5.7 A marriage of art
Developments in his private life also had a significant influence on Koelmans’ rise in the Roman art scene. These had everything to do with the house he had moved into in January 1841, at Via Sistina 68, as mentioned above.
This four-storey palazzo, directly opposite the Palazzo Zuccari, had been the residence of the Tuscan painters family Fioroni since around 1820. Initially, the well-known painter Luigi Fioroni (1793-1865), his sister, the miniaturist Teresa Fioroni (1799-1880), and her husband, the German engraver Carl Friedrich Voigt (1800-1874), had also lived there. From around 1830, only the younger sister Enrichetta Fioroni (1806-1892), also a painter, her husband Domenico Narducci (dec. 1843) and their son Enrico (1832-1893) had remained.1 They rented out the remaining part of their palazzo to foreign artists, among whom the Swedish painter Egron Sellif Lundgren (1815-1875), and Jan Hendrik Koelman.2
Not long after Narducci’s death on 25 March 1843, Koelman’s relationship with Enrichetta became more than just business [19].3 It is unclear when the rapprochement took place, but late 1844 or early 1845, Jan Hendrik married Enrichetta, who was more than thirteen years his senior. The marriage took place in San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, after Koelman had converted to Catholicism.4 Less than a year later, their son Giulio Koelman (1845-post 1933) was born, followed in 1847 by his brother Romolo Koelman (1847-1920) [20].5
The marriage provided Koelman with new connections in the Roman art world. His decision to pursue a more market-oriented career, so lamented by the Dutch envoy, cannot be viewed separately from his wife’s artistic orientation. Even before their marriage, Enrichetta had a good reputation as a copyist and miniaturist, as evidenced by various city guides.6 Since 1837, she had been an honorary member of the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon. In 1838 and 1839, she presented her work at the Amatori e Cultori, including copies of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Tiziano (1488/1490-1476), Carlo Dolci (1616-1686), Guido Reni (1575-1642) and Domenichino (1581-1641). At that time, such high quality copies of old masters were particularly sought after by a wealthy international clientele, as were her miniatures [21].7
His marriage to Enrichetta thus also provided Jan Hendrik with the financial independence he desired. After a few years, he bought a large house with studio at Via dell’Olmo 57, near Santa Maria Maggiore; the mortgage guarantee was made possible by Enrichetta's share of her father’s inheritance. On 10 May 1850, he paid the previous owner, the sculptor Jan Antonie van der Ven from Den Bosch, no less than 1550 scudi for it.8 At their new address, the couple continued to rent out living and studio space to other artists.9 In addition, they established a thriving practice as painters of genre pieces, portraits and copies of old masters. In the latter genre, Jan Hendrik would follow his wife’s example, and quite successfully.
19
Teresa Voigt-Fioroni,
Portrait of Enrichetta Narducci-Fioroni, n.d.
tempera on ivory, 4,5 × 5,8 cm,
© Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Rome, inv. no. 670
20
Johan Philip Koelman,
Portrait of Romolo Oreste Koelman, ca. 1855,
oil on canvas, 60,5 × 47 cm,
Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede, inv. no. 0449
21
Enrichetta Narducci-Fioroni,
Portrait of Maria Nikolajevna Romanova, Grand Princess of Russia, 1843,
watercolor/gouache on ivory, 15 × 13 cm,
copyright Hermann Historica, München
Notes
1 On Luigi, Teresa en Enrichetta Fioroni: Fioroni 1981, passim; Sica 1997 and Campitelli 1997.
2 On Ludgren and his residence here: Bildt 1904, p. 6 and Lundgren 1870, passim.
3 Cf. Diario di Roma 1843.
4 Unfortunately, data for 1843-1851 is missing in Archivio Storico Diocesano, Rome, Tabularium Vicariatus Urbis, parrish S.G. dei Fiorentini, ‘Matrimoni’ (1532-1913). The same archive, parrish S.M. Maggiore, ‘Stato delle anime’, year 1851, address Via dell’Olmo 57, family no. 79 reveals the spouses declared ‘to have been married seven years ago in San Giovanni dei Fiorentini’. Also see the letter by Alexandre Nestor Nicolas Robert (1817-1890) to Jean-François Portaels dated 27 September 1845, Correpondence of Jean Portaels (private collection), mentioning Koelman got married eight months earlier.
5 On Giulio and Romolo Koelman, see the biographical entries in Koelman 2023, p. 595, with bibliography.
6 E.g. De Keller 1830, p. 111; Starke 1837, p. 205; Manuale 1838, p. 103; Il Tiberino 1839; Almanacco 1841, p. 311.
7 On Enrichetta Fioroni, see above (n. 31) and the biographic entry in Koelman 2023, p. 588 with bibliography. On the practise old copying old masters see Mazzarelli 2018.
8 In addition to the parrish registers of S.M. Maggiore from 1851 (see n. 34), see the notarial records in Archivio Storico Capitolino, Rome, ‘Notai capitolini’, Uff. 32, notary Filippo Ciccolini, May 1850: deed of sale 10 May and mortgage guarantee 31 May; September 1850: 27 September, official recognition of Koelman as the new owner. The deed of sale shows that the seller, J.A. van der Ven, had in turn purchased the house on 17 October 1846 for 1100 scudi from the Belgian painter Philippe Jacques van Bree (1786-1871).
9 On Belgian artists who rented a studio here: Dupont 2005, vol. 1, pp. 304-308; Liège 1996-1997, p. 64, 71.