7 November 2024 / The Hague

It is with great sadness that we learned that our dear friend, colleague and former co-editor Robert-Jan te Rijdt passed away Nov. 5 in his hometown of The Hague.

Since his retirement three years ago as curator of drawings at the Rijksmuseum, a position he held for more than 30 years, he struggled with his health, which did not prevent him from continuing his research on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Dutch drawings.

Please see below the In Memoriam written by our former chairman Charles Dumas.

Robert-Jan te Rijdt, 9 Sep. 2014
(foto Carla van de Puttelaar)
(click on the image to enlarge)

In Memoriam Robert-Jan te Rijdt (1955-2024)

By Charles Dumas

On 5 November 2024, Robert-Jan te Rijdt, who served on the editorial board of Delineavit et Sculpsit from December 1991 through April 2021, passed away at the age of 69. Besides regular editorial work – reading and commenting on incoming copy – Robert-Jan also made a large number of contributions to the journal himself: twelve essays and eleven miscellania. Moreover, in 1994 he was one of the authors of the catalogue of drawings and prints of the Rijnsburg ruin, while in 1997 he was responsible for the entries of the eighteenth-century Dutch drawings from the collection of the Jean van Caloen Foundation. He also co-authored with Janno van Tatenhove an article on drawings by Jan van Mieris in 2007, and in 2016 together with J.W. Niemeijer an extra-thick special issue on drawings made à l’impromptu (on a whim), an aspect of Dutch drawing of the eighteenth century that had not previously received attention.

Robert-Jan studied Art History at Leiden University, where his studies included lectures on drawing by Dr. Jaap Bolten. During his studies he worked at the W.P. van Stockum auction house in The Hague. Starting as a general assistant, he soon developed into a cataloguer of Old Master drawings and prints. After graduating – on a biography and catalogue of the Dutch work of Otto Howen (1774-1848) – he worked at the Iconographical Bureau in The Hague until 1991, where he specialized in eighteenth-century portraits. In 1991, he was appointed curator of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century drawings at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, a position he would hold until his retirement. Among the exhibitions he curated there were Dutch Figure Studies 1700-1850 in 1994, on studies after dressed models at Dutch drawing societies, a type of figure study that had never before been the subject of study, and in 2002-2003 From Watteau to Ingres, on eighteenth-century French drawings from the Rijksmuseum’s collection, which had a second venue at the Fondation Custodia in Paris.

Following in the footsteps of Adolph Staring and J.W. Niemeijer, Robert-Jan developed into our country’s leading specialist of Dutch drawings from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He always generously shared his vast knowledge in this field with colleagues, collectors and the auction houses.

In recent years, Robert-Jan suffered many setbacks, especially in the medical field. However, with admirable willpower, he managed to overcome them each time, until he was told in October 2024 that his conditions were untreatable.

It was planned to offer Robert-Jan a liber amicorum in August 2025, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, with some sixty art-historical contributions from colleagues from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. This liber will now be transformed into a commemorative volume, the presentation of which may take place in autumn 2025 during a symposium dedicated to him at the Rijksmuseum. This volume will include a complete bibliography of Robert-Jan’s publications.