten van Ed de Heer, Érik Desmazières, Reinder Homan en Simon Koene, is een welkome vervanger van de catalogus uit 2002, die al tijdens de tentoonstelling in het Rembrandthuis uitverkocht raakte.2021Tussen 3 december 2021 en 3 april 2022 presenteert de Fondation Custodia in Parijs een tentoonstelling onder de titel Charles Donker - Altijd kijken, een retrospectief van Donkers grafiek en tekeningen, waarbij een gelijknamig boek verschijnt....

4.13 Panel Makers’ Marks and Frames

... produced for the paintings to be mounted in the Winter Room. It is the presence of these many written monograms on both panels and frames in the Winter Room ensemble that indicate two important things: first, that the paintings and the frames were created during the transition period between the innovative or voluntarily marking of panels and the situation of the guild regulation of November 1617; and secondly, that the ensemble was delivered on demand to fit the Winter Room.When Willum Moor and later Hans Jørgen Dill redecorated the Winter Room in the years between 1615 and 1620 in order to give it its present appearance, they must have expected the arrival of the 75 Antwerp paintings. Could they, however, have encountered to its full extend the size of the frames that each painting would be having upon arrival? We shall never know this for sure. However, studying the wainscoting of the Winter Room, in which all the framed paintings were to be inserted, we notice that it has undergone serious adjustments in order to accommodate the framed paintings arriving from Antwerp.While several panel makers simultaneously were engaged in the manufacture of the panels for a variety of painters’ workshops, it has become clear that one panel maker, possibly Guilliam Aertssen, framed most of them. After all, his personal mark ‘GA’ has been recorded on at least 13 out of 57 frames, and often the panel was made and marked by one of his competing panel makers in Antwerp. It is therefore conceivable that he is the one that was commissioned to supply all the beautifully framed panel paintings to be delivered to Christian IV’s Winter Room at Rosenborg Castle....

2.11 Karel van Mander III

... lines and restless light. This is apparent, for instance, from the family portrait that the Copenhagen museum has purchased from the Hamburg Kunsthalle [13] (replica in Frederiksborg [14]).8 Many details at once remind us of the spirited art of Jan de Braij....

... o his most beautiful later pictures (although the latter work is certainly not an original, as is established by another version, which was offered to the museum in 1938 [17]).9 Karel van Mander also met with some success as painter of histories and decorations. Ceiling paintings of his ...

... large painting of Abraham and Melchizedek that hangs in the castle church of Frederiksborg [29]. It appears to have suffered from the fire and to have been cut down as a consequence.11Andrup recently published a pictorial cycle with scenes fr...

... ed Wuchters, including in his capacity as director of the Sorø Academy. He also went to the Dutch Republic, to buy works of art.15 One Monogrammist B.M. from Århus (Frederiksborg no. 1040, there attributed to Broder Matthisen [† 1666]) [42]16 and a certain Jørgen Maler (Frederiksborg 693) [43] lean more to Van Mander’s manner....

8.4 Antoinette Bourignon (1616-1680)

... ary 1674. In May her books were burned at the command of Christian V, whom she had petitioned in vain. The Gottorp minister von Kielmanseck then saw to it that she was left in peace, but two years later she fled to Hamburg, where she spent several months writing letters and whitewashing the house in which she lived. Because she doubted whether some texts by her hand ought to be printed, she asked God, with whom she had carried on conversations all her life, for advice. He answered: ‘Yes of course! Have them printed. That will see to it that the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven will be preached to the entire world’. In June 1677 she settled for good in East Frisia, where she died in 1680.1 To gain an impression of the religious teachings of Antoinette Bourignon, it suffices to read the titles of her writings.2 Any deeper study of their contents will as a rule prove to be a waste of time.Gelton came into contact with this remarkable woman. A parcel of p...

4.14 Conclusion

... emblematic paintings in the window openings were, however, probably preserved from the first interior decoration of the room. The paintings were produced in Antwerp standard formats, including double frames for insertion in the oak wainscoting. The many registered, identical plane marks on panels and frames bear witness to quick and simultaneous work. Presumably, the few paintings without a maker's mark, as well as the painting dated 1613, had been in the stock of the art dealer or panel maker in Antwerp who rece...

... y of the paintings show marks at the edges, showing that the paint was not completely dry at the time the pictures were framed. This, too, is indicative of the speed with which the Antwerp carpenters and painters worked to produce decorative material, even for noble patrons abroad. Additionally, we have recorded that 33 panels have numbers written in red chalk on the reverse, ranging from number two through 71. The numbers do not correspond to their placement in the wainscoting, and must thus relate to the manufacture of the ensemble in Antwerp. The proof of this is found in the fact that also the frames have been inscribed with corresponding numbers, pointing to a working procedure facilitating t...

