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DOI Artikel:Ottenheym, Koen A.: The Dutch years of Tilman van Gameren
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49350#0093
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KONRAD OTTENHEYM
Instituul Kunstgeschiedenis en Muziekwetenschap, Universiteit Utrecht
The Dutch years of Tilman van Gameren
Until a few years ago Tilman van Gameren, the Dutch artist and architect who
played such an important role in Polish architecture of the second half of the 17th
century, was almost unknown in Holland. In 1960 a short article of Gostyński,
translated into Dutch, gave only a first introduction to his work for the Dutch public.1 But
this was not enough to give Tilman a firm place in Dutch art history.2 The 1994 German
edition of Stanisław Mossakowskie impressive monograph, Tilman van Gameren. Leben
und Werk (Deutscher Kunstverlag, Miinchen), brought the architecfs famę back to his
homeland at last. Nowadays in Holland he is regarded as one of the most outstanding
architects of 17th century classicism, thanks to Mossakowskie research and publication.
Using written sources and hundreds of original drawings which remain from his hand,
Mossakowski paints a elear picture of Tilmane activities after 1660 when Jerzy Sebastian
Lubomirski took him from Venice to Poland. His Italian sojourn, five years or morę, is still
an uncertain period of his career. In Italian sources he is only mentioned as a painter
specialized in battle scenes. The very first period of his life, his youth and education in
Holland from 1632 until approximately 1655, remain almost completely obscure. In this
paper I will try to reconstruct this period of Tilmane life and his architectural education in
those years.
Tilman’s family and the first steps ofhis career in Utrecht
Thanks to the historian Marten Jan Bok, who prepared a rather complete genealogy of the
Van Gameren family, and to Amanda Meeder, who wrote her master-thesis at Utrecht
University on this subject in 1998, we are now better informed on the Van Gameren
family.3 Tilman van Gameren was baptised on July 5th 1632 in the former cathedral of
1 T. GOSTYŃSKI, 'Tielman van Gameren, een Nederlands bouwmeester in Polen,’ Bulletin van de Koninklijke
Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond 59 (1960). 1-20.
2 After 1960 Tilman is in Holland only mentioned by Lucia Thijssen in her survey of Polish - Dutch cultural exchange.
L. THIJSSEN, Duizend jaar Polen en Nederland, Zutphen 1992 (i.e. the original Dutch edition of Polska i Niderlandy:
J000 lat koniaków, Zutphen 1997).
3 M. J. Bok gave me kindly permission to use his detailed manuscript on the genealogy of Van Gameren, to be published
in De Nederlandsche Leeuw in the year 2000 with all acknowledgements. A. MEEDER, Tilman van Gameren: Hollandi
cunas, hali videre iuventam. Over de Hollandse invloed in het werk van deze Utrechtse barokarchitect, unpublished
Master-of-Arts thesis, Dept. of Art History, Utrecht University 1998. An important source is also R.A. RUEB, ’Van
Gameren alias Gamerski’, De Nederlandsche Leeuw 97 (1980), pp.195-6.
KONRAD OTTENHEYM
Instituul Kunstgeschiedenis en Muziekwetenschap, Universiteit Utrecht
The Dutch years of Tilman van Gameren
Until a few years ago Tilman van Gameren, the Dutch artist and architect who
played such an important role in Polish architecture of the second half of the 17th
century, was almost unknown in Holland. In 1960 a short article of Gostyński,
translated into Dutch, gave only a first introduction to his work for the Dutch public.1 But
this was not enough to give Tilman a firm place in Dutch art history.2 The 1994 German
edition of Stanisław Mossakowskie impressive monograph, Tilman van Gameren. Leben
und Werk (Deutscher Kunstverlag, Miinchen), brought the architecfs famę back to his
homeland at last. Nowadays in Holland he is regarded as one of the most outstanding
architects of 17th century classicism, thanks to Mossakowskie research and publication.
Using written sources and hundreds of original drawings which remain from his hand,
Mossakowski paints a elear picture of Tilmane activities after 1660 when Jerzy Sebastian
Lubomirski took him from Venice to Poland. His Italian sojourn, five years or morę, is still
an uncertain period of his career. In Italian sources he is only mentioned as a painter
specialized in battle scenes. The very first period of his life, his youth and education in
Holland from 1632 until approximately 1655, remain almost completely obscure. In this
paper I will try to reconstruct this period of Tilmane life and his architectural education in
those years.
Tilman’s family and the first steps ofhis career in Utrecht
Thanks to the historian Marten Jan Bok, who prepared a rather complete genealogy of the
Van Gameren family, and to Amanda Meeder, who wrote her master-thesis at Utrecht
University on this subject in 1998, we are now better informed on the Van Gameren
family.3 Tilman van Gameren was baptised on July 5th 1632 in the former cathedral of
1 T. GOSTYŃSKI, 'Tielman van Gameren, een Nederlands bouwmeester in Polen,’ Bulletin van de Koninklijke
Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond 59 (1960). 1-20.
2 After 1960 Tilman is in Holland only mentioned by Lucia Thijssen in her survey of Polish - Dutch cultural exchange.
L. THIJSSEN, Duizend jaar Polen en Nederland, Zutphen 1992 (i.e. the original Dutch edition of Polska i Niderlandy:
J000 lat koniaków, Zutphen 1997).
3 M. J. Bok gave me kindly permission to use his detailed manuscript on the genealogy of Van Gameren, to be published
in De Nederlandsche Leeuw in the year 2000 with all acknowledgements. A. MEEDER, Tilman van Gameren: Hollandi
cunas, hali videre iuventam. Over de Hollandse invloed in het werk van deze Utrechtse barokarchitect, unpublished
Master-of-Arts thesis, Dept. of Art History, Utrecht University 1998. An important source is also R.A. RUEB, ’Van
Gameren alias Gamerski’, De Nederlandsche Leeuw 97 (1980), pp.195-6.