DIRK LANGENDIJK (Rotterdam 1748 – 1805 Rotterdam)
Dirk Langendijk (Rotterdam 1748 – 1805 Rotterdam)
Officers on Horseback Inspecting a Battlefield
Pen and black ink, grey wash, corrections in white bodycolour, brown ink framing lines, watermark ‘C&I Honig’, 271 x 463 mm (10.7 x 18.2 inch)
Signed and dated ‘DLangendijk inv: & Fecit 1775.’ (verso, pen and brown ink) and inscribed in a different, later hand ‘Beleg van Bergen-op-Zoom.’ (verso, pen and black ink)
Provenance
~ With dealer G. Meyer, Rotterdam, 1976
~ Collection Hans van Leeuwen (1911–2010) (his collector’s mark applied on the verso, Lugt 2799a, inv. no. A 1663); his auction, Christie’s, Amsterdam, 24 November 1992, lot 354, repr.
~ Anonymous auction, Sotheby’s, Amsterdam, 5 November 2002, lot 122, repr.
~ Private collection, Germany, until 2025
***
Dirk Langendijk was a pupil of Dirck Anthonie Bisschop, an interior decorator and a painter of coats of arms and coaches.1 From the beginning of his career Langendijk depicted primarily military scenes. As his career progressed he drew inspiration for these military scenes from the Dutch conflict between the Patriots and the Orangists, and from the invasions of the Dutch Republic by the French and Anglo-Russian armies in 1795 and 1799 respectively. Langendijk’s style is characterised by a concentration on crowds rather than individuals. In his military scenes, we typically see the interaction between groups of officers and soldiers before and during battle. However, as well as military scenes, Langendijk also depicted many scenes of coastal life, such as the Courtauld Gallery’s drawing Shipping in a Storm off the Coast.2 He executed many of his works without pencil and pen, often just drawing with a brush.
Langendijk was primarily a draughtsman and he was greatly admired in his lifetime, particularly for his detailed rendering of equestrian combat scenes. He was also, to a lesser extent, a painter and etcher, although dated paintings by him are only known from the period of 1771 to 1772 and from 1780. These generally depict the daily life of soldiers and landed gentry.
This exceptionally large and well preserved drawing is proudly signed and dated on the verso, produced in 1775, one of the earliest known major works by the artist, executed when he was still in his twenties. Although it is annotated ‘Beleg van Bergen-op-Zoom’, referring to the siege of that town by French troups in 1747, it is unclear if an episode of that military engagement is actually depicted here, although it is certainly possible. In scale and preciseness of execution it can be compared to Langendijk’s drawing Riot of Prussian Soldiers in Rotterdam in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, drawn more than a decade later in 1787 (fig.).3
1. For the artist, see H.C. Hazewinkel, ‘Dirk en Jan Anthonie Langendijk en Christoffel Meijer’, Rotterdams Jaarboekje 3 (1955), pp. 121-142 and M. Menalda, ‘Dirk Langendijk (1748-1805): tekenaar in woelige tijden’, Teylers Magazijn 11 (1993), no. 1 (no. 38), pp. 1-5.
2. Pen and grey ink, grey wash, 160 x 235 mm, inv. no. D.1952.RW.3682.
3. Pen and grey ink, grey wash, 347 x 525 mm, inv. no. RP-T-00-1825.
