One of Seven Sheets with Studies from a Lost Drawing-Book: Four Landscapes with Herdsmen and Cattle

In the spring of 2008, Bubb Kuyper in Haarlem auctioned off a number of drawings in an extensive sale. Among them is a lot with seven double-sided sheets from a lost drawing book by Barent Hendrik Thier. As the museum owns five finished drawings but not a single drawing book sheet by this originally German artist, this group was purchased. The seven sheets show similarities to still intact drawing books by Thier in Teylers Museum in Haarlem and the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin. Characteristic features are the arrangement of the compositions or individual figures in two, three or four horizontal registers, the combination of pen and brown ink with grey wash, and the optimal use of the available space by also including the reverse sides. In his drawing books, Thier accumulated a stock of models of animals, human figures, landscape elements and also townscapes, to be used later in his studio in independent drawings or paintings intended for sale. He observed people in their daily activities and animals, mostly sheep and cows, in all kinds of poses, from various angles, sometimes combined in compositions. He also drew landscapes and townscapes. [ text: Albert Elen ]