by Michiel Plomp

In George S. Keyes's pioneering article of 1976 on the Haarlem marine painter Pieter Mulier the Elder (ca. 1600-1670) the artist's drawings were also studied seriously for the first time.[1] Not one had been known prior to that date, and even the 12 sheets published by Keyes all lacked a signature or any kind of annotation, so they remained no more than attributions. The recent discovery of a drawing bearing Mulier's monogram (fig. 1) now confirms Keyes's attributions and enables us to elaborate on his findings. Moreover, unlike any other known work by Mulier, it bears a very precise date.[2] Furthermore, there are two previously unknown sheets which can now also be added to Mulier's small oeuvre as a draftsman.

Before focusing on these drawings, however, I would like to take a fresh look at the question of Mulier's date of birth. Prior to Keyes's article, Pieter Mulier the Elder was believed to have been born around 1610/1615. Keyes dated two monogrammed Sea Tempests by the artist, in Stockholm and Greenwich, to around 1630 or a little earlier, because of their strong debt to Hendrick Vroom and the early Jan Porcellis. Hence, Keyes deduced, Mulier is far more likely to have been born closer to 1600 than to 1615.[3] This hypothesis can now be corroborated by archive material. It turns out that the artist's parents, Pieter Joostenz. Mulier (a Mennonite who fled Flanders, presumably to avoid persecution) and Baertken de la Mote were married in 1590.

1. Pieter Mulier the Elder, Beached Boat with Men at Work. Black chalk, monogrammed, pen and brown ink, (reddish) brown and grey washes, 15.6 x 27.7 cm. Haarlem, Teylers Museum


2. Pieter Mulier the Elder, Merchantman. Pen and brown ink, 12.4 x 19.7 cm. Haarlem, Teylers Museum (Coll. H. Teding van Berkhout Sr. and Jr.)


3. Pieter Mulier the Elder, Action between Two Merchantmen. Pen and brown ink, 12.3 x 19.6 cm. Haarlem, Teylers Museum (Coll. H. Teding van Berkhout Sr. and Jr.)

The banns were announced in Leiden on 15 February 1590 and the marriage took place in Haarlem shortly afterwards.[4] Besides their son Pieter, the couple had two daughters, Janneke and Maaike.[5] Mennonites are baptized only after reaching adulthood, so the year of baptism is not the year of birth, as is otherwise generally the case. This makes the year of birth more difficult to establish, and it also is almost impossible to ascertain whether Pieter Mulier's parents had more than these three children; i.e. whether there were others who died before being baptized. It is clear, though, that Keyes was on the right track. In fact, Pieter Mulier may have been born even earlier, somewhere between 1590 and 1600.

Let us now return to the newly discovered drawings by Mulier. All three were recently acquired by the Teyler Museum in Haarlem, which now has a total of six sheets by him. The three already in its collection, Merchantman off a Rocky Coast (fig. 4), Ships in a Calm (fig. 5) and Action between a Galley and a Merchantman (fig. 6), were among a number of works donated by Louis Paul Zocher at the end of the nineteenth century.[6] Of the hitherto unpublished sheets, a Merchantman (fig. 2) and an Action between Two Merchantmen (fig. 3), were acquired in 1987 as part of the Teding van Berkhout Collection.[7] Both closely resemble the abovementioned Ships in a Calm (fig. 5), and Action between a Galley and a Merchantman (fig. 6). The meticulous contours of the cumulus clouds, the vertical hatching in the shadows of the sails, and the summarily indicated boats in the background are perfectly congruous with the rest of Mulier's oeuvre as assembled by Keyes.[8]