The course Drawing in Focus was a collaboration between the University of Amsterdam and the Amsterdam Museum. With a select group of students, we studied varied drawings in the collection of the museum. The drawing of my choice was The Entrance to a Garden by Jan Lievens (1607-1674). This outstanding drawing shows a gate to a garden, with a lady, a child and a dog. The trees are delicately rendered with brown ink. The tone is caused by the type of paper, namely Japanese paper.
Pen and ink on Japanese paper, h 222 mm x w 371 mm
Amsterdam Museum, inv. no. TA 10207
In my research, I assembled all Dutch seventeenth-century drawings known to be drawn on Japanese paper. From this systematic collection, I could conclude that Japanese paper was almost exclusively used in Amsterdam, specifically in the close circle around Rembrandt (1606-1669). If you are interested in the list, send me a message!
See the video below for my vlog for the Amsterdam Museum website.