Voyage en Hollande.

[Brussels], 1791.

8°. 66, [10] pp.

Contemporary pink paper boards.

Manuscript diary of a connoisseur describing a journey through the Netherlands, begun in June 1791, with visits to numerous important painting collections. The journey begins and ends in Brussels, making it likely that the anonymous author was a resident of that city. It recounts visits to places in present-day Belgium (Mechelen and Antwerp) before continuing through Holland with visits to Rotterdam, The Hague, Leiden, Amsterdam, and other places.
               The principal focus of the journal is the viewing of paintings, which appears to have been the main purpose of the journey. Numerous individual works by Netherlandish and foreign Old Masters are recorded with name, title and often subject description. Of particular interest are the visits to privately owned cabinets, such as that of the art dealer P. C. Huybrechts, which contained “Un St. Paul par Rembrandt” and a long description of “un des plus fameux tableaux du Corrège (Corregio)”. While in the most beautifu;l city of The Hague the author visited the painting collection in the “Stadhouderlijk Paleis”, listing numerous works preserved there. At the end there is an index referring to the artists whose works are mentioned in the manuscript.
              Altogether a charming small manuscript, written in a fine and clearly legible hand, containing a wealth of information on some of the greatest paintings of the Old Masters in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Condition: binding worn, particularly at the spine, but intact. Contents in very good condition.