In the past, the Groningen street scene still showed horses, carriages, windmills and orphanages. Over the years, much has changed in the appearance of the city, but despite these changes, many beautiful historic buildings have survived the ravages of time and the past sometimes does not feel that far away at all. Kunstspot collected ten works by artists who depicted Groningen in their paintings.
1. Het Groene Weeshuis (The Green Orphanage) in Groningen by Jan Ensing, viewed from The Hofstraat
Jan Ensing was a painter, draftsman, teacher and lithographer. He made landscapes, city and village views, figure representations and portraits. The building at Hofstraat 20, where Ensing has lived for years, has now been declared a municipal monument. Unfortunately, the Green Orphanage no longer exists, but was located in the buildings of the former Jacobijnerklooster on Oude Ebbingestraat.
2. Varkensmarkt op de Grote Markt (Pig market on the Grote Markt) by Ferdinand Oldewelt
Ferdinand Oldewelt was active as a painter, etcher, draftsman and watercolorist. Flowers, still lifes, landscapes, portraits and cityscapes were his subjects. In 1891 he was appointed head teacher at the School of Arts and Crafts in Haarlem, after which he was appointed director of Academy Minerva in Groningen in 1896. Oldewelt painted Pig Market on the Grote Markt shortly before the closure of the pig market in 1900. The Grote Markt looks like this on marketless days today.
3. De buiten AA-poort gezien naar de stad (
On the west side of the city on the Westersingel you used to have two gates: the Binnen A-gate and the Buiten A-gate, named after the river A. These gates have since disappeared and today this place looks like this. The city and surroundings were Sybolt Berghuis' greatest inspiration and he made many drawings and watercolors of it.
4. STILLEVEN BOTERINGEBRUG GRONINGEN(STILL LIFE BOTERINGEBRUG GRONINGEN) BY JOHAN DIJKSTRA
Johan Dijkstra was a painter, graphic artist, glazier and teacher. He is seen as one of the most important Groningen artists of the twentieth century. Dijkstra founded the Groningen art circle De Ploeg in 1918 together with Jan Altink. His subjects were rural and city life in Groningen, navies, nudes and portraits of other Ploeg members. The Boteringebrug looks less serene today than in Dijkstra's work.
5. Schuitendiep met paard en wagen (Schuitendiep with horse and car) by George Martens
George Martens was an artist and co-founder of the Groninger Kunstkring De Ploeg. Martens was a true Groninger expressionist. He is still seen as the artist who accurately captured the dynamics of urban life in the 1920s. Almost a hundred years later, city life on the Schuitendiep looks like this.
6.
Otto Eerelman was a painter, etcher and lithographer. Together with the artists Jozef Israëls and Hendrik Willem Mesdag, he became an important member of the Kunstlievend Genootschap (which continued under the name Pictura from 1838) in Groningen. Eerelman was honored by Groningen with a street name and was commissioned in 1919 to make a large painting for the city. The subject was the Horse Inspection, a traditional and annual celebration during Gronings Ontzet. A number of facades of the Grote Markt were painted 'back in time' by Eerelman. Unfortunately, his motives on this are unclear.