JOHANNES HENDRIK KNOOP (Amsterdam 1769 – 1833 Amsterdam)
Johannes Hendrik Knoop (Amsterdam 1769 – 1833 Amsterdam)
View of Three Back Houses on the Valkenburgerstraat in Amsterdam, seen from the Markengracht
Oil on panel, 57.1 x 41.8 cm (22.5 x 16.5 inch)
Signed ‘J. Knoop’ (lower left)
Provenance
Private collection, The Netherlands
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This recently discovered painting is a virtually unique early nineteenth-century representation of the back of three town houses, located on the Valkenburgerstraat in the oldest part of the centre of Amsterdam and long destroyed. The painting is signed by Johannes Hendrik Knoop, who was born in Amsterdam in 1769 as the son of Johannes Georg Knaup and Johanna Semmeling, who were of German descent.1 During the artist’s lifetime the family name was changed from Knaup to Knop, and then, by a court of law, to Knoop, on 11 March 1823.
Knoop produced oil paintings of flower still-lifes, of which only a few survive, but he is best known for his topographical drawings and watercolours, mostly depicting views in Amsterdam, although one or two others depicting scenes in Haarlem and environs are known. A group of them is preserved in the municipal archives of Amsterdam, as part of the Atlas Dreesmann and the Atlas Splitgerber. One of these, representing the ‘Klooster’ on the ‘Fransche pad’ in Amsterdam, is dated 1810, and the other views are likely to date from the same period.
The present recently discovered painting is the only known topographical view by Knoop in oils. It is related to a watercolour of the same subject in the Amsterdam municipal archive, which is probably preparatory to the painting.2 Knoop’s topographical views are highly characteristic in their originality and informality, frequently depicting dilapidated houses or street views, rather than the idealised views painted by most other painters. Informal views from this period are generally very rare, an exception is a view of a courtyard by Andreas Schelfhout in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (fig.).3
A drawing by Knoop of the back of the inn ‘het Orgeltje’ (the little organ) in Amsterdam is preserved in the Amsterdam municipal archives.4 This drawing was formerly owned by the pioneering photographer Jacob Olie (1834–1905), who may have been influenced by Knoop’s work.
1. For the artist, see Pieter A. Scheen, Lexicon Nederlandse beeldende kunstenaars 1750-1880, The Hague 1981, pp. 274-75 and F. van Kooij, ‘Herberg Het Orgeltje. Een tekening uit het voormalige bezit van Jacob Olie gelokaliseerd’, Amstelodamum 98 (2011), no. 1, pp. 3-6.
2. Watercolour, 405 x 290 mm, inscribed ‘Op Marken’ (verso). We are grateful to David Mulder of the municipal archive for provinding the dimensions of the drawing. https://archief.amsterdam/beeldbank/detail/6f4a03f0-2ad6-8a13-3b1e-f8f0aef2eda0/media/04c9b1ad-72e0-3725-c15f-e918fd6edbba?mode=detail&view=horizontal&q=johannes%20hendrik%20knoop&rows=1&page=8
3. Oil on panel, 44.8 x 40.3 cm, inv. no. SK-A-3887.
4. Van Kooij, loc. cit.
