Painters From The Netherlands

"Because - you need moderation for the perseverance in your work!"

"In Fall, October, November, I'm usually at work in Heeze, for interior studies. That is a beautiful, and the most quite time; the leaf of the trees [dropped!], what gives in summer such a strong green light into the domestic interiors. It was in the lodging of the good Saskia [Ciska] .. ..that I always got very special care."

"Acquaintances, family, posing for me? - Oh no, please no acquaintances, no nephews or nieces.. .If I need them, I take models; am I searching for myself, tripping through the neighborhoods.."

"In the evening the whole family was always sitting in the studio around the light .. ..W. R. [his father] was reading in his armchair, placed sideways against the table and the light placed on his side. The tea set with a large teapot was put on a tea-light on the painting cabinet. Eating we did early, at 5 o'clock. If he went out in the evening, he frequently visited the Circle Artistique [in Brussels] to read the newspapers. Or to a coffee house, to view illustration-magazines. He didn't play games, except sometimes chess or checkers. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"He loved Nature most in dreadful weather. He didn't give up the enjoyment and the teachings of working outside, even in very bad northwester wind and fierce rain showers. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"I was in Amsterdam [train from The Hague] last Wednesday, exclusively for the paintings [at the exhibition in 'Arti', May 1888] .. ..I was delighted with the wonderful [painting of] Jaap Maris. I mean the big one, I never saw it before. Also the other paintings did much better [because of better light there]. So your 'White horse' ['White horse of Montmartre', painted by Breitner in Paris in 1884]. I even got the impression that the Dupré that hung next to it became feeble. 'De Brug' [Breitner's painting, also known as 'Rain and Wind'] is a good job, but that painting never attracted me. I do not know why.. ..but I believe you will not be much attached to my opinion about this or that painting. I know how a peanut I am with no right to do so. I stayed at the exhibition until four o'clock, then I returned to The Hague.. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)"

"Roelofs used an instrument, which may be called curious for a landscape artist: a compass. With this he first measured very accurately where the horizon had to find its location [in the painting]. Then a line was drawn to determine its place. The air was therefore not started at the top.. .From the horizon the painting was alternately painted above and below the horizon, to maintain proportionality, balance and harmony; air and landscape were then developed from that core. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"Hanging beside me is a landscape study by Roelofs, a pen sketch, but I can't tell you how expressive that simple outline is. Everything is in there. english translation of original letter"

"What you and I will pass indifferent as insignificant or ugly, he stands still in front of it in quite delight, and while you ask yourself what one can see there, his poet-soul has felt the poetry of this deserted place and he will show it you [in his painting] how it struck him. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"I'm not making any progress with the book that you were so kind to lend me [about techniques of etching]; the desire to study tie facts for etching from a book does not exist with me.. ..if you would rather give me some lessons, so that I can get some information, I will be glad..[which happened February / March 1891] (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)"

"Roelofs puts emotion in his paintings, which can sometimes cause a melancholy in those misty, windy landscapes of the north. 'De oevers van het Gein' ['The banks of the river Gein'] are interrupted halfway [in the painting] and the melancholy is floating through the gray mist which rises from the fields, ploughed with blonde stripes. In this canvas the virile and the refined talent of Roelofs are both completely expressed: the horizon is bathing in the air, the depths are illuminated somewhat transparent, the water clear and shiny, is painted beautifully and the reeds along the banks, together with the bright light are contrasting with that hazy green of the trees. In everything you can feel the nearness of the sea and one can give way to dreamy reflections. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"..I wish the Great Master [Nature] will always continue to provide you with benefit. In the meantime, I am assured that you will spent every moment to collect your studies. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"Roelofs' advice is to paint rather thick, that is to say firmly in the paint and use this preferably without any oil or turpentine.. .I hope you will understand it well, not thick in color, because he [Roelofs] only achieves that haze and the strength of colors by painting it over repeatedly. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"We separate color and drawing because we have to. But nature doesn't. She doesn't give something a shape, for coloring it only afterwards. Form and color are inherent properties of the object that we have got as thing to paint. If we neglect one of both, we only give half. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"Ships, houses, mills... in one word everything that is made by people must stand upright and be painted with care. This is actually a good presentation compared to other, less symmetrical things, like the trees, skies, etc. It doesn't create the painting, but it certainly strengthen the illusion. It's just like somebody who is neatly dressed, but whose tie is coming off. The windows of a house must be straight, a mill in a pure construction, the blades well-positioned in perspective. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"..that I went to see Mr Roelofs the day after I received your letter, and he told me that his opinion was that from now on I should concentrate on drawing from nature, i.e. whether plaster or model, but not without guidance from someone who understands it well. And he, and others too, seriously advised me definitely to go and work at a drawing academy, at least for a while, here or in Antwerp or anywhere I could. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"Dear Richard, I just received your letter; I will send the money order f 10 [10 guilders] immediately for the swimming of Saar [their daughter, 10 years old]. She seems to be going well ahead, I think, at least if she can jump off the springboard by herself. Her letter was nice and cheerful. Yes I would have liked her to come here [in Heeze] but I am just afraid that I may not be able to work regularly or that she will get rather bored. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)"

