Brief aan Jacobus Hijmans Possibly 1831

This is a letter to Jacobus Hijmans, written by Willem Bartel van der Kooi, made with ink on paper. Letters like this one can offer a privileged window into the social world of the artist. Its visual qualities alone mark it as an artifact of the late 18th and early 19th centuries in the Netherlands. The handwriting, the texture of the paper, the use of language; all these material elements can be seen to reflect cultural and institutional norms of its time. The letter hints at networks of patronage and influence, in which the artist and his correspondent are connected to institutions and other individuals. The letter is a material record of these social relations. Historical documents such as letters, account books, and institutional records help to reconstruct the artist’s world, to examine how the artist relates to patrons, dealers, and other artists and to reveal the impact of social and economic forces on artistic production.