Painting by Casper van Breugel Douglas

De Nerée's successor: Caspar baron van Breugel Douglas
After years of searching in vain in the context of the Beardsley-in-Holland project, we can finally show two works of art by none other than Casper van Breugel Douglas: 'Theatre scene with a masked Pierrot and a slightly frightened lady' and 'Theatre scene with a masked Pierrot and a lady dressed in an impressive black strapless dress'. The titles were taken from the Amsterdam auction, where they were auctioned in 1990. […]

And here they are! After years of searching in vain in the context of the Beardsley-in-Holland project, we can now, thanks to the unparalleled detective work of Mr. DV, show two works of art by none other than Casper van Breugel Douglas : 'Theatre scene with a masked Pierrot and a slightly frightened lady' and 'Theatre scene with a masked Pierrot and a lady dressed in an impressive black strapless dress'. The titles were taken from the Amsterdam auction, where they were auctioned in 1990.

The first work is dated by the artist to 1917 and given the almost identical style of the second it will probably date from the same year. Both are watercoloured with Indian ink and measure approximately 20 by 25 centimetres. They are very nice works, which fit seamlessly into our modest research into Dutch followers of Aubrey Beardsley. However, Van Breugel Douglas seems to be more closely related to Carel de Nerée tot Babberich , and in particular his work from around 1904-1905, such as Clownerie or Rococo . This is not a wild guess, because Van Breugel Douglas knew De Nerée's work very well. In fact, he knew the artist himself, as appears from a note from 1972 from a then 76-year-old Van Breugel Douglas from Cannes:

Dear Sir (…) To my regret I have no drawing here by Carel de Nerée, whose work, almost unique and certainly unsurpassed in the Netherlands, I have always greatly admired. In my childhood I knew him when he came to Switzerland, as I recall in the company of Jhr. Edzar Falck, who has also passed away, and visited my parents in Vevey. After that I did not see him again, but later I did meet his brother , who was then living in The Hague. (…)

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The noble Van Breugel Douglas was born in Vevey in 1896 and lived there until around 1910. Since he mentions Falck in the letter, the introduction of the still very young baron to the 16 years older artist De Nerée probably took place in 1906; in the summer of that year De Nerée and Falck made a long trip through Europe. But it could also have been earlier or later, because De Nerée spent many winters in Swiss health resorts from 1901 until his death in 1909.

Curious is the impression De Nerée made on him in any case. As an artist, Van Breugel Douglas did not make it far, but as a diplomat he did . Although we still know very little about Van Breugel, it seems that an affair, erotic or otherwise, played a negative role in his visual career. If anyone knows more about this, please let us know! We also kindly request this from those who have a copy of the magazine St. Nicholas. A Monthly Magazine for Boys and Girls , vol. 39, 1912, first half. It is said to contain illustrations by the sixteen-year-old artist in the style of De Nerée or Beardsley. In the meantime, we — see the reactions of EPV here — are going to write a letter to his Peruvian descendants…



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