Inscribed CASTIGATIO (recto), with inscription Het Rasphuis op de Heiligeweg/ door H Schouten (verso), pencil, pen and black ink and grey wash heightened with white, black ink framing lines, indented (verso), watermark, watermark I Villedary

231 x 334 mm. (9 1/8 x 13 1/8 in.)

Engraved:

Anonymous, Fouquet-Atlas, I.H. Van Eeghen, Catalogus 115 prenten Amsterdam, P. Fouquet, 1760-1783, Amsterdam 1975, no.32

Exhibited: Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Koninklijk Oudeidkundig Genootschap, Amsterdam in tekening/ Verzameling Leonhardt, 1962, no. 50.

Hermanus is a topographical draughtsman of German descent, who received his first training from his father Jan Schouten. Hermanus was a pupil of Paulus van Liender and of the collector and amateur draughtsman Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, for whom he drew a series of Amsterdam views. Schouten also worked for the art dealer and publisher Pieter Fouquet, for whose famous Atlas of Amsterdam he supplied dozens of drawings around 1770, most of which were engraved. The present drawing is part of this group. In 1792 Schouten and his wife moved to Haarlem, but he continued his views in Amsterdam. Schouten reached the peak of his career in the decade of 1780 to 1790, when his topographical views became increasingly detailed and precise.

The drawing was engraved by an anonymous engraver, Fouquet-Atlas with minor differences, where Schouten is named as the artist. Schouten was employed by the art dealer and publisher Pieter Fouquet (1729-1800), circa 1770, to produce numerous drawings for him, most of which he then engraved himself.

One of the buildings depicted, Het Raspius, was built in 1595-96 and soon housed the most important criminals, who made wood dies for textiles and stencils. Closed down in 1825, it was demolished in 1892 and replaced by a swimming pool, which was in turn closed down in 1987. All that remains today is the entrance.

Dr Erik Loeffler has kindly informed me there is a coloured version, same size, sold in Amsterdam on October 26, 1937, lot 1159.