"..you know together enough how the world is running - what life is - and how people are - together you are two apostles, fighting for their art and that is 'worth the only reason'!! to stay alive.. ..now you are together - you can comfort each other when things go badly.. ..that keeps the mutual affection awake, so dear fellow, Suze - I wish you both all happiness.. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)"

"I wonder [interviewer: I hear him saying quite soon] or that line [in the picture he is just working on] doesn't repeat itself. It's more or less the same, isn't it? on both sides, don't you think so? [(interviewer) 'Maybe it is!' - I dare to say; there is no escape; I have to give advice] (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"..at least I have the conviction of being honest and I do despise most of all those.. ..alienating works of art [eg. of Seurat ], the disease of our time. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"I have experienced this country of the great mountains [Switzerland] superb! .. ..[but] I positively believe that nature, most appropriate to be reproduced in painting, is the modest landscape which seems just ordinarily and very insignificant. (translation from original French: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"The goal, the pursuit of art is to move, like music does; to create sensations in our mind.."

"..and then it remains you to re-create your study, the fragment, into a painting. For remember; these are two [different] things: Nature is the material from which we must take. But don't be fooled by the modern theories, that imitating, copying nature would be 'everything'. The goal, the Art's aim is .... to move.. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"[a landscape painter cannot do with] being stupid-natural.. ..all that art would be [made] in vain if the feeling stayed away. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"I certainly believe that the simple landscape which seems less impressive is the nature that is most proper to paint. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"..when making a painting after a study, it costs me a lot of effort to follow this study very well. One is very much inclined to make something different, so-called better, and that's why people usually get confused. A good outdoor-study has a breath of nature in it which must not be neglected or destroyed. You have to get everything out of that study and not just a third or half. If you can really improve one or the other: a la bonheur, but otherwise it is advisable to follow the study obediently as a guide. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"Dear Richard, I was just coming home from [painting] an interior [with people!]. It was terribly dark today and yesterday, but today I made a pretty good study. I still sleep badly and feel nervous because of that.. .I don't need to come to The Hague for my drawing lessons.. .How long we will stay here [in ], I don't know. I will write you at least in advance. If I don't start sleeping better I will not stay much longer, I think. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)"

"Lately I have been asking for landscape [paintings] with animals, so I have devoted a lot of time this year sketching cows. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"Miss, today I had the pleasure to admire your drawings here [exhibition 'Levende Meesters ' in Arti, Amsterdam]. The knight is doing very well. I think the onions [still-life] were better done in a passe-partout. Especially now the drawing is not cut off.. .At the Academy here [Rijksacademie Amsterdam] I like it very much. We have a pretty good model.. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)"

"..every day I can benefit from Mr. B [his teacher, Van de Sande Bakhuyzen ] is another profit.. ..day by day my ambition is growing. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)"

"The pictures of 1870 [during his last year in Paris] and later of James [= Jacob, in Dutch] Maris, though mostly small, show an appreciation of tone indicating how the mind of the artist was awaking. Colour he did not strive after, as in his later years, but in the general arrangement of composition, the tones of sky and landscape, can be observed the first indications of the [later] success of the painter of The Windmill, The Bridge, and a dozen other masterpieces. James Maris and his family returned to The Hague in 1871, glad no doubt to be back in the land of peace and prosperity after their semi-starvation in the beleaguered city [Paris; the end of the Commune and the war with Germany]"

"Th. De Bock has explained how little realistic James [= Jacob] Maris was in his paintings, which have such an appearance of frank truth that one would hesitate without this proof to think they were other than records of the places he painted. He used to make numerous sketches of the bridge and canal near his house, but when he came to paint he combined all these into a [one!] picture which, though not this bridge, yet got the indefinable something, the essence of the scene before him, though it was far from being like a photographic statement of it."

