Penschilderij. For those of you who read my recent blog post on the wash drawing by the Willem Van de Veldes (https://blog.m.boxorats.com/2020/04/wanted-one-fae-who-knows-dutch/) you might remember my mention of the elder’s specialized art form of ‘penschilderij’ or ‘pen painting.’ While it’s not by Van de Velde we are lucky enough to have a beautiful little pen painting by AdriaenCorneliszSalm (he also went by Van Salm and Van der Salm), in the collection.
Willem Van de Velde the Elder considered himself first and foremost, a ship’s draughtsman, so drawing, not painting, was his preferred medium. Like Goltzius, Van de Velde worked his way through different types of supports before settling on the penschilderij–a medium that was perfectly suited to drawing sailing ships and their rigging. So perfect, the medium was exclusively employed by maritime artists starting with Van de Velde who was the undeniable master of the genre.
Looking at the painting above it’s pretty obvious that Van de Velde was already highly skilled when this work was produced. Like others, his first “formal” works, in other words artworks he considered a finished salable product, were drawings on paper. I think it’s important to say that I’m not including the fast sketches he made while fulfilling his role as “combat artist” or the other preparatory drawings he made among his “formal” works. Paper would always have been his “go to” medium, but it does have a problem when it comes to permanence. Van de Velde’s desire to give his completed artworks longer life is what eventually led him to the penschilderij.
Van de Velde started his quest for longevity with vellum but like paper, this material comes with its own set of problems. Vellum was fairly expensive and while it was available in larger sizes the larger the sheet the more likely it was to have surface irregularities, something that would have been incompatible with Van de Velde’s delicate drawing technique. Like paper, vellum is susceptible to humidity which causes it to ripple and distort–a quality Van de Velde would definitely not have been happy with.
Unhappy with the limits presented by paper and vellum Van de Velde turned his attention to wood. Wooden panels provided greater potential when it came to size and shape but it also meant a new method for drawing on the support had to be developed. To create a drawing surface that resembled paper or vellum Van de Veldeapplied a layer of brown paint topped with two layers of white (a mixture of lead white, chalk and oil) to the surface of the board. According to Van de Velde associate Pieter Blaue the prepared surface had to dry for two or three months before it was hard enough “to take a drawing done with a sharp pen.”
一旦地面层干燥，范德维尔德（Van de Velde）用石墨绘制了现场的详细草稿。这款铅笔草稿可能有助于消除或减少用笔犯的错误。擦除错误很困难，因为必须用锋利的刀将它们刮掉。下图还使跟踪构图上的进度更加容易。施加了石墨底漆后，Van de velde使用刷子将稀薄的油漆冲洗到某些区域，以增加深度或增加深色和光线之间的对比度。该图用芦苇笔涂上，其中包含由动物胶和烟熏制成的墨水。像雕刻一样，场景是由一系列非常细的相邻和平行线的系列创建的，这些线路的厚度和变化的方向，交叉染料和点都不同。
像油画一样，完成的图纸被一层清漆覆盖。根据艺术经纪人米歇尔·勒·布隆（Michel Le Blon）的1651封信，成品足够强大，以至于可以“暴露于雨水和风中或用海绵冲洗”而不会造成损坏（您能感觉到我们的保护者现在在畏缩吗？）。
Van de Velde may have worked on wooden panels for several years before moving to canvas, mainly because of the它具有优势超过董事会：它更便宜，可以滚动，并且可以提供任何尺寸的Van de Velde想要的东西。在1652年给瑞典将军和海军上将卡尔·古斯塔夫（Carl Gustav）Wrangle van de velde的信中，设想制作一幅20至25英尺长的笔绘画！虽然我们都看过绘画大小或更大的二十五英尺长的penschilderij会令人震惊。考虑到Van de Velde花了四个月的恒定工作（不包括地面干燥时间！）才能绘制一米广场在四天的战斗中占领皇家王子it would have taken about two years of constant work to draw a 25 foot long pen painting.
在17或18世纪初，Adriaen Salm的技术在15或二十名海事艺术家中，最接近范德·韦尔德（Van de Velde）的技术。Like Van de Velde, Salm applied lines and hatches over washed areas. Unlike Van de Velde, Salm’s work is distinguished by scores or scratches made in the ink and washes, not to correct errors but to achieve a particular effect and enliven the image. For example, after painting the whales black with pen and brush, he scratched the surface with a hard, fine-tipped object to expose the contrasting color underneath. If you look closely at the image below, you can see examples of scored areas that Salm has added to help define the shape of the whale’s tail and the shape of the ice.
萨尔姆（Salm）一生中生产了许多彭施尔德吉（Penschilderij），尽管他的技术接近范德·韦尔德（Van de Velde）的最喜欢的主题，但不是：萨尔姆（Salm）的大部分艺术品都描绘了格陵兰周围北极水域的荷兰捕鲸。在萨尔姆（Salm）是一名执业艺术家的那几年中选择。
Since Salm wasn’t as skilled as Van de Velde his pen paintings didn’t command the same prices, but that doesn’t mean his works weren’t sought after. Salm was one of just a few maritime artists who managed to find a market for his art outside of the Netherlands. Despite this success Salm still had to supplement his income to support his large family (he had nine kids!). Throughout his life he worked as a school teacher, calligrapher (which may be the skill that got him into pen painting) and finally as a textile merchant.
像范德·韦尔德（Van de Velde）一样，萨尔姆（Salm）确保每幅画中至少有几艘船是可以识别的（可能是因为这些船长或所有者的委员会是委员会的委员会）。如果您阅读了我的最后一篇博客文章，您可能可以确切地猜测他的做法 - 确保捕鲸船（Bootschips）的装饰塔夫龙（Bootschips）清晰。像荷兰军舰一样，装饰性的拖船提供了船的标识。可悲的是，我们画中只有一个引导者很容易识别，但是你知道吗？一个总比没有好！
如果世界恢复正常，而Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum重新打开了，我们也许可以识别另一艘船。如果您仔细查看中心前景中的浅色弓，您会注意到字母“I D.” These initials usually identified the master of the vessel the shallop belonged to. The Scheepvaartmuseum holds a manuscript document that identifies Dutch whaling ships and their captains. With luck this little vessel doesn’t belong toDe Vergulde Walvisbut one of the other ships pictured in the scene. At any rate, this certainly shows that a curator’s work is never done and there’s always something out there just waiting to reveal some new detail about the artworks in our collection.
You mustlog into post a comment.