Herman Saftleven

Saftleven grew up in Rotterdam in a family of artists and trained as a painter, probably with his father. As a young man he settled in Utrecht and for many years recorded views of the city and its suroundings in numerous drawings and prints. Beginning in 1661 he was commissioned by the horticulturalist Agnes Block (1629-1704) to make watercolor drawings of flowers from her renowned botanical collections at her country estate near Utrecht. Saftleven was a prolific draftsman, and more than 1,200 drawings of topographical and imaginary landscapes have survived. Most are large, finished works executed for collectors, such as the present sheet. His painted and drawn landscapes made him one of the best-known Dutch artists of the seventeenth century. The present drawing, which may be dated around 1650, likely was a souvenir of an excursion to Montfoort, a town on the Hollandse IJssel River, eight miles west-southwest of Utrecht. It must have been executed at the same time as a view of Montfoort in the Library's collection with which it has traditionally been paired (1958.19). In addition to that drawing, our new sheet joins three others by the artist in the Library's collection, including a study of flowers and plants made on commission from Agnes Block (1984.10).