Advanced Search 
Weissenbruch came from a family of artists and began taking lessons from the artist Bartholomeus van Hove as a boy. There he met the artist Bernard Blommers, who would also emerge as a leading figure in The Hague School; both pupils contributed to the decoration of scenery for the Royal Theater in The Hague. Early on, Weissenbruch, very much under the influence of seventeenth-century painter Jacob van Ruisdael, painted in a precise, detailed style, but as he matured his palette grew more restrained and his brushwork, looser. He was a founder of the Pulchri Art Studio and found local fame early in his career (the Teylers Museum, Haarlem, acquired one of his early panoramic paintings) but his was not widespread celebrity. In 1900 he travelled to Barbizon and thereafter, developed an even more rigorous brushstroke and muted palette.
A Milkman with his Milkcans
Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch (Dutch, 1824–1903)
19th century
Medium/Technique
Transparent and opaque watercolor over brown ink
Dimensions
Sheet: 32.2 × 45.4 cm (12 11/16 × 17 7/8 in.)
Framed: 54.5 × 65 × 2 cm (21 7/16 × 25 9/16 × 13/16 in.)
Framed: 54.5 × 65 × 2 cm (21 7/16 × 25 9/16 × 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
The Maida and George Abrams Collection—Gift in honor of Clifford S. Ackley, William W. Robinson, and in memory of Justice Ruth I. Abrams
Accession Number2021.305
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsDrawings
Weissenbruch came from a family of artists and began taking lessons from the artist Bartholomeus van Hove as a boy. There he met the artist Bernard Blommers, who would also emerge as a leading figure in The Hague School; both pupils contributed to the decoration of scenery for the Royal Theater in The Hague. Early on, Weissenbruch, very much under the influence of seventeenth-century painter Jacob van Ruisdael, painted in a precise, detailed style, but as he matured his palette grew more restrained and his brushwork, looser. He was a founder of the Pulchri Art Studio and found local fame early in his career (the Teylers Museum, Haarlem, acquired one of his early panoramic paintings) but his was not widespread celebrity. In 1900 he travelled to Barbizon and thereafter, developed an even more rigorous brushstroke and muted palette.
Signed
Signed, lower left in watercolor: J H Weissenbruch
ProvenanceBy about 1990, George S. and Maida Abrams, Newton, MA; 2021, gift of George S. Abrams to the MFA. (Accession Date: April 14, 2021)