Schetsboek met 44 bladen 1866 - 1922

This is Willem Cornelis Rip’s sketchbook, comprising 44 blank pages, its date unknown. Rip was a Dutch artist whose work focused on landscapes and genre scenes. Sketchbooks like this are revealing objects, hinting at the social conditions that shape artistic production. They are, on the one hand, practical tools for recording observations and planning larger works. But they also reflect the artist’s social status and institutional affiliations. The “Schetsboek” cover—Dutch for “sketchbook”—suggests the rise of art supply manufacturers at the turn of the century, serving a growing market of amateur and professional artists. Rip’s landscapes celebrate the Dutch countryside, arguably reinforcing a conservative vision of national identity. To understand Rip’s artistic practice more fully, it would be useful to consult exhibition catalogues, period reviews, and archival records related to art education in the Netherlands. These resources would reveal how Rip’s art both reflected and shaped the cultural values of his time.