De aan Hendrik Voogd (1768-1839) toegeschreven tekeningen in de Gallerie dell'Accademia te Venetië Hun herkomst en hun ware auteur: Francesco Londonio

Abstract

AbstractIn 1956 Ilaria Toesca published an article in Bolletino d'Arte on a group of 19th-century drawings of North European origin cntitled : 'Alcuni disegni delle gallerie di Venezia. The drawings in question were by the Englishman William Young Ottley and the Dutchmen David Pierre Giottin Humbert de Superville and Hcndrik Voogd. I confine my remarks to the latter, who lived in Rome from 1788 until his death in 1839. The drawings come from the bequest of the Milan art-lover Giuseppe Bossi, with whom Voogd had a good business relationship. Discussing a signed drawing by Voogd, Toesca attributed 21 other drawings to him. The signature on the Venetian sheet is not the only proof of Voogd's authorship. Further evidence is provided by the circumstance that it is a preliminary study for a worked-up wash drawing in Hamburg (Kunsthalle) and also that it was preceded by a sketch in the Amsterdam Historical Museum. The topographical particulars of these three drawings arc discussed here. The attribution of the other 21 drawings is made 'dubitativamente' by Toesca. In my opinion her doubts are justified. Neither stylistically nor technically do they bear a resemblance to the rest of Voogd's oeuvre. The fact that the motifs (landscapes, cattle, studies of trees and plants) do occur in Voogd's work probably led to the attribution. The back of one of the drawings is inscribed 'Londonio'. The sale catalogue of Bossi's bequest (1818) lists both the Voogd drawing and work by Londonio. Francesco Londonio (1723-1783) was a Milan engraver and draughtsman who is chiefly known for his prints. Various print rooms in Europe possess work by him. It appears that the drawings attributed to Voogd are really preliminary studies by Londonio which he used for his oeuvre of prints. Indeed, some of the motifs in a series of etchings in the Rijksprentenkabinet in Amsterdam derive from the Venetian drawings. I therefore conclude that the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice own only one (signed) drawing by Hendrik Voogd, purchased by Bossi personally from the artist during his second visit to Rome (1810), and that the name of the true artist - Francesco Londonio - was lost when the sheets were removed from the original collector's albums.