3.3 1750 – The Decisive Year
In 1750, Wilhelm managed to buy no fewer than 13 paintings by Rembrandt. We could call this year an 'annus mirabilis' for the gallery in Kassel. In the previous year, Wilhelm had begun the aforementioned inventory of his paintings and made further plans to build a separate gallery, next to his palace, after a design by the architect François de Cuvilliés I (1695–1768).1
The first Rembrandt paintings were three tronies bought in the Johan Hendrik van Wassenaer Obdam (1683–1745) auction in The Hague (19 August 1750). Two of them are still in Kassel and today attributed to the workshop of the master [10-11]. The prices paid for them were 23 and 26 guilders respectively.2 They may have been among the works by Rembrandt sold to Wassenaer Obdam in the 1730s by the painter Philip van Dijk (1683-1753), who was on very good terms with Wilhelm as well.3 Two landscapes were acquired via the art dealer Gerhard Morell (c. 1710-1771) in Hamburg and are still in Kassel but as works by Roelant Roghman (1627–1692) [12-13].4 Finally, with the acquisition of the painting cabinet of Valerius Röver II (1686-1739) in Delft, eight additional Rembrandts arrived in Kassel, so that Wilhelm had 23 paintings ascribed to the famous Dutch master by the end of the year. This was his major acquisition. After long negotiations, he paid the sum of 40,000 guilders, which was — as already mentioned — the highest price for a painting collection paid in Holland in the 18th century. The average price for a single painting in this acquisition was 625 guilders. In comparison with the database of prices compiled by Koenraad Jonckheere there were only four painters in the early 18th century who reached a higher average price: Paris Bordone (1500–1571) (654 guilders), van Dyck (642 guilders), collaborations by Jan Brueghel I and Peter Paul Rubens (722 guilders) and of course Adriaen van der Werff (1659–1722) (858 guilders), who was particularly loved by collectors at the time. From this perspective, the sum of 40,000 guilders seems to have been too high. If we add up all the average prices of the painters included in the Röver cabinet, the value comes to about 11,000 guilders. However, this does not take into account the individual characteristics of the artworks, such as authenticity, availability on the market, conservation or dimensions. Considering the maximum prices the cabinet would have had a value of around 71,000 guilders. From this point of view, the acquisition seems rather like a bargain. Wilhelm’s advisers Hoet and Slingelandt had valued the collection at 33,000 guilders and tried to buy it for 35,000-36,000 guilders, but Röver's widow, Cornelia van der Dussen (1689-1762), insisted on the sum of 40,000 guilders, which the landgrave was eventually willing to pay.
10
follower of Rembrandt
Bust of an old man, c. 1645
Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel), inv./cat.nr. GK 247
11
after Rembrandt
Bust of a man with a fur hat, 1640s-1650s
Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel), inv./cat.nr. GK 248
12
Roelant Roghman
Hilly landscape with walkers on a bridge, 1650s
Kassel, Museum Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, inv./cat.nr. GK 227
13
Roelant Roghman
Mountainous landscape with a bridge and some goats in the foreground, 1650s
Kassel, Museum Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, inv./cat.nr. GK 228
Looking at the provenance of two works by Rembrandt from Röver's cabinet, several aspects can be highlighted. The Portrait of Saskia, for example, was sold by Rembrandt to Jan Six (1618–1700) in 1652 [14].5 In 1702 it was acquired by Nicolaes Six (1662-1710) for 510 guilders. In 1734 its value fell by almost 50% at the auction of Willem Six’s (1662–1733) collection where Valerius Röver bought the portrait for 270 guilders. Later, Govert van Slingelandt (1694-1767) wanted to buy it from Röver offering the double price of 540 guilders but without success. Finally, the portrait ended up in Kassel for 625 guilders, the highest price in this row. On the contrary, Rembrandt’s famous Descent from the Cross [15], today in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, was listed in Röver’s collection as number one and as ‘a very capital piece, the best that is known from Rembrandt …’ and with a taxation of 800 guilders.6 In 1710, Prince-elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz (1658-1716) in Düsseldorf offered Röver a sum of 1,000 guilders for the same painting, but without success. So in this case, Wilhelm’s purchase for Kassel, with its average price of 625 guilders per painting, was definitely a bargain.
Accordingly, Wilhelm was more than pleased with this major acquisition. To his friend Baron Heinrich Jakob von Häckel (c. 1682-1760) he wrote: ‘My new acquisition is, as he can be sure, very beautiful and surpasses all my expectations’.7 And he continued: ‘Among them are eight Rembrandts of such perfection that has never been seen before and of every sort and of the best manners of this master. Some are painted in the rough, thickly applied manner, while others are as fine as hardly seems possible for a Gerard Dou and Mieris’.8 Apparently, Wilhelm was aware of Rembrandt’s different manners and wanted to have them all represented in his collection. He also wrote to Slingelandt enthusiastically: ‘The Rembrandts and most of the pieces by other famous masters are so true, capital and magnificent that I not only made such an accomplished acquisition, but I readily agree that it is very rare to be able to achieve anything so exquisite and perfect’.9 Although these acquisitions were quite a coup, Wilhelm was not yet satisfied. In or around 1751, four more ‘Rembrandts’ were acquired, among them a Tronie of an Old Man Looking Down [17] that was bought from Count Francesco Algarotti in Venice together with nine other paintings for the sum of 2,110 ducats. Together with a lost work by Ribera, Rembrandt's painting cost 100 ducats (200 guilders), so Wilhelm paid probably 100 guilders for each of them.10
14
Rembrandt
Portrait of Saskia van Uylenburgh, c. 1633/34-1642
Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel), inv./cat.nr. GK 236
15
Rembrandt or studio of Rembrandt
The descent from the cross, dated 1634
Sint-Petersburg, Hermitage, inv./cat.nr. ГЭ-753
Notes
1 Schnackenburg 1998, pp. 163–184. Heraeus 2013, pp. 61–76. Lange 2016, pp. 127–150.
2 Weber et al. 2006, cat. no. 24 and 25.
3 Korthals Altes 2003A, pp. 286–291.
4 Weber et al. 2006, cat. no. 12 and 13.
5 Weber et al. 2006, cat. no. 17.
6 Weber et al. 2006, cat. no. 14.
7 Both/Vogel 1964, p. 144.
8 Drach 1888, p. XLVI. Van de Wetering/Schnackenburg 2001, p. 92.
9 ‘Les Rembrandts et la plus grande partie de pièces faites par les autres fameux maîtres sont si vrayes, capitales et magnifiques ques on seulement je n’ai jamais fait une acquisition si accomplie, mais je conviens volontiers qu’il est bien rare de pouvoir faire parvenir à quelque chose si exquis et achevé.’, Herzog 1969, p. 27.
10 Krellig 2017.