Jacob Dirk van Herwerden (1806-1879)

A view of East Java with travellers on horseback, in the distance Segara Wedi with Gunung Bromo

signed and dated, 'JD v Herwerden / f 1853.' (lower right)

oil on canvas, 51x69 cm

Provenance: -It is suggested that this painting has been in the collection of Dr C. Hofstede de Groot.

Jacob Dirk van Herwerden (Zutphen 1806 - The Hague 1879) went to Indonesia as an ordinary seaman in 1823. He joined the civil service and became Controller of Ngrawa, East Java, in 1834. From 1835 until 1840 he was Assistant Resident of Ngrawa, and from 1840 until 1844 Assistant Resident of Probolinggo. He became Resident of Madiun in 1844, a post he held for the following four years. He returned to The Hague in 1848. During his stay in Indonesia, he made numerous sketches after nature which he later developed as oil paintings in the Netherlands. The Belgian painter Jean François Xavier Roffiaen (1820-1898) was his teacher. Van Herwerden manages to depict vegetation particularly well and in detail. He held a number of exhibitions in The Hague between 1853 and 1872, where many of these paintings of Indonesia were shown. Source: J. Bastin, B. Brommer, 'Nineteenth century prints and illustrated books of Indonesia: with particular reference to the print collection of the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, a descriptive bibliography', Utrecht 1979, p. 320.