"James Maris also was always honoured in the 'Boulevard' [so they called the 'little place' of art-dealer Goupil, near the Cafe Richelieu at Boulevard Montmartre], and although he went back to the Hague soon after the close of the war [1871], his relations with the Goupils continued until his death, greatly fostered by the courageous manager of the branch house in Holland, Mr. . From this time onwards the story of the life of James Maris is the experience of every successful artist who has found his metier and reached his market. Under the farseeing guidance of Mr. Tersteeg, James [= Jacob, in Dutch] Maris had little further anxiety even in the rearing and educacating of his numerous family."

"Although Jacob Maris probably have painted studies outdoors during his early years, it was more his habit, coming back home, to fix his impressions in paint [on the canvas] in the studio. These first impressions, in which the painter's emotion was fully represented, were beautiful grips. With dripping bitumen sometimes - which makes the color more ripe - he had caught already the deep hue, which he loved so much during his middle period.. .A few times in summer they went to Scheveningen, sometimes a day to Dordrecht; that was the most far away. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)"

"Jacob Maris must have found the cause of this change in the routine, a way of creating developed against his own will, anyhow he once made (c. 1895?) the remark that he. '..would be pleased if would lose for a while the use of his right hand: with his left he would probably be more clumsy, and start to paint as before. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)"

"In very bad weather Jacob Maris met one day an acquaintance who passing by, shouted: 'What a beautiful sky, huh!' 'What shall I say', was the answer [from Jacob] in jesting tone and with a smile, which had to soften the haughty gesture, 'I paint it better'."

"It will be observed that James [= Jacob] Maris frankly accepts the subjects which are laid to his hand - he paints nothing but what can be found in Holland at the present day, and lands foreign to Holland have never been able to induce him to portray their landscape or their inhabitants."

"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)."

"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)"

"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)"

"My brother Jaap was born as a painter, which means he really enjoyed it. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)"

"..with the Antwerp painter Alex. Woest and Van Zeggelen he [Willem Maris] had been travelling to Norway [in 1871]. In the mountain landscapes [paintings] of Woest he painted cows and eagles.. .But now Woest, who painted anyway sometimes meritorious things, as Willem Maris told me, demanded that he should depict the eyes including pupils, etc.. of those animals [the cows], which were walking at a distance of three hours in his landscapes [paintings], clearly and accurate.."

"In that period the young painter had - what is rather peculiar - such specific preference for misty moods that he, disgruntled, repeatedly gave up his study trips for that day, when sun and wind had chased away the morning haze. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)"

"This is already the third time today that I meet you (Where? asked Willem Maris.). Today I walked with a friend on the migratory route and then I looked up at the sky and then I said: there you have Willem Maris. When we arrived in the city, I looked at the sky again and then I said: there you have Willem Maris again. And now I see you here for the third time. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)"

"..and sometimes pausing between our talks we looked at some few canvases that were waiting for the Master's hand with the open sketchbook in front of it.. ..for example a year or two a very large ducks- painting was waiting there that did not want to be finished', (Harms Tiepen quotes a witness who visited the studio of the older Willem Maris)"

"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)"

"His pictures in fact appeal to the very sentiments that gave them birth; they reveal his intimate acquaintance with colour in all its gradations, his splendid contrasts of light and shadow. The charm they exert upon us is due in part to the grandeur of Maris's artistic sense, his power of sympathy, strength of conception, and his glorious schemes of colour, and in part to the nobility and loftiness of spirit ever unconsciously reflected in this great artist's work."

"They [the sketches of young Willem Maris] were fast, broad, colorful, suggestive drawings, from which life and movement is speaking, in just a few lines of black chalk, which are softened here and there by a lick with the thumb. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)"