Gerrit Van Dokkum - Utrecht, The Church Portal - Large Watercolor And Gouache - Late 19th Century

Gerrit Van DOKKUM (1870-1931)
Utrecht, the church portal
Circa 1900
Watercolor and gouache over pencil lines
68 x 52 cm.
Signed lower right
Provenance: Jakob Probst collection, Swiss sculptor (1880-1966), then by descent

Framed Gerrit van Dokkum trained in the studio of the Dutchman Jozef Hovenaar. Deeply attached to the city of Utrecht, where he was born, van Dokkum produced numerous picturesque views of the city and its monuments. He was a member and then director of the Genootschap Kunstfielde in Utrecht, the oldest artists' association in the Netherlands. It is still located today in the Nobelstraat in Utrecht. As such, the Centraal Museum in Utrecht preserves some of his works.

This large watercolor depicts the inner courtyard of a church in Utrecht. A high red brick wall forms the background, pierced by an opening that allows the eye to move further. A soft, golden light, filtered by the foliage of invasive vegetation, bathes the space and stains the sand of the ground yellow. The atmosphere evokes the calm of a summer afternoon, a feeling of silence and solitude. It was part of Jakob Probst's collection. Trained by Bourdelle and close to Cuno Amiet, Probst was active in Basel from 1913.

He achieved his first successes in 1930, notably thanks to an exhibition at the city's Kunsthalle and the creation of bas-reliefs for the Cornavin station in Geneva. He settled in Peney in 1932. After 1945, he established himself permanently thanks to public commissions. In 1952 he participated in the Venice Biennale and in 1959 made a donation to the Museum of Fine Arts in Olten