Trompe l’oeil of silver medal of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, mayor of Amsterdam, 1686-1736

Framed trompe l’oeil of silver medal celebrating Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’s fourth term as mayor of Amsterdam
 
Pen and black ink with grey and yellow-brown wash, over black chalk, within black ink framing lines.
Signed at the lower right of the fictive sheet of paper: Antonina houbraken.
Inscribed, below medallion: Dr Nicolaas Tulp. Ao1672. / oudste Raad.Burgermeester van Amsterdam
 
By Antonina Houbraken
 
Paper watermarked with a fleur de lis
 
208 x 297 mm
 
Bears stamp, verso, indicating the drawing was at one point a gift from Dr. B.W.Th. Nuyens (1866-1945), a medical doctor in Amsterdam, known, among many other things, for his efforts to fight tuberculosis and his promotion of post-natal care.
 
Antonina Houbraken (1686 Dordrecht – 1736 Amsterdam) was a draughtswoman who is known for her many topographical drawings of Dutch sites. She also drew landscapes and is recorded as a skilled portraitist. Houbraken was the daughter of painter and writer Arnold Houbraken and sister of the printmaker Jacob Houbraken. It is assumed she learned to draw in her father’s workshop.
In 1723 she married Jacobus Stellingwerff, a draughtsman who also made topographical drawings for the albums of Andries Schoemaker, a numismatist and medal specialist and collector of topographical prints and drawings. Schoemaker was also a contributor to the famous standard work on Dutch medals ‘Nederlandsche Historipenningen” of Mr. G. van Loon. Antonina made a large portion of the drawings for Schoemaker.
 
This trompe l’oeil drawing shows the silver medal made for Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1593-1674), who was depicted on Rembrandt’s famous Anatomy Lesson, to honour his fourth term as mayor of Amsterdam.