Jacobus van Looy was born on 13 September 1855 in Haarlem as the son of a carpenter. His father lost his job when his eyesight began to fail. His mother died when he was five years old and when his father died soon afterwards, he ended up in the local orphanage. He trained to become a house painter but was able to follow drawing classes and enrolled in 1877 at the Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. In 1884, Van Looy received the Prix de Rome, allowing him to travel abroad. The next year, Van Looy started his Grand Tour and left for Rome, followed by visits to Venice and Genoa. In 1886 he traveled to Spain and in the footsteps of Don Quixote, he crossed over to Spain’s overseas protectorate Morocco. The inspiration of Tangier was not limited to his frantic visual production; the confrontational experience also propelled his writing. Upon his return in Amsterdam, he wrote his first novel Gekken (Madmen), recounting the autobiographical encounter of a procession of madmen, considered saints in Tangier.

Van Looy lived in Amsterdam until 1894, when he married the affluent Titia van Gelder (1862-1940) and moved to Soest. In November 1901, the couple left together for Spain and Morocco until the following June. By 1913, Van Looy moved back to Haarlem, when the orphanage where he grew up was converted to the Frans Hals Museum. He bought a house on the corner of the Haarlemmerhout Park, which was converted to a museum after his death in 1930, although it closed in 1976. The estate was given to the Frans Hals Museum, while the Teylers Museum holds most of Van Looys drawings from his Italian travels.

Travelling at the end of 1886 to Tangier, Van Looy produced primarily black chalk drawings.[1] He only had his sketchbook available since he had left his paint supplies in Sevilla to save costs, a regrettable decision. In a letter to August Allebé, dated 21 November 1886, Van Looy expressed that Tangier had been the most inspiring place and planned to visit again.[2] Fifteen years later, accompanied by his wife, he was finally able to fulfil his wish. Together they left the Netherlands in November 1901, arriving in Morocco in January 1902 via France and Spain. Only this time, now with paint supplies, was Van Looy able to execute small oil studies and pastels, and a novel Reizen (Travelling). The present pastel was likely executed during the artist’s second trip to Tangier, when he produced a series depicting African water carriers, considered the best works produced in Morocco.[3] One of the sketches is described by Van Looy in a letter from 1905 as accomplished due to the rendering of “the allure of the rocking and weird walking” executed with “gun fast skilled fingers”.[4] This time, Van Looy regretted not having brought along a camera, forcing him to make quick sketches of his impressions.[5]

Lauded as a writer but criticized as an artist, Van Looy limited his artistic production to painting his flower garden and portraits of familiar faces in proximity: family, his loyal gardener, innocent children and often himself. With the majority of his artistic output placed in Dutch public collections, most works that are still in private hands are in the artist’s extended family or circle of friends. One of his largest paintings of his garden in Soest - source of inspiration for so many of his artworks - is on view at the Rijksmuseum.

[1] Chris Will, a.o., Jacobus van Looy 1855-1930. Niets is zo mooi als zien…, exh.cat. Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem 1998, p. 124

[2] F.P. Huygens, Jacobus van Looy; Wie dronk toen water! Bloemlezing uit de briefwisseling met A. Allebé gedurende zijn Prix de Rome-reis 1885-1886, Amsterdam 1975, pp. 265-270

[3] J. de Hond & E. Scheepers, “’Gij zit dat maar den heelen dag op kameelen, drommedarissen en giraffen en platte daken, maar wij zitten hier stil te Baarn’. Twee Marokaanse reizen”, in: Looy met den noorderzon, weg!!, op.cit., p. 83

[4] Letter to the writer Herman Robbers, 12 November 1905, NLMD, in: Hond & Scheepers, op.cit., p. 86

[5] A smaller pastel of the same African water carrier appeared on the art market recently at Venduehuis, The Hague, 15 December 2020, lot 124.