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| Jean Grandjean Arcadian landscape 1777 watercolor British Museum |
Get hence foule Griefe, the canker of the minde:
Farewell Complaint, the miser's only pleasure:
Away vayne Cares, by which fewe men do finde
Their sought-for treasure.
Ye helpless Sighes, blowe out your breath to nought,
Teares, drowne your selves, for woe (your cause) is wasted,
Thought, thinke to ende, too long the frute of thought
My minde hath tasted.
But thou, sure Hope, tickle my leaping heart.
Comfort, step thou in place of wonted sadnes.
Fore-felt Desire, begin to savour parte
Of comming gladnes.
Let voice of Sighes into cleare musike runne,
Eyes, let your Teares with gazing now be mended,
In stede of Thought, true pleasure be begunne,
And never ended.
– Sir Philip Sidney, from the third book of the The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia
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| Jean Grandjean Arcadian landscape 1777 watercolor British Museum |
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| Jean Grandjean Arcadian landscape ca. 1772-81 watercolor Rijksmuseum |
Jean Grandjean (1752-1781) made these idealized drawings in his native Amsterdam during the decade before his epic journey to Rome. In spirit, his work was never set anywhere else than Italy. Paradoxically, he had to render a romantic yet believable Italy (without seeing it) on paper before he could find patrons willing to send him in reality to record the sorts of scenes he had already furnished by means of miscellaneous borrowings and an aggressive imagination.
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| Jean Grandjean Arcadian landscape with tomb 1777 drawing Sotheby's Amsterdam |
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| Jean Grandjean Arcadian landscape 1778 drawing Rijksmuseum |
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| Jean Grandjean Fresco design with Arcadian landscape ca. 1772-81 drawing Rijksmuseum |
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| Jean Grandjean Terrace at Villa Aldobrandini, Frascati 1779 drawing Rijksmuseum |
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| Jean Grandjean Roadway between walls ca. 1772-81 drawing Rijksmuseum |
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| Jean Grandjean Bridge at Tivoli ca. 1779-81 drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Jean Grandjean Grotto ca. 1779-81 drawing Graphische Sammlung im Städelschen Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main |
Grandjean's explorations resulted in many splendid drawings, including the beautiful collection now at the Rijksmuseum, but this enterprise was then cut off after only two years by the artist's sudden death in 1781 at the age of 29.
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| Jean Grandjean Study of Drapery ca. 1772-81 drawing Rijksmuseum |
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| Jean Grandjean Study of drapery ca. 1772-81 drawing Rijksmuseum |
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| Jean Grandjean Study of Drapery ca. 1772-81 drawing Rijksmuseum |
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| Jean Grandjean Study of drapery ca. 1772-81 drawing Rijksmuseum |