Amsterdam Schouwburg

De Nieuwe Hofzaal 1766 After Barbiers

Decor on the stage of the Theater on the Keizersgracht.

Etching & Engraving by J Smit 1732-1789)

Pieter Barbers (1717-1780)

Caspar Jacobz Philips

Amsterdam City Archives Collection

Dated 1766

Caspar Jacobsz Philips (1732 – 1789), was an 18th-century engraver and architectural historian of the Northern Netherlands.

Barbiers came from a large family of artists. He was a painter, draughtsman and engraver, as well as a wallpaper manufacturer and a designer for the theatre.

De Nieuwe Hofzaal 1766 After Barbiers, by C. Phillips

This is one of two additional plates to the set of 12

engravings of theatrical productions at the famous Schouwburg Theatre, Amsterdam.

This one De Nieuvwe Hofzaal seems to be the only one worked on by Pieter Barbiers.

Incredible perspectival work from what is thought to be one of the greatest sets of theatrical engravings ever. Very good condition. On thick, laid, eighteenth century “inch” paper. Half inch plus margins all around from plate line. One very slight insignificant fold centre. No holes, tears or stains although slightly time stained to margins. Lovely black and grey impression showing the use of both engraving and etching. Known to have been done in 1766 before the theatre burned down the second times in 1772 with loss of life. Title and production in old Dutch.

Sheet size measures W 18 x H 14.25 inches

Slightly irregular edges

Numbered 1 lower right ( the first of the two rare extra plates)

Secure postage and packing £7.49

Royal Mail First Class Tracked & Signed For

International postage available upon request/arrangement

Like movie palaces of the 20th century, theatres of the 18th century were beautiful structures that attracted tourists and enchanted habitués. These theatres were illustrated in guide books, included in histories of their city and—as in Amsterdam—made the subject of fine engravings and etchings, to be sold singly or in albums. As well as the outside façade of the theatres, the insides, and especially the scenery and costumes of characters,were the subject of fine engravings.

The first Schouwburg theatre (1637) began a tradition of publishing series of illustrations about itself (Gascoigne, World, 185). In 1664, the original structure was demolished and a new one built on the same site, constructed "in the Italian style as used in Venice" (188).The second Schouwburg burned down in 1772, with some loss of life and a renewed call by the Puritans to ban theatres altogether.

Of the several attempts to commemorate the second Schouwburg, the Smit series of twelve engravings is the most important because of its accuracy. Gascoigne says the Smit engravings are "the most famous of all Schouwburg illustrations, the magnificent series of thirteen etchings of the theatre's scene published by J. Smit between 1738 and1772….[These provide] details from which one could recreate each Schouwburg setting precisely in terms of its separate wings, borders and backcloths….And this was accuracy beyond the call of necessity….Smit presents twelve of the Schouwburg scenes in their entirety exactly as they were first created, each one a complete and unified setting in itself"(Gascoigne, Shuffling, 98).

Unlike modern theatre scenery, in the early-modern periods sets were expensive and bulky.Rather than make new sets, the originals were modified to suit the present play in the repertoire. It was generally accepted that with about a dozen complete settings a theatre was equipped for all contingencies.

"The most impressive series of such etchings—and probably the greatest of all theatrical prints from any period—are the thirteen views of Schouwburg settings published between1738 and 1772 [including the Smith engraving without passe-partout De Nieuwe Hofzaal].All these prints show the same precise awareness of each separate wing in every setting….Only a few of the prints were colored…even the colouring seems to have been done with the same conscientious accuracy" (Gascoigne, World, 190). Smit's series constitute an iconographical record of a major theatre almost as complete as the record of Swedish scenery at Drottningholm, which was preserved from the 18th century andpublished in an atlas in the 1930s.(3)