Jan Brandes 1743 - 1808

Jan Brandes arrived on Java in 1778 as a Lutheran preacher, leaving behind a rare visual archive of colonial history and nature’s richness. Jan was a lifelong artist, known for drawing every day directly from life, offering an unique glimpse into 18th-century colonial life of the Dutch VOC in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Holding institution: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.