Both brothers Herman (1609-1685) and Cornelis Saftleven were raised by their father Herman Saftleven Sr. (c. 1580-1627) and their mother Lyntge Cornelisdr. Moelants (died 1625) in Rotterdam, the city where Cornelis would stay for his further life, while his younger brother moved to Utrecht where he would specialize as a landscape painter and draughtsman.
Cornelis, the older brother of Herman Saftleven (1609-1685), was a most versatile artist having painted and drawn numerous subjects. From single male or female figures, to mythological scenes with devils and fantasy creatures, biblical scenes, genre scenes, (exotic) animals, landscapes, farmhouses, nudes, interiors to single head studies. By far the biggest part of his drawn oeuvre (over 500 drawings have been recorded by Wolfgang Schulz, of which about one third single male studies) consists of drawings of single figures, mostly male in uncompleted landscape surroundings.[1]
As only very few of the large corpus of drawings by Cornelis have been used for staffage in his paintings, it is most assumptuous the drawings were used as a reminder in the artist's studio or to be sold to collectors on the free market, which became very strong around the 1650s. The latter statement being supported by four versions of a brown bear, all dated 1649, which supports the idea Cornelis sold his drawings on the market. When a specific drawing was in high demand, he made copies after his own drawings. The closest comparable composition to our sheet is preserved in the coll. Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, Witt-Collection 2277.[2]
Another closely related drawing of a sleeping hunter is in the Maida and George Abrams Collection, which is also one of the very few examples in which a drawing by Cornelis was used as staffage in one of his paintings. The painting, which is also in the aforementioned collection, is one of a few examples where both brothers collaborated in a painting.[3][4] Another fine example of this collaboration was recently on the market, where both brothers painted their Self-portraits in oil on panel, with Herman playing the violin and Cornelis playing cello.[5] A large corpus of figure drawings by Cornelis Saftleven present in the coll. Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Leipzig.
[1] Wolfgang Schulz, Cornelis Saftleven 1607-1681. Leben und Werke mie einem kritischen Katalog der Gemälde und Zeichnungen. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, 1978.
[2] Op. Cit. Pag. 93, no. 101. Ruhender Junge, gegen einem umgestülpten Korb.
[3] Op. Cit. Pag. 85, no. 56. Liegender Mann im Freien.
[4] W.M. Robinson, P. Schatborn, Seventeenth-Century Dutch Drawings; A selection from the Maida and George Abrams Collection. Lynn H. O. Zimman, Inc. 1991. no. 70, p. 158-159.
[5] Herman and Cornelis Saftleven, Das Bauernconcert.
Oil on panel, 36 x 48,5 cm.
With Koetser Gallery, Zurich (2022).
