inscribed ‘Vrouw Walburg in den Haag vermaart […] Was van ‘t aeloud Enax gesclacht’ (in the plate; verse by Jacob Vos)
engraving
17.1 x 12.2 cm
Undescribed
A good impression with the supporting lines in the text still faintly visible, there are some scattered creases and there are a few tiny losses along the left edge, the sheet is in otherwise good condition


This rare engraving depicts a wooden sculpture of ‘Vrouw Walburg’, a mythical giant from The Hague, whose babies, according to legend, were as big as grown-ups. The large wooden sculpture (which had moving eyes) was exhibited in the ‘Oude Doolfhof’ in Amsterdam along with a host of other mythical, royal and legendary figures. [1] The ‘Oude Doolhof’ was developed as a theme park by Celitje Jeuriaens and her subsequent husbands, from the 1640s onwards. Through a guide from 1648, in which the present print was published, [2] and numerous drawings by 18th and 19th century artists, we have a very good understanding of what the ‘Oude Doolhof’ looked like. One of the artists who made a group of drawings depicting the interiors of the ‘Oude Doolhof’ was Willem Hekking II (1825-1904). One of them shows the sculpture gallery with the sculpture of Goliath to the right and at his left ‘Vrouw Walburg’ (Fig. 1). [3] The ‘Oude Doolhof’ was open to the public until 1862 when the city council decided to auction off most of its contents. Luckily, Goliath was saved and is now in the Amsterdam Museum, but what happened with ‘Vrouw Walburg’ remains unclear.

Fig. 1. Willem Hekking, Sculpture gallery in the ‘Oude Doolhof’, Stadsarchief, Amsterdam, inv. KOG-AA-2-18-340.
[1] For more on the ‘Oude Doolhof’ see: M. Eisma, David en Goliath met zijn schilddrager. Een beeldengroep uit de oude doolhof, Wormer, 1996.
[2] The print was published in a guide to the ‘Oude Doolhof’: Anonymous, d'Oprechte aenwijser, tot verscheyde kunst-rijcke werken […], Amsterdam, 1648.
[3] Inv. KOG-AA-2-18-340.