Johan Maurits Graaf van Lijnden (1807-1864)

VUE DE LA BAIJE DE NAGASAKI DEPUIS LA FACTORERIE (view from the island of Deshima towards the entrance of the bay of Nagasaki)
H. 36 x W. 48 cm
Titled and annotated Le Comte de Lijnden del., Lith. roy.le de C.W.Meiling. From a collection of loose-leaf chromolithographs titled: Souvenir du Japon, vues d’après nature avec texte par Comte de Lijnden, premier Aide-de-Champs de S.M. le Roi des Pays-Bas. La Haye, C.W. Meiling, 1860-1866. Chromolithograph. In 1855 Count van Lijnden, aide-de-champs to King William III and a good artist was sent by the King to Japan to present the Shõgun of Japan with a life-size portrait of the Dutch King, painted by N. Pieneman. At the same time the paddle-steamship Soembing (later renamed Kanko-Maru), becoming the first steamship of the Japanese Navy, was to be presented to Japan. Johan Maurits kept a diary of his voyage, starting 25 March 1855 in London and ending 29 February 1856 in Vienna. His diary, written in French, was only translated in Dutch, and published in 2011 (Annechien Bertheux, Jaarboek Kasteel Keukenhof, Dagboek van een reis naar Japan, 1855, pp. 11-95). It is a highly interesting account of the Count’s journey to Japan and the meetings with the Japanese officials in Nagasaki. The drawings and watercolours of Nagasaki, Deshima and surroundings by Johan Maurits were lithographed in large size and published as loose leaves in a map between 1860 and 1866. Ten original watercolours are in the collection of the Maritime Museum Prins Hendrik, Rotterdam. On 4 April 1855 Count van Lijnden, together with Karel Jan Gijsbert baron van Hardenbroek, orderly to the king, and captain lieutenant-colonel Gerhardus Fabius sailed for Batavia (Jakarta), with the King’s portrait, where they arrived 23 May. On 25 June they sailed on to Nagasaki on board the steam warship Gedeh, captained by Gerhardus Fabius, and accompanied by the steam-paddle-warship Soembing. A portrait painted in Hongkong by an unknown Chinese artist of the Gedeh was later presented by captain Fabius to baron van Hardenbroek (see: Uit Verre Streken, June 2019, no. 50).