RKD STUDIES

The career of Pieter Christoffel Wonder can be placed within a long tradition of artists leaving from the Low Countries to find their success in Britain. Through wide-ranging research, Sander Karst demonstrates how hundreds of artists from the Low Countries migrated to Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries. The influx peaked between 1680 and 1720 and declined steadily thereafter.¹ Yet, Britain retained its appeal for foreign artists. The 18th century saw the rise of a vibrant art market and active artists’ societies, reaching a highpoint with the founding of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1769. From the beginning, the Royal Academy relied on the participation of foreign artists. Nine of the 36 founding members were born and educated in continental Europe and at least nine of the British members received their training abroad. To be a member, one had to be resident in Britain, whereas no such restriction applied to the mere exhibition of paintings in London. In addition to the Royal Academy, the British Institution was founded to ‘encourage and reward the talents of the Artists of the United Kingdom’.² Two exhibitions were held annually, an old master exhibition and a sale exhibition with works of the modern school of British painting [6]. Here, the policy for artists to submit work was stricter. The modern art exhibition was to ‘be exclusively confined to the production of Artists of, or resident in, the United Kingdom’.³ By the 1820s, however, it was common practice for foreign-based artists to exhibit their works there too. The growing opportunities for modern artists at societies, exhibitions and the many galleries of London, together with the rising popularity of the old masters, were attractive ingredients for Dutch artists to make the move. When in the 1770s the painters Wybrand Hendriks and Hendrik Meijer departed for England it was most likely because of these ‘favourable prospects’ the country had to offer.⁴

The Dutch thus never left completely and some artists remained active in Britain from the 1720s onwards. Compared to the previous centuries, the numbers do not amount to much, but towards the end of the 18th century a modest increase can be observed which continued well into the 19th century. My research has identified 81 artists from the Kingdom of the Netherlands – present-day Belgium included – who spent time in England between 1780 and 1830, with peaks in the late 1780s and the 1820s.⁵ The numbers include artists who were already in Britain before that time, artists who only briefly visited and artists of whom anything specific about their stay remains unknown. While at first the travellers generally stayed for a longer period and settled in Britain, in later years more artists came on short trips. One must keep in mind the political situation in Europe in these decades, particularly the Napoleonic wars that kept Britain distanced from the Continent for many years. A decline in traveling artists between 1803 and 1815 is therefore understandable.

Of this group of 81, 44 artists settled in England between 1780 and 1830 on a more permanent basis. Among them were painters, printmakers, draughtsmen, sculptors and other artistic professions. The group included three female artists: Katharina Wilhelmina Schweickhardt (1776-1830), who came to London along with her father Hendrik Willem Schweickhardt (1746-1797) and started drawing and painting in watercolour under his guidance. However, she ultimately became known as a poet rather than a visual artist. Jeannette Carolina Gräver (1813-after 1837) was a painter and watercolourist of still-lifes who married an Englishman. Lastly, Magdalena van Fowinkel (1785-1875), was active in Britain between 1826 and 1875. She exhibited 5 works at the Royal Academy: a still life in 1831, a portrait of a lady in 1833, in 1835 again a (or the same) portrait of a lady and a ‘view of an ancient castle of the counts of Flanders in Ghent, and the birth-place of John of Gaunt’, and in 1843 again a still life from nature.⁶

As was common, many practiced several disciplines. Painters also worked as engravers, illustrators or draughtsmen, some specialised in miniature or decorative painting. Some had other professions outside the artworld. Jan van Rijmsdyck (c. 1730-c. 1788) was a doctor and art collector who was active for some time as a portrait painter. His son Andreas van Rijmsdijck (1753-1786), however, made name as a (miniature) painter and engraver. Jean Charles Bentinck (1763-1833), was an officer at the British army and an amateur draughtsman and etcher. Johannes Swertner (1746-1813) moved to England as a preacher, but also worked as a printmaker and miniature painter. Some of his etchings are kept in the collection the British Museum; topographical views of London [7], but also two views of country estates, printed by William Wilson as an illustration to A Description of the Country from Thirty to Forty Miles round Manchester, 1795 by John Aikin (1747-1822).⁷ In all, painters – often working as draughtsmen or watercolourists on the side- and printmakers form the majority. Their activities in London will be discussed in the following sections. It will become clear that the British artworld offered more possibilities for these Dutch immigrants than opportunities for artistic creation alone.

6
David Wilkie (Sir)
An Exhibition of Old Masters at the British Institution, c. 1815
Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum

7
Johannes Swertner published by Johannes Swertner
View of the Port of London, dated 1801
London (England), British Museum, inv./cat.nr. 1880,1113.1705