signed and dated, respectively: Ik Ouwater fecit 1780 and Ik Ouwater fecit 1780
both oil on canvas, 18 ¾ x 22 ½ inches (47.5 x 57 cm.)
Provenance: Sale, Sotheby’s, London, 24 June 1964, no. 119, to Hallsborough Gallery, London, until at least 1966; Francis Dashwood, Esq., West Wycombe; Sale, Sotheby’s, London, 14 November 1973, lots 258 and 259; Private Collection, England.
Exhibition: London, Hallsborough Gallery, May 12-July 23, 1965, nos. 25 and 26.
Literature: Advertisements for Hallsborough Gallery in Apollo, May 1965, and Connoisseur, July and December 1965 and January 1966; H.C. de Bruijn, “Enige stadspoorten op schilderijen uit het tijdvak 1750-1830,” in Antiek, vol. 15, 1981, pp. 518-19, ill. p. 519, fig. 10 (Catharijnepoort) and p. 520, fig. 11 (Wittevrouwenpoort); J. de Meyere, Utrecht op schilderijen. Zes eeuwen topografische voorstellingen van de stad Utrecht, 1988, pp. 68 and 84, ill. p. 65, fig. 8 (Catharijnepoort) and p. 82, fig. 23 (Wittevrouwenpoort); C. Dumas, Haagse Stadsgezichten 1550–1800. Topografische schilderijen van het Haags Historisch Museum, 1991, p. 567, under note 11.
This pair of paintings depicts two of Utrecht’s four city gates. The Catharijnepoort was designed by the Utrecht painter and architect, Paulus Moreelse (1571-1638) and completed in 1626. Moreelse had finished plans for a much larger expansion of the city in 1624 but only the city gate was completed. It contained a storage room for gunpowder, the municipal archives, as well as a small prison known as “Paradise.” The gate itself was named for a nearby convent dedicated to St. Catharine. To the right of the gate is the city windmill known as “De Fortuin.” An elegant carriage crosses the drawbridge and slender trees, pedestrians, dogs, and chickens appear on the near quai in the immediate foreground. The companion piece depicting the Wittevrouwenpoort has a complementary design with a diagonally receding canal, prominent near bank with trees, figures, and animals, and a swift-looking, two-wheeled buggy on the drawbridge. This ga¬te was originally constructed in the Middle Ages but rebuilt in 1649-53 by Hendrick Artsz. Struys and the famous architect Pieter Post, who also designed the Royal residence, Huis ten Bosch, in The Hague. Post was responsible for the upper part of the gate. Like its pendant, the Wittevrouwenpoort was named for the convent of nuns, specifically the “White Nuns”, nearby. At the back right is Utrecht’s medieval Domtoren, the tallest cathedral tower in the Netherlands. Both city gates unfortunately were demolished in 1858.
Little is known of Isaak Ouwater’s life, but his dated paintings prove that he was active primarily in his hometown of Amsterdam, where he painted among other edifices, the Westerkerk, Waag, Prinsengracht, Nieuwe Kerk, Muntoren, Dom, etc. However he was also active in Haarlem (see the Groot Houtpoort, dated 1777, Sale New York (Sotheby’s), May 22, 1992, no. 30; and Grote Markt, Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem), The Hague (see the paintings dated respectively 1782 and 1788: Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; and Sale New York (Christie’s), June 11, 1989, no. 170), Hoorn (dated 1784, Westfries Museum, Hoorn), Utrecht (Nottingham Museum) as well as Edam and Delft.
With his topographic accuracy, clear tonality and precision of detail, Ouwater is rightly regarded as the most accomplished eighteenth-century follower of the famous cityscape painter, Jan van der Heyden (q. v.). While Van der Heyden does not seem to have painted in Utrecht, a comparison of his two views of Amsterdam’s Westerkerk in the Wallace Collection and the National Gallery, London, with Ouwater’s in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (no. 6749) clearly attest to the legacy. However Ouwater was also preceded in his century and owed a certain debt to other cityscape painters and topographic artists, including Cornelis Pronck (1691-1759), Jan de Beyer (1703-1761), Abraham de Haen (1707-1748), Jan ten Compe (1713-1761), and Paulus Constantijn la Fargue (1735-1776).
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