Rare 17th-Century Drawing Book by Rombout Uylenburgh Displayed at Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has opened a three-month exhibition of a 17th-century drawing book attributed to the Dutch artist Rombout Uylenburgh, marking the first public display of the volume since 1935. The book, titled "Konst boeck voor Reyer Claessoon" and dated roughly 1600–1635, contains approximately 30 drawings, including a series of elaborate biblical scenes rendered on blue paper. Many of the full-page illustrations retain remarkably vivid colors because the book was exposed to very little light during centuries of private ownership.

The van Eeghen family, which has a long history of arts philanthropy in Amsterdam, donated the book to the museum after holding it for more than 300 years. The gift was made in honor of C.P. van Eeghen (1921–2014), who first noticed similarities between drawings in the book and a known Uylenburgh drawing sheet in the Rijksmuseum collection. Art historian Erik P. Löffler subsequently investigated the connection and, in 2013, published an attribution of a group of the book's drawings to Uylenburgh, with some reservations.

Rombout Uylenburgh was born around 1580 in Leeuwarden and later moved with his family to Kraków, Poland, where he became a royal court painter under Sigismund III. Around 1612 he relocated to Danzig (now Gdańsk), where he developed a reputation for grisailles — monochromatic paintings typically executed in shades of gray. Uylenburgh died in 1627 or 1628, after which his work fell into relative obscurity. Today, the family name is better known through his brother Hendrick, a prominent Amsterdam art dealer who worked closely with Rembrandt van Rijn; Rembrandt married Saskia van Uylenburgh, a cousin of Rombout and Hendrick, in 1634.

The book's original owner, Reyer Claesz, was an Amsterdam Mennonite merchant who knew Uylenburgh; both families belonged to the same Mennonite circle. Gold lettering on the binding reads "Konstboeck voor Reyer Claessoon," or "Art book for Reyer Claessoon [Claesz]." The van Eeghen family also had longstanding ties to Amsterdam's Mennonite community, which a Rijksmuseum representative suggested may have helped keep the volume within the family for generations.

The exact purpose of the drawing book remains uncertain, as does the precise path by which it entered the van Eeghen family's possession. The biblical drawings share details with two surviving Uylenburgh paintings, including elaborate architectural backgrounds, carefully rendered drapery and figures, and the use of white highlights to emphasize light and form. The volume also contains "all kinds of scribbles and small sketches," according to a museum statement, and has remained entirely intact.

Rijksmuseum General Director Taco Dibbits described the book as a highlight of Dutch draughtsmanship and said the donation enables the museum to introduce the public to an artist of whom very little work has survived. Besides a small number of paintings, only two drawings by Uylenburgh are known to have survived, one of which is already in the Rijksmuseum collection.

The exhibition provides researchers with an opportunity to study the illustrations and expand understanding of Uylenburgh's life, artistic techniques, and workshop. Löffler's research also contributed to the attribution of five paintings held in Amsterdam's Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder museum to Uylenburgh's workshop. Museum officials say the gift will enable further research into the artist's work.

The drawing book was last exhibited publicly at Amsterdam's now-defunct Museum Fodor in 1935. Its current display at the Rijksmuseum represents the first time in nearly a century that the object has been accessible to the public.