... n the King's palatial country house outside Copenhagen, as was revealed by Bering Lissberg in 1914.1 And Gerson hit the nail on its head when he claimed that the Flemish paintings ‘were apparently rendered on commission and made to measure as a group in Antwerp at the beginning of the 17th century to serve as decoration for the walls here’....

4.12 Oak, Tool Marks and Standard Sizes

... Hafnia Metropolis et Portus Celeberrimus Daniae of 1611, shows a spectacular view of Copenhagen [1]. The prospect not only highlights the Copenhagen harbor and the vast city beyond as the most important in the Baltic region, but also depicts Danish and Dutch ships mooring outside the city. Especially many Dutch ships are seen close to the eastern city areas where the imported timber is being stored before distribution to architects, carpenters and shipbuilders....

... ions for the Winter Room, but rather that standard size panels were dispersed to a number of artists’ workshops and later returned to be framed by ‘GA’ in prefabricated frames to fit the sizes of the panels.Smaller panels used for easel painting were often made in standard sizes. Standardization has been recognized in panels made at roughly the same time for paintings for the market in the Low Countries11 which also became the rule for canvasses12 and is still seen in ready-made supports today labelled landscape-size, marine-size or portrait size.13 The use of standard sizes for panels has been questioned by some, and doubts might have emerged from earlier researchers because standard sizes could vary over the centuries, just as the size of a foot or an inch could differ from town to town. For instance, in Haarlem a foot measured 27.6 cm, in Groningen 29.2 cm, the Rhineland foot (e.g. in Leiden) measured 31.4 cm, while an Amsterdam foot corresponded to 28.3 cm.14 However, more recent research suggests that standardization was common and indeed institutionalized in the so-called dozijn panels (the name given to panels made by the dozen). Antwerp joiners’ regulations of 1617 explicitly stated that panels after that date should be made in sizes based on the prototype kept at the guild office.15 Especially two standard size panels are found in the Winter Room, the salvators (saviours) size, measuring approximately 50 by 60 cm, and the trimmed 26 stuivers size (about 80 by 110 cm).16...

4.6 The Painters in Antwerp

... ave indeed been trimmed approximately 15 cm at the top, which contributed to the earlier assumption that the paintings were in Christian IV's collection prior to the fitting-out of the Winter Room [4-6]. However, the frame around the painting of Snayers on the south wall carries a mark in the form of a five-pointed star, drawn in red chalk and presumably issued by an Antwerp frame maker. As the trimmed painting was framed before shipment to Denmark, we must assume that the trimmed part, now on the north wall, was supplied separately.2...

4.1 Christian IV and Rosenborg Castle

... guests with music, but they were not able to see the musicians [4]. The acoustic channels lay forgotten for several centuries and were only rediscovered during a restoration in the autumn of 2004.5From 1616 until 1624, a third floor was added, the so-called Long Hall in the full length of the castle with three tall, slim towers with spires. The Long Hall was decorated with 24 large paintings depicting the Seven Ages of Man.6 A large terrace was constructed on top of the roof, which enabled grand vistas towards the entrance of the Copenhagen harbour and across the Sound to the Danish province Skåne (now part of Sweden).7 By now, Christian IV named his pleasure house Rosenborg: the ‘Castle of Roses’.8 The building almost reached the last stage of its completion in 1633 [5].9 The royal architect Hans van Steenwinckel II (1587-1639)10 replaced the tower with the staircase on the east facade by a larger one and added two exterior staircases to the first floor in 1634 on the occasion of the wedding between the Prince-Elect Christian of Denmark and Magdalena Sibylla of Saxony (known in Denmark as ‘Det store Bilager’).11 Now Rosenborg Castle had found its final shape as a tight, closed and well-proportioned building, constructed in red brick interspersed with bands, window pediments and corner ornaments of ochre sandstone. With its ‘Dutch’ gables with flowing curves and its towers adorned with spires, it represents a unique example of the Nordic Renaissance. The castle was surrounded by a moat and the main entrance was on the north side with a drawbridge. It became the favourite residence of Christian IV while he was in Copenhagen, and it was there that he died in 1648 [6]....

3.5 Court Art at the Time of Karel van Mander III

... monarchy became hereditary.6In 1635 Karel van Mander III asked the King permission to make a study trip. With financial support from Christian IV he then left for Rome, via the Republic, the Southern Netherlands and Paris. He was back in Copenhagen by June 1639 at the latest.7 In the years that Van Mander III was abroad, new developments occurred in Copenhagen. Van Mander’s uncle Engel Rooswijk had returned to Copenhagen, where he painted the majestic full-length portrait of Corfitz Ulfeldt (1606-1664), the son-in-law of Christian IV [1]. In May 1640 Rooswijk provided the King himself with four portraits. A short while later he travelled by ship to Amsterdam, with a sum of money fro...

