Johannes Warnardus Bilders

"Last week I was with Bilders.. .I saw a beautiful landscape of him, the village Vorden, illuminated by the evening twilight, with Cows in the Foreground. very poetical, and the true color of Father Bilders, as always.- (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)."

"Being self-taught and striving for a broad, fresh original concept of art himself he thought he could not warn Mesdag enough, to be on his guard and not to become a 'little Roelofs'; to point him to look above all with his very own eyes. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)."

"He painted – was living in Utrecht, [he] immediately attracted attention and had many ideas, got good prices for that time; and once he thought 'Is this really beautiful, as people say - but the people are crazy or I am - I came to the conclusion – the people are wrong - picked up my things and went to Oosterbeek' [Autumn of 1841, where he thoroughly started to study nature: branches, stems, plants. Etc..] (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)."

"Even though many have seen Bilders studying nature with the greatest zeal and the noblest enthusiasm of studying nature, everyone will realize that an artist with such a poetic soul, processing his impressions, did not give what is called a faithful, elaborate imitation of nature.. .In our imagination we see Bilders, whom we saw so often at work, with a large pallet and broad brushes, standing at a certain distance from his canvas.. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"Our trips in Drenthe [in 1878-79] he [Johannes Warnardus Bilders] enjoyed a lot, but Vorden and especially Oosterbeek remained the places he loved most. Drenthe was too new for him. The most beautiful painting he made of it were 'the Hunnebeds', a fusain in my possession. He found back again Hobbema everywhere. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"Here in Oosterbeek, Bilders frequently worked behind the church, in the lower village, where then you could still find beautiful picturesque spots and old huts. He also worked a lot near the watermill of woman Gerritsen, well known to all painters of those days, and he was never able to forgive the rich Amsterdam guy who devastated that beautiful corner, to turn it into an ordinary villa. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"I believe that in our country Bilders' art is entirely self-contained and has not generated a particular school, despite the educational and moral strength which his art expressed. But man is inclined to compare, and that's why I believe Théodore Rousseau may be called Bilders' elder brother. Bilders' 'Wodans oaks' paintings.. ..[are] as beautiful as many by Rousseau. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"I doubt whether Bilders' great talent ever reached its full development. He stood alone, absolutely alone. The phlegmatic painters who were content slavishly to copy nature, the eminent painters of fields and cattle had little or nothing in common with him and the studies which were sold at the auction held in the studio of the late Mrs. Bilders-van Bosse, his second wife, prove that he felt a longing for more colour, that, directly or indirectly, he had experienced the influence of a Delacroix."

"..and to my great pleasure I heard that the work 'The Wodan's Oaks' (at my brother's home), had also struck you so much. I think this is almost the most beautiful painting Bilders has made. I know that many of our artists have also been struck by it at Goupil's [art-seller in The Hague]. Among others Jacob Maris has spoken about it so warmly. And if one remembers that Bilders was [already] 75 when he made this! After the Wodan's oak - (?) to his Paradise.. [4 years later he died] (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"..buried soberly, as simple as a child of the people, as I am."

"Just start, your palette will help you. (if you worried about a painting or dread to start painting"

"Yes, of course you want every shot to be a duck-bird [a dead bird?]"

"In the back of the garden of the hostelry where I am staying there is a settee; when one is sitting there you get precisely a nice view on the abandoned castle of Vorden. Often I see the old reverend clergyman sitting there, certainly for having a real rural view on the meadow, or for being able to turn his eyes to the old grayed-up walls of the castle, and coming in that way to the thought how all human labor is brought back to Nothing by the breath of the ages. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)."

"Recently my father visited me and he was very pleased with my little painting, the one you also found quite good. So this little work, which has cost me so many unpleasant hours, still has delivered me two pleasant moments after all. .. I imagine that I have now gained fresh courage again, because I have to confess that I lowered my courage a bit. I have decided not to overcome by despair so soon again. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)."

"Today You will probably not regret Vorden [by not being able to paint?], for today it is all raining, and although the weather is gentle, I fear that we will soon meet the real days of Autumn. I hope that your paintings will be transported well [from Vorden], and [I hope] especially that you will keep that warm hue in them, which is so beautiful present now. That must be terribly difficult, when a painting has reach a certain level, not to spoil it then: I hope that You will not go on painting it too long, because then You will start stripping it off again: - better to put it away in time. - Farewell now, Mr. Bilders.. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)."

"You, who of the [[w:Dutch Golden Age painting|Dutch [painting] School]] keeps confirming its old fame.. .Your tree shadows, your distance, your inimitable airs, - It all remind us of Ruysdael's spirit and Berchem's art (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)."

"This afternoon I had put myself down on this sweet spot, very tired of painting [with a view of the old castle of Vorden] .. .. I was completely immersed in thinking of You.. .I would rather like to.. ..thank you, dear and beloved Lady, for the right judgments and remarks which You gave me in this [your?] sweet letter. I solemnly promise you that I will use them for my benefit, and will spent all my powers as an artist, to make your attentions more worthy to me. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)."

"I worked hard the whole day, so that I am very tired now. Yesterday I made the sketch of the castle [in Vorden] on the canvas and today I painted the sky, the whole day long. I made the composition even more simple by leaving out the creel; the air is painted in the spirit of the [ Swartzwald [?], but much more stronger and sadder. I hope to show the people how beautiful, how profoundly poetical the castle [is].. ..please save this thumbnail-sketch [drawn in the letter, on the same paper] and also my previous letter. Who knows the descendants - when reading them, and looking at the sketch - will say: Look, it was in this way how Bilder's very lovely painting was discussed at the House 't Velde, and how it came into life in Vorden. Good-by, my dear Lady.. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)."

"Nothing has happened since two or three days.. ..nothing special, only the Ladies van Loon have visited me this morning, I have shown them a few of my studies, and talked a lot about and {[w|nl:Vorden|Vorden}}. Now I could tell you further, how little I still feel at home, how a certain nostalgia or quiet sorrow plunges me down, and how an indefinite hurry for an even more uncertain future dominates my whole [being?]; but why should I bother You by telling You my inner life.. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)."

"The last two days I have not painted on [his painting of] the Castle [in Vorden!] It is lying now on the roof to dry. it looks terribly gloomy.. .Good-bye, dear Miss. I still have to read in the great German philosopher Schopenhauer, a man who thought that all the misery he saw in life was created by an evil spirit who created this earth. - Good night, dear Miss, it is 2 o'clock in the night, already and the letter must still be mailed by post. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)."

"I agreed with my father's servant, to travel secretly to Greece [c. 1825-26], to help them in their War for freedom against the Turks]; everything was ready for the journey, but then my father discovered our intentions. On that occasion I got my first and only beating."

"Then - being in two minds - in my father's courtyard, I counted the buttons of my coat: soldier or painter, soldier, painter, soldier, painter.. ..the last button told me: painter. So it was decided by chance that I would become a painter [c. 1831]."

"On a certain day I packed my things and went to Oosterbeek [c. 1834-36]. I saw a man lying out of the window somewhere. Farmer! are there rooms for rent nearby? - Yes sir, even here. - I went in, saw a beautiful, suitable painting room; that satisfied me, I ask for nothing more. One hundred fifty guilders was the rent [per year]. I offered a hundred sixty when he also worked the garden and planted a lot of red cabbage, because I like to see that."

"People call this beautiful? - no, they are crazy, or I am mad! – How I learned now at Oosterbeek [c. 1834-36 that I should look at Nature completely different! In the beginning I could not make anything good; I soon realized that I had to start all over again."