black chalk
30.8 x 43.8 cm

This large drawing, depicting two houses and trees against a blank background, must
depict a view in the German town of Bentheim (now called Bad Bentheim). Bentheim’s
medieval castle and old picturesque centre, both perched on a hill, had been a popular
destination for artists, ever since Jacob van Ruysdael (1629-1681) and Nicolaes Berchem
(1621-1683) were the first to travel there to depict its landscape in a large number of
drawings. [1]

Ruytenschildt too went to Bentheim, together with Albertus Brondgeest, a fellow
member of the drawing society Zonder Wet of Spreuk. [2] While the exact date of their
journey to Bentheim is unknown, drawings depicting views in Bentheim by both
Ruytenschildt and Brondgeest, dated between 1826 and 1833, have survived. [3] The two
houses shown in the present drawing are typical of those in Bentheim and those in the
area near the town’s important sandstone quarry. Similar houses, for example, can be
seen in a more worked out drawing by Ruytenschildt previously in the C.P. van Eeghen
collection, The Hague. [4] Two drawings by Albertus Brondgeest, furthermore, (both
previously in the I.Q. van Regteren Altena, Amsterdam), depict similar houses in Bentheim.[5]
The present sheet stands out for its swift and bold execution and the unfinished quality
might indicate that it was drawn in Bentheim on the spot, rather than later in the artist’s
studio.