with inscription ‘Zeebaken te Petten’ (in pen, over an older inscription in chalk)
black chalk, grey wash, with a few (later) touches of pen and brown ink, pen and brown ink framing
lines
11.1 x 16.5 cm
Provenance:
Anonymous sale; Sotheby’s, New York, 16 January 1985, lot 289, where acquired by;
William A. Glaser, New York.

Literature:
H-U Beck, Jan van Goyen 1596-1656. Ein Oeuvreverzeichnis, III, Ergänzungen zum Katalog der
Handzeichungen und Katalog der Gemälde, Amsterdam, 1987, no. 706A.

This characteristic, swiftly executed drawing is one of many quickly executed topographical
drawings that Van Goyen must have executed in situ in sketchbooks. The tower shown in this sheet
appears to have been very rarely, if ever, depicted in any other 17th-century artwork. Fortunately, the
tower is identified as the ‘zeebaken te petten’ in an inscription on the drawing, which must refer to
a now unknown signal post near the coastal village of Petten in Noord-Holland. The tower possibly
once stood on what later became known as the ‘Seinpost’ in Callantsoog (a high dune which served
as a sign post in the 18th century) which was close to Petten. [1] It likely served as a signal post for
fishermen out at sea and for the town’s inhabitants, who could be warned of an attack from the water.