Museum Het Valkhof acquires important Toorop drawings

Museum Het Valkhof now possesses an impressive collection of Toorop drawings. A permanent loan was recently agreed upon with the Provincie der Jezuïeten and the Archief Kunstdepot (Archive Art depot), which is located in the Berchmanianum cloister in Nijmegen. 15 sheets have been added to the existing collection of Toorop drawings, including portraits of prominent Dutch Jesuits.

With this new acquisition, Museum Het Valkhof possesses one of the largest collections of portrait drawings by Jan Toorop. An absolute highlight is the portrait of the Jesuit Charles Raaijmakers, which was one of the favourites at the Toorop exhibition in Nijmegen in 2003. The portraits can be seen in the Print Cabinet of Museum Het Valkhof until the 20th of February 2005.

Alongside the Toorop drawings, the loan also includes 75 copperplates by the Wierix family of Antwerp, which were rediscovered in the parsonage attic of the Amsterdam church ‘De Krijtberg’. They fit beautifully with Museum Het Valkhof’s graphic collection. The copperplates depict various saints and scenes from the life of Jesus and Mary. The Wierix family worked together with the Jesuits in spreading books and prints, which have served worldwide as a model for paintings, particularly in churches and monasteries. Their copperplates were probably brought to Amsterdam from the Southern Netherlands after the abolition of the Jesuit order in 1773.

The acquisition of a very large painting by Raden Basoeki Abdullah from 1935 is quite unique. It gives a wonderful example of the assimilation of two cultures. An Indonesian Madonna appears above an exotic landscape of rice fields and volcanoes. Abdullah later became one of the greatest Indonesian artists of his time.

The Collection Maris and the Collection Petrus Canisius from the Archief Kunstdepot comprise paintings and devotional items. Art objects from the parsonages of St. Peter Canisius in the Molenstraat and of St. Joseph on the Stijn Buisstraat, and the former Canisius College on the Berg en Dalseweg in Nijmegen also form part of the new acquisition.

The valuable Jesuit collection forms an important addition to the historical-religious collection of Museum Het Valkhof. The Toorop drawings, a number of Wierix copper engravings and the painting by Raden Basoeki Abdullar can be seen up to and including 20 February 2005 in the exhibitionAcquisitions old art in the Print Cabinet.

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