AMSTERDAM.- Last week the Rijksmuseum was able to acquire several remarkable works of art at TEFAF Maastricht, thanks to the generosity of private donors. The objects include two 16th-century panels by Maarten van Heemskerck, a book published in 1627 on locks and keys made by the French locksmith Mathurin Jousse, and an 1813 painting by Joseph-François Ducq of the engraver Joseph-Charles de Meulemeester.

Two 16th-century panels by Maarten van Heemskerck
One exceptional acquisition is the gift of two 16th-century panels, one depicting Pluto and Cerberus and the other showing Samson grasping the gates of Gaza. Both panels were painted around 1555 by the Haarlem artist Maarten van Heemskerck (1498-1574), and were originally part of a group of twelve known as The Twelve Strong Men. This group comprised four iconographic sets of three panels: one of a Greek god, one of Samson and one of Hercules. Each of these four ensembles is devoted to a particular theme: triumph over death, sinfulness, faith, and evil.

Both panels are examples of the Brunaille style of painting, executed exclusively in shades of brown. With great virtuosity Maarten van Heemskerck’s counters the limitations of the format’s modest dimensions, and the muscled bodies seem to burst from their cramped frame.

The group was broken up in 1946 when it was auctioned on the open art market. Four of them were already in the Rijksmuseum collection. Another four are held by the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven and two by the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin. The two panels acquired at TEFAF were gifted by a private donor and by Bob Haboldt – it is at his initiative that these two panels are to be reunited with the four panels already in the Rijksmuseum, thereby going some way to reversing the breakup of the series in the 20th century. The entire series is now held in public collections.

Book on the art of locksmith Mathurin Jousse
Through the support of the Vehmeijer Fund/Rijksmuseum Fund, the Rijksmuseum has been able to acquire La fidelle ouverture de l'art de serrurier, the earliest printed treatise devoted to the art of the locksmith. Its author was the French master locksmith and architecture theoretician Mathurin Jousse (1575-1645), who was born in La Flèche, in the Pays de la Loire region of France. The making of locks and keys was a secret craft that was passed on in the blacksmith’s forge.

This book containing descriptions of methods of manufacture will complement the Rijksmuseum’s collection of locks and keys exhibited in the Special Collections Gallery. It will also be an important addition to the vast collection of handbooks for artists held by the Rijksmuseum Library. The 65 illustrations depict not only richly decorated keys and lock mechanisms, but also the first wheelchair and even prosthetic hands and legs. Technical manuals such as this would often either be worn out through use or go out of fashion with the advent of new inventions, and they are exceedingly rare nowadays.

Portrait of the engraver Joseph-Charles de Meulemeester by Joseph-François Ducq
Through the support of the Gerhards Fund/Rijksmuseum Fund Rijksmuseum has acquired a painting by Joseph-François Ducq (1762-1829), an artist from the Southern Netherlands (Flanders) Portrait of the Engraver Joseph-Charles de Meulemeester at Work in the Raphael Loggia in the Vatican was made in Rome in 1813. Ducq portrayed his fellow artist full-length, resting one foot on the stretcher of a chair. On the seat are his palette, a box of watercolours, a glass of water and a brush. De Meulemeester had set himself the aim of reproducing Raphael’s entire oeuvre, and he can be seen here working on a drawing of a section of the ceiling above him – the Rijksmuseum collection contains a print by De Meulemeester of Rapheal’s The Ecstasy of St. Cecilia. Further along the arcade we can see one artist standing with a drawing folder under his arm and another on a tall scaffold, making a drawing of the ceiling. At the far end, a Swiss Guardsman can be seen guarding the large door.

De Meulemeester and Ducq belonged to a group of artists from the Southern Netherlands whom the government had sent to Rome to complete their education and to study the Italian masterpieces. This fine depiction of the activities of an artist in Italy is also a historical document, because on the shadowed pillar on the left we can see, written in red and brown paint, the names of all the artists who had come from the Southern Netherlands to Rome, with their year of arrival.

The Rijksmuseum collection contains works sent back by artists from the Northern Netherlands who went to Rome in about the same period. There were many contacts between these artists and their counterparts in the Southern Netherlands. However, except for a single painting by Frans Vervloet, these compatriots are not represented in our collection. This portrait of De Meulemeester serves as the desired link between North and South. This painting will be an attractive and valuable addition to the Waterloo Gallery, which is partly dedicated to Dutch artists in Italy.