Jan Brandes

1743 - Bodegraven - 1808 Zweden

Brandes was a Dutch preacher, draftsman and watercolourist.

After studying theology in Leiden, Brandes worked as a Lutheran minister from 1770. In 1778 an appeal was made by the Lutheran community in Batavia. A few months after arriving in Batavia, his wife Anna died. It is likely that Brandes buried his grievance in drawing, given the enormous number of drawings he made.

On the return journey to Holland he visited Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) and lived in the Cape Colony for a year. After a year in Holland, Brandes bought an estate in Sweden with nine tenant farmers in 1789 with the money he earned in Batavia. With his second wife he had two daughters. His sketchbooks remained in the family of one of his Swedish daughters for almost two centuries.

During his stay in Java, Sri Lanka and South Africa, Brandes made a large number of watercolors. In addition to many drawings of plants and animals, Brandes drew many scenes from his own daily life. He captured situations that have not been depicted by anyone else. This makes these drawings of great historical value because there is no other such detailed visual record of 18th century colonial life.

In 1985, the Rijksmuseum acquired two complete sketchbooks, containing Brandes' most important work.

Source: The World of Jan Brandes, 1743-1808 - Drawings of a Dutch Traveller in Batavia, Ceylon and Southern Africa - Remco Raben and Max de Bruijn