Lot 316
Lots 306-373: Property from the Collection of A.M. ('Ton') van den Broek
Valentijn Klotz
Maastricht circa 1650 - circa 1716
Ruins of the Elisabethskerk, Grave
Pen and black ink and watercolor, over black chalk;
inscribed and dated upper right: Tot Grave de 3/27 1676, and bears numbering, top right corner: 77
195 by 149 mm; 7¾ by 5⅞ in.
Condition Report
Provenance
Sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby Mak van Waay, 25 April 1983, lot 109;
A.M. (Ton) van den Broek (1932-1995), Haarlem (bears his mark, verso, not in Lugt)
Catalogue note
As An Zwollo kindly informed us at the time of the 1983 sale, the drawing shows the state of the church at Grave, soon after its destruction by French troops in 1674. The town had been occupied by the French in the 'Rampjaar' ('Disaster Year') of 1672, but was liberated two years later by the troops of the Stadholder-King William III of Orange, following a siege during which the French troops used the church tower as a vantage point for shooting at the Dutch troops, provoking intense return fire.
From 1672 until 1676, Klotz served in the army of William III, fighting against the French in the southern part of the Netherlands, and made many drawings of the locations and military events that he saw during this time. Three drawings in the Rijksmuseum, one of them very similar in conception and coloring to the present sheet and drawn on the same day1, and others in London2 and Ottawa3, show the town of Grave and the damaged church from various viewpoints. See also lot 320.
1. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Inv. RP-T-1900-A-4362, and also RP-T-00-172 and RP-T-1898-A-3980
2. London, British Museum, inv. 1913,0111.5
3. Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, inv. 5064