Andreas Schelfhout

“many free images of paintings, drawings and prints of A. Schelfhout, in the RijksStudio of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam”

“biograhy facts and dates of A. Schelfhout, in the Dutch R.K.D. Archive, The Hague”

“..that Schelfhout modified his success-works infinitely, repeated and copied them, so that in the end the first, spontaneous seeing perished for a painting of recipes.. ..[but] it is also true that his early work strikes many times by the originally observed, colored air, by its reflection in the cold blue of the ice-surface, albeit that the smooth, ethereal way of painting leads us to a mixed valuation. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

“.[I ventured it, c. 1818] to start a small painting. It was a view in 't Haagsche Bosch. This also cost me great worries and trouble.. .My cousin Schelfhout came to me when I had finished it myself. He saw it and said to me: {{w|nl:Bartholomeus Johannes van Hove|Jonge Bart}} [four years younger!], you better paint houses, you better focus yourself on townscapes. Why my good nephew told me so, I don't know. Anyhow, I followed his advice. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

“..In July [1808], master Breckenheimer was commissioned to decorate the new Leidsche Schouwburg [Theatre-building].. .[Schelfhout] started painting the forest, what he was good at, and I started to help our master to outline the palace. I got ambition in painting the stage, and practiced with Schelfhout drawing after nature before half past six in the morning and after half past eight in the evening - when the days were long, to be clear. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

“Who has supported his first, shaky steps on the steep and slippery path, who has given him the push to independent progress, who brought him into the temple of immortality? So will the offspring ask. Our answer is: Nature, and only Nature was Schelfhout's teacher. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

“S. [Schefhout] was educated in the field his fathers [frame maker].. .. when he came to Brickenheimer because his wish was to paint, in which school he soon became a master and performed the decoration commissioned to B. [Brickenheimer] (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

“Only the way Schelfhout represents winter, in the white garment and with the motley crowd of skaters, we find something tempting about it. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

“Do you like to see what can be transformed from a flat, elementary rural scene - bearing the stamp of nature, the mark of truth - into something most beautiful and graceful? Look at the works of our great [painter] Schelfhout. There you will find represented plain nature at the most elegant, but moreover with a faithfulness and truth, which only Schelfhout can represent. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

“..and since we are now living in the Summer-time, I don't have a trick to imagine me Winter so strongly that I would be able to paint one [a winter-landscape].. ..and you must have patience until next winter. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

“..[both of us (Schelfhout ànd J.C. Schotel)] make each a painting that together will form one view, as it were [view of Scheveningen by Schotel / view of The Hague by Schelfhout].. ..[but] our paintings together will therefore not become one integrated thing, but only pendants.. .I have taken my drawing from the steps of the Pavilion [in Scheveningen], viewed over the dunes to [the city] The Hague. In the foreground, which is very bare and empty in reality, I have placed some trees. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

“You can't sell anything to the museum nowadays. If one presents something now, one is partly rejected because they have no money in cash. Yes Friend, that's how things are going.. .It's going very bad here with the old arts in The Hague., I hardly hear of anything. How are things going in Rotterdam? I believe that also there is not much moving. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

“Here are 3 drawings that I have made for You. It will be satisfactory, if it will meet your expectation and what it is for [to make a painting]. The two landscapes are thoughts, but the one that suggests the moonlight is the castle at Doorenwaart in Gelderland. I also painted a painting of that subject which I enjoyed a lot in Amsterdam [because, purchased there by A. B. Roothaan there] (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

“Cheerfully and cheerily, I started working once more in giant steps to the second painting by Mr Twent. [of the {{w|nl:De Raephorst|estate Raaphorst}}, then owned by Abraham Jacob {{w|nl:Twent|Twent}}, who wanted his estate immortalized in two large paintings] (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

“{{w|nl:Bartholomeus Johannes van Hove|Jonge Bart}} [four years younger!], you better paint houses, you better focus yourself on townscapes. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”