... ntings were produced for the decoration of the Dance Hall at Kronborg. The paintings arrived in Denmark between 1641 and 1643. At the present time, 17 works from this series are still known: Honthorst painted nine of them, Claes Moeyaert, Isaac Isaacsz and Simon Peter Tilman each made two, Adriaen van Nieulandt and Salomon de Koninck each provided one.13 In 1657-1658, the Swedes confiscated some of these works as spoils of war.14 The book itself was never finished, which caused Simon de Passe to fall into disfavour with the King.In 1638, Abraham Wuchters (1608-1682) came to Copenhagen.15 In 1639 he became the successor to Reinhold Thim at the Academy for the Aristocracy at Sorø. Wuchters was given a contract for six hours a day, a high salary and a furnished staff residence.16 He was required to teach sketching, drawing and architecture to the young nobles who attended the Academy; an assistant could take his place for three of the six hours so that he himself could devote extra attention to the most gifted pupils. 17 From 1640-1642 he spent some time abroad, while still receiving his salary.18 He spent a period of time in Amsterdam, where he arranged for prints of portraits of the King to be made, but it is unclear what else he was engaged in during these two years. In 1643 the engraver Albert Haelwegh (1620-1673) also came from the Republic to Denmark.19 In 1647 he was to succeed Simon de Passe, both as engraver to the King and to the University of Copenhagen. Haelwegh produced prints of many portraits of both Karel van Mander III and Abraham Wuchters. In 1653 he married ...

... he collection of Count Adam Gottlob Moltke in the 18th century and at that time considered to be by Govert Flinck [4].21 Other works betray the influence of Hendrick Bloemaer...

... s have a more pearlised and silver palette. Numerous copies have been made of these portraits, where the King is sometimes depicted in civil dress and at other times in military uniform. It is the official portrait made by royal engraver Albert Haelwegh that is most frequently repr...

... wards a burning city, probably intended to depict Kalmar. The stately, formal style of the horse and horseman can be explained by the fact that Christian IV had for a long time wanted to have an equestrian statue made of himself. The costs involved in such a venture at this time of economic downturn were considered to be inappropriate. Nonetheless, the monarch felt the need to create a reminder of his greatest achievement, even though thirty years had passed since this war.26...

... Other series by the artist are mentioned by the Spanish ambassador Count Bernardino de Rebolledo (1597-1676) [11], a close friend of Van Mander. These decorated the hunting lodge Hirschholm (Hørsholm) that belonged to Queen Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the wife of the new King Frederick III (1609-1670).30...

... dors and other prominent persons from throughout Europe; he was often commissioned by the King to paint portraits of these important guests. For example, in 1656 he produced the unique series of portraits of five Dutch naval heroes, as part of a series of 24 ambassadors for Frederiksborg [14-18]. The portraits of the sea heroes, together with many other works, were removed from the castle by the Swedes in 1658-1660 as spoils of war. To the present day the portraits are exhibited as overdoor pictures at Skokloster, the castle of the Swedish comman...

... rechts (active 1657-1675) worked -- possibly after the intervention of Karel van Mander III -- between 1668 and 1672 on the Perspective Room of this new Museum Regium, first under Frederick III, and subsequently under Christian V (1646-1699), who completed his father’s project. This room represented a studiolo, where king and artist worked closely together on ...

3. Gerson Extended

... lm Martin [1], had dismissed the Dutch influence in Denmark in just a few lines in his book on Dutch painting in the 17th century) from 1935, that deals with ‘Our painters abroad’ in chapter 11.4 If we look for another art historian working on Netherlandish art who made the effort to travel to Denmark, we come across Christian Kramm [2]. From his De levens en werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche kunstschilders (The lives and works of Dutch and Flemish painters) dating from 1857-1864, it appears that he was in Denmark to view the collection at Christiansborg and the ‘Gallery’ of Count Moltke, among others.5 He also visited Frederiksborg, that he had the good fortune to see in all its glory, before the major fire at the castle in 1859.6 Cornelis Hofstede de Groot [3] journeyed through Scandinavia in 1900. In Denmark, one of the places he visited was Gavnø Castle. Gerson does not mention Kramm in his notes, but he certainly did consult the material that Hofstede de Groot amassed during his trip....

... wever, the 16th century was at least as important for the overall development of the ‘Ausbreitung und Nachwirkung’ of Netherlandish art in Denmark. The absolute peak of Netherlandish impact was – from 1574 on ̶ the extensive rebuilding and decoration of the imposing castle of Kronborg with its fortifications, under Frederick II (1534-1588).9 However, the intensive contacts between the Low Countries and Denmark date back much earlier than this.10 From the end of the 14th century Dutch immigrants made their homes in Dragør on Amager, at that time an island to the south of Copenhagen. In 1524, as many as 184 families from West-Frie...

... dress and customs until the middle of the 19th century.11 When in the 17th century the population of this colony ha...