Gerrit Laurens Keultjes

Gerrit Laurens Keultjes (also Gerardus Laurentius Keultjes ; born August 10, 1786 in Utrecht , † September 16, 1821 in Bogor on Java ) was a Dutch painter .

Origin and work

From the age of 16 to 22 he learned painting in a Roman Catholic orphanage in Utrecht . As an artist, often known under the name Gerardus Laurentius Keultjes, he initially devoted himself to portrait and genre painting . On a sea voyage that he undertook with the captain J. van Nes on the Mediterranean Sea , he made the decision to devote himself to marine painting . His following works therefore consisted of drawings and paintings with sea views and ships.

Invasion of the Algerians by the united English-Dutch fleet, 1817

On June 8, 1814 , he married Johanna van der Rijst, who was born in Utrecht in 1792, in his hometown .

Certified commissie

In 1820 he was appointed a member of the recently founded Natural History Commission of the Dutch East Indies (Natuurkundige Commissie van Nederlandsch Indië). The respected painter was supposed to support the two young naturalists Heinrich Kuhl and Johan Coenraad van Hasselt on their research trips to the island of Java and record the collected material in drawings. The research group reached the island in December 1820 and went on the planned expeditions without interruption. In the vicinity of Bogor the volcanic massifs were visited, the highest of which, the Gunung Pangrango (3019 m), they were the first to climb. Due to the overexertion and the extreme climate, Keultjes and the head of the commission Kuhl fell seriously ill in August 1821 . Keultjes succumbed to his tropical disease on September 16 , although it is not known what it was. Kuhl, who was ten years his junior, had died of liver infection two days earlier .

Merits

The scientific harvest that was later sent to the Leiden museum also included 1200 drawings, most of which probably go back to Keultjes. In the following years most of these drawings were lost in the museum. The Dutch botanist Prof. Jacob Gijsbert Samuel van Breda (1788–1867) was able to lithograph some originals in his 1827 work.

Works (selection)

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam : (Schilderijencollectie Rijksmuseum):

• Saint Peter (De heilige Petrus), 1816, 65 × 53 cm, oil on canvas
• Assault of the Algerians by the united English-Dutch fleet (De aanval van het verenigd Engels-Nederlands eskader op Algiers, 1816), 1817, 61 × 86 cm, oil on canvas

In private ownership:

• The music lesson (De muziekles), 32 × 26 cm, oil on wood

literature

• Jakob Gijsbert Samuel van Breda: Genera et species orchidearum et asclepiadearum quas in itinere per insulam Java / Collegerunt H. Kuhl et JC Van Hasselt; ed. et descriptiones curavit JGS Van Breda . Lith. Franciscus MJ Kierdorff & François de Keghel, Gent, 1827: 88 pp.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Roeland van Eijnden & Adriaan van der Willigen: Geschiedenis der Vaderlandsche Schilderkunst . Ed. De Wed A. Loosjes, Pz., Haarlem, Volume 3, 1820: 526 pp.
2. ^ GK Nagler: New general artist lexicon or news of the life and works of painters, sculptors, builders, engravers, form cutters, lithographers, draftsmen, medalists, ivory workers, etc. EA Eichmann, Munich, Volume 6, Haspel-Keym, 1820: 572 pp.
3. ^ Heinrich Kuhl & Johan Coenraad van Hasselt: Uittreksels uit briev van de heeren Kuhl en van Hasselt, aan Zijne Excellentie den Ministerie voor het openbaar Onderwijs, de Nationale Nijverheid en de colonies. Buitenzorg the 10th of August 1821 . In: Algemeene Konst- en Letter-Bode . Bij de Wed. Adriaan Loosjes Pz., Haarlem, 1822. Volume 1: 149-152.
4. ^ Johan Coenraad van Hasselt (1822): Excerpt from a letter from JC van Hasselt to Professor van Swinderen in Gröningen . In: ISIS or Encyclopaedic Journal, excellent for natural history, comparative anatomy and physiology . FA Brockhaus, Leipzig, 1822, Volume 2: pp. 903-904.