In this winter’s presentation, it is the round, radiant face of the young Dominique Vivant Denon (1747-1825) that first catches our attention (fig. 1). Dressed in a nightcap, the mischievously smiling man points his finger to us, as if he has just made a joke at our expense. This is a rare impression of one of Denon’s earliest self-portraits, which stands out for its comical attitude. Little did Denon, around 30 years old at the time, know that he would become one of the most important figures in the cultural landscape of his day. An engraver, writer, diplomat, and archaeologist, he was appointed the first director of the Louvre Museum by Napoleon.

Three grimacing men that look us in the eye defiantly are part of Odoardo Fialetti’s drawing manual Tutte le parti del corpo humano (1608) (fig. 2). Including a variety of anatomical studies, postures and typologies of human faces, the images collected in this album were destined to be copied by budding artists. Fialetti’s publication – a rare copy in its original state – is a welcome addition to the collection of the Fondation Custodia, in which this kind of material is well represented.

These three ‘tronies’ are surpassed in their quirkiness only by the unflattering caricature of The Archbishop of Reims (fig. 3). The mezzotint, printed in colours, is one of a series of 24 satirical anti-clerical and anti-French engravings, mostly drawn by Cornelis Dusart (1660-1704), and published in 1691 under the title: Les Héros de la Ligue ou La Procession monacale conduite par Louis XIV pour la conversion des protestants de son royaume. The series was published in response to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in October 1685, which banned Protestantism in France. The portraits ridicule the Catholic ecclesiastics who were the major players in the repression of Protestants. Here, the archbishop, with his red cheeks and mitre adorned with cards, dice and tobacco pipes, appears to be a man more likely to be seduced by the pleasures of life than by pious religious practice.

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Dusart’s master, Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685), was an important precursor of the genre of caricature. Renowned for his depictions of peasants and inn scenes enlivened by the consumption of alcohol and tobacco, Van Ostade’s popular imagery was widely disseminated through his autograph engravings and numerous paintings. The Fondation Custodia has added this rare preparatory drawing for the Peasant Couple to its collection (fig. 4a-b). The composition’s outlines were incised, and the back of the sheet rubbed with red chalk in order to transfer the drawing to the copper plate. The work thus aptly illustrates the printmaking process.

The cycle concludes with a mocking portrait of an English gentleman painter by the Swedish artist Karl Johan Lindström (c. 1800/01-c. 1846/49) (fig. 5). In a set of four lively watercolours, Lindström represented artists of various nationalities, characterised by their varying approaches to plein-air landscape painting – a theme dear to the Fondation Custodia. This poshly clad Englishman scans the landscape through whimsical goggles, while being surrounded by all manner of telescopes and measuring tools, no doubt referring to his overly rigid approach to his art.

Assembled in this small selection are some of the last acquisitions made by Ger Luijten. It presents only a sample of his wide-ranging interests in the world of art, which ran across periods, regions, and media. His numerous acquisitions are all united by the sense of originality, artistry, and rarity he perceived in these works, but above all by his insatiable curiosity about art history and humanity.

Saskia van Altena