Feister Mann in phantastischer Tracht, halbfigurig

The present sheet is a rather unusual specimen of

Jacob Matham’s (1571–1631) art. A man in a fanciful

costume is pictured, his gaze expressing mistrust

and reservation. He is girded with a sword and was

described, perhaps for that reason, as an “old marauder”

by Benesch. Were the drawing not signed—

with the signature almost part of its calligraphy—we

would probably not suggest Matham as its maker.

Matham is mostly known for his engravings; his

drawn oeuvre consists largely of designs for prints,1

or drawings made as autonomous works of art in

a penwerk (penwork), engraving-like manner [88].

Neither is the case with the present sheet.2

Expanding our purview, however, allows the

drawing to appear less anomalous. Around 1600,

Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617) initiated a fashion

for archaic figures in fantastic costumes. His Young

Man Playing a Cither3 wears a similar costume with

tight-fitting doublet and arms decoratively slashed.

Of no surprise given Goltzius’s role as Haarlem’s

leading artist, the trend was followed by others,

including Jacques de Gheyn II (1565–1629) and Jan

Harmensz. Muller (1571–1628) as well as Matham,

who did so with particular zeal.4 A 1614-dated

pen drawing by the artist depicting a man named

Hannibal suggests that these sheets were made

as imaginative portraits of figures from the past

(fig. 1).5 Aspects of Hannibal’s attire, such as the

kerchief with gemstone and the mid-length hair, are

reminiscent of the present sheet. Yet here no name

is given, and we do not know whether the slight

individuation of features points to a real person,6

a literary type,7 or even to contemporary theater,

such as the Commedia dell’arte’s stock character

Il Capitano.8

Two drawings related in spirit and style, Jan

Philipsz. van Bouckhorst’s (1588–1631) Master Hans

Dried Cod (fig. 2) and Mistress Grilled Herring,

also imply a theatrical context.9 Clearly inspired

by Goltzius, they apparently picture figures from

a rhetorician’s farce, with the outmoded fashion

serving as comic signifier.10 In the end, this drawn

capriccio adds a fascinating facet to Matham’s

oeuvre, even more so as he deemed it worthy of a

signature.11

 

1. Cf. Widerkehr (NHD) 2007, xxxviii–xlii, with an appendix of

designs for prints, D1–15.

2. No further elaboration can be added to a handwritten

comment in the Albertina’s Cahier of about 1820, stating that the

drawing was “gravé par Matham même,” apart from the fact that

the sheet’s fluid manner would hardly translate to a copperplate.

3. Christoffel van Sichem I, after Hendrick Goltzius,

Young Man Playing a Cither, 1565–1624, woodcut, 30.8 x 21.8 cm;

Leesberg (NHD) 2012, 1714, no. 734.

4. Reznicek 1961, 1:174–75; Widerkehr 1991–92, 242;

Widerkehr (NHD) 2007, xliv.

5. Reznicek 1961, 1:205.

6. There are certain physiognomic resemblances to Goltzius’s

Jan Govertsz. van der Aer as Saint Luke, 1614, pen and ink,

on parchment, 49 x 37.8 cm, Veste Coburg, Z 2285.

7. The gesture of his right hand is reminiscent of Pilate, as

depicted by Lucas van Leyden, Ecce Homo, 1509, engraving,

29.5 cm (diam.), Filedt Kok (NHD) 1996, 4, 84, no. 63;

Hendrick Goltzius, Ecce Homo, 1596, engraving, 20.7 x 13.7 cm,

Leesberg (NHD) 2012, 52, no. 24.

8. Cf. Jacques Callot, Capitano, c. 1618–20, etching, Lieure 1924–29,

1, no. 289; Rembrandt van Rijn, Seated Actor in the Role of

Capitano, c. 1634–36, pen and brown ink, brush and brown ink,

on paper, 18.2 x 15.3 cm, Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam,

RP-T-1961-76.

9. Jan Philipsz. van Bouckhorst, Mistress Grilled Herring, 1617,

pen and ink, on paper, 18.1 x 17.9 cm, Harvard Art Museums,

Cambridge, 1999.131.

10. Suggested by De Jongh as quoted by Schapelhouman and

Schatborn 1998, 1:19.

11. Benesch O. 1928 interprets the lower portion of the inscription

as Jac, which would have been quite unusual for Matham. Rather,

it appears to be a cursorily written number, possibly 1612.

 

Emily J. Peters, Laura M. Ritter (Hg.), AK Tales of the City. Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel, Cleveland Museum of Art 9.10.2022 - 8.1.2023, New Haven 2022, Kat. Nr. 62