Rijksmuseum Receives Rare 17th-Century Drawing Book Donated by Van Eeghen Family
The Facts
The Van Eeghen family has donated an extremely rare early 17th-century drawing book to the Rijksmuseum, the museum announced on August 18, 2026. The book, which contains some 30 drawings attributed to Rombout Uylenburgh and his workshop, had been in the family's possession for more than three centuries. It includes a series of biblical scenes executed on blue paper, with colors still vivid due to minimal light exposure. The drawing book will be on view at the Rijksmuseum from August 19, 2026, alongside a display that brings together a substantial part of Uylenburgh's small surviving body of work, including a loan from the Rembrandt House Museum.
The Signal
The donation marks a major addition to the Rijksmuseum Print Room Collection, as intact 17th-century drawing books are exceptionally rare. The attribution to Uylenburgh, a court painter to King Sigismund III in Kraków who later worked in Danzig, was first published in 2013 by the late Erik Löffler of the Netherlands Institute for Art History. The gift enables the museum to conduct further research into Uylenburgh, of whom only a handful of works survive, and introduces a wider audience to a fascinating but obscure Dutch master whose family later became connected to Rembrandt.
- Artists: Rombout Uylenburgh
- People: Van Eeghen family, C.P. van Eeghen, Reyer Claessoon, Erik Löffler
- Museums: Rijksmuseum, Museum Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder, Rembrandt House Museum
- Locations: Amsterdam
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