Thomas Wijck was registered for the first time at the St. Luke's Guild Haarlem in 1642. Thomas married to Trijntgen (Catharina) Adamsdr. in Haarlem on 22 May 1644. As he wasn't registered in Haarlem between 1644 and 1653, these may have been the years in which set out for his southern sojourn to Italy, after getting married, just like Jan Baptist Weenix (1621-1649). He was apprenticed to Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685) before 1643. Arnold Houbraken confirms in his Groote Schouburg the presence of Wijck in Italy "die door hem zelf in Italien naar 't leven afgeteekent werden".[1] Already before his Italian travels, Wijck seems to have been inspired by Pieter van Laer (1599-1642) and the Southern subjects as he drew Italian landscapes prior to his travel.[2][3]
Contrary to other artists, Wijck drew ordinary houses and (inner) courtyards instead of classical ruins, fully in accordance with the subject of our drawing, which shows a bridge with travellers on their way to a fortified house with bathers in the foreground. The present drawing with bridge, is perfectly in line with Wijcks strong preference for curved shapes, exemplified by his numerous drawings of courtyards with their arched ceilings. Probably he got inspired for this also by Pieter van Laer, based on his 1636 dated etching.
As Dr. Annemarie Stefes has pointed out, the subject of bathers is rare and makes this an exceptional drawing in the oeuvre of Thomas Wijck. One of the very earliest drawings on this subject by Hendrick Avercamp, c.1615-1620 is in the collections of the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin.[4]
The handling of the tip of the brush and wash closely follows the style of the sheet in the De Grez collection.[5] A sheet in the collection of Teylers Museum also shows a stylistically comparable composition and handling of the brush.[6]
The watermark in our drawing is a Coat of Arms of Amsterdam, which dates c.1662.[7] Based on the watermark the drawing dates after Wijck's return from his Italian travels and must have been made for the market.
[1] Guido Jansen and Ger Luijten, Italianisanten en Bamboccianten.
Exhibition catalogue, Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans-van Beuningen, 1988. p.120-121
[2] Peter Schatborn, Tekenen van warmte, Nederlandse tekenaars in Italië.
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 2001. p.117-123.
[3] M. van Suylen, 'Drawings of interiors by Thomas Wijck',
Master Drawings 58/2 (2020), p. 195-206
[4] Hendrick Avercamp, River landscape with men bathing.
Pen and brown and black ink, watercolour, gouache, over traces of graphite or black chalk, 275 x 385 mm.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett. inv. nr. KdZ 118.
[5] Thomas Wijck, Rocky coast with tower.
Pen and grey ink, tip of the brush and grey ink, grey wash, traces of graphite, 186 x 291 mm.
Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, collection De Grez. inv. nr. De Grez1913, nr. 4213.
[6] Thomas Wijck, Italian landscape with barn on a hill.
Brush and grey ink, grey wash, traces of graphite, 154 x 235 mm.
Teylers Museum, Haarlem. inv. nr. P+ 009
[7] Theo and Frans Laurentius, Watermarks 1650-1700 found in the Zeeland Archives.
Hes & De Graaf Publishers B.V., 2008. nr. 71 and 84A
