Designer Desire: Adriaen Coorte

A while ago, I mentioned on the blog that I want a still life painting of food in ‘the classical manner’ for our dining room wall. When I came across the work of Adriaen Coorte (c. 1665-1707/10), I knew he would be a contender.

Coorte returns to subjects such as white asparagus, summer fruits and seashells again and again. The compositions are usually against a nearly black background and sit on a thick, rustic wooden table.

Not a great deal is known about Coorte; his name fell into oblivion and his artworks were only rediscovered in the early 20^th century thanks to Dutch art historian, Laurens J. Bol. He worked in Middelburg, in the south-western Netherlands, where he’s recorded as having been a member of the Guild of St Luke. Many of his works are painted on paper which is pasted onto panel, an unusual method during the 17^th century.

To date, Coorte’s known output consists of only around 64 paintings. Most are in private hands; however, his work can be found in the collections of The National Gallery in London, The National Gallery of Art in Washington, Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, Rijks Museum in Amsterdam and the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

A few books have been written about his work and are available on AbeBooks.

Additional image credits:
Sotheby’s

Designer Desire: Jaap Ravelli

Jaap Ravelli (1916-2011) was a Dutch potter probably best known for his black & white African inspired figures of people and animals.

In 1943, Jaap – in partnership with his brother Dick – founded their company, D. Ravelli & Co, Sierkunst Atelier in Leiden, in the south of Holland. Jaap was the artisan maker, whilst Dick concentrated on the management of the business.

The following year, a visit to a pottery kiln inspired the brothers to set up their own pottery in 1944. The oven remained unused during the war years, a reason being that the chimney wasn’t high enough to generate enough of an updraught. Eventually, in 1946, the oven fired its first pieces. They were akin to the pottery made in Delft and Gouda and bore little resemblance to the later pottery for which Ravelli became known.

In 1947, the company relocated to Valkenburg, to riverside premises on the Old Rhine.

During and immediately after the war, there was a shortage of practical, domestic-use pottery so the Ravellis decided to concentrate on making teapots and cups & saucers. They transported their very first products by bicycle from Central Station, Amsterdam to Waterlooplein market (the oldest flea market in the Netherlands), where they sold them to a trader for 200 guilders. This was their first ever sale.

As well as his own wares, Ravelli took on a couple of collaborations. A range of teak furniture was produced in the 1950s, designed by Louis Van Teeffelen for Wébé, which included small tile inserts designed by Ravelli – two examples are included in the montage above.

Unfortunately, as a result of increasing competition from international manufacturers, Potterie Ravelli ceased trading in 1977.

There’s a richly illustrated biography (in Dutch) entitled, Ravelli: de geschiedenis van een potterie 1944 – 1977 . It was written by John de Koning, an avid collector of Ravelli pottery. An English language kindle version, The history of a pottery in Valkenburg, The Netherlands 1944 – 1977, is listed for sale on the USA Amazon site.

In the 1989 foreword to the book, Ravelli writes:

The large amount of work that was produced over a period of 33 years was, of course, not the work of one man alone. None of the work could have been produced without the thousands of hours put in by my brother Dick and the other employees down through the years. I can honestly say that there wasn’t a single day in my life when I didn’t go to work with a sense of pleasure and fulfilment, something I now regard as an enormous privilege.

There are quite a few examples of Ravelli’s designs available to buy on Etsy and eBay.

_credit

Additional image credits:
collECKtor

Designer Desire: Wim Bijmoer

Wim Bijmoer (1914 – 2000) was a Dutch illustrator and graphic designer; he began his career in theatre and ballet, designing sets and puppets.

He illustrated scores of books by Annie MG Schmidt – who’s considered queen of Dutch children’s literature. He also provided the graphics for her regular comic strip in the Amsterdam newspaper, Het Parool and later for Han G. Hoekstra. In 1967, he produced a lovely set of postage stamps… four of them are included in our montage above.

Bijmoer officially retired in 1979 however, he didn’t stop working until 1990 when, after failed eye surgery, he lost much of his vision.

Image credits:

Cakes & Bakes: Paasstol

It’s Maundy Thursday so we’ve chosen a lovely Easter recipe to share today. In past years, we’ve made a hot cross loaf and simnel cupcakes – today it’s paasstol.

Paasstol is a traditional Dutch sweet bread eaten around Easter. For some reason, now lost in the mists of time, when the exact same bread is eaten at Christmastime, it’s referred to as kerststol.

It’s a yeasted loaf full of mixed, dried fruit with a log of almond paste or marzipan enveloped in the middle.

I used a combination of raisins, currants and sultanas. However, you can choose to add candied peel, dried cranberries or succade. People sometimes add chopped or nibbed nuts to the equation – the choice is yours!

To finish, brush the top generously with warm, melted butter and dust with icing sugar. To consume, slice whilst still warm, spread with even more butter and enjoy with a lovely cup of tea!

Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest

Paasstol

2018-03-28 19:30:20

Serves 12

For the almond paste

100g/3½oz ground almonds
100g/3½oz icing sugar
1 large egg white

For the dough

600g/21oz mixed dried fruit (I used raisins, currants and sultanas)
3tbsp dark rum
500g/18oz plain or strong bread flour
10g salt
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of ground cardamom
25g/1oz dried yeast
200ml/7 fl oz milk, lukewarm
100g/3½oz sugar
100g/3½oz melted butter
1 egg, beaten
zest of ½ lemon

To finish

melted butter to brush
icing sugar to dredge

Add ingredients to shopping list

If you don’t have Buy Me a Pie! app installed you’ll see the list with ingredients right after downloading it

For the almond paste

Put the ground almonds, icing sugar and egg white into a food processor and, using the chopping blade attachment, combine for about a minute until a ball of marzipan is formed
Cover in cling film and set aside while you make the dough

For the dough

Soak the dried fruit in the rum for at least an hour, stirring every so often so all the fruit comes into contact with the liquid
In a measuring jug, stir the yeast into the lukewarm milk until dissolved.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, salt and sugar
In another small measuring jug, mix the egg with the melted butter and lemon zest
Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients and mix using the dough hook. Knead for 5-7 minutes on a low setting, until the mixture comes together to form a soft, smooth and slightly sticky ball of dough
Cover the mixer bowl with a damp tea towel or cling film/plastic bag and leave in a warm place to prove for half an hour
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a rectangle
Discarding any rum that hasn't been absorbed, sprinkle the soaked fruit evenly across the dough
Roll the dough up and gently knead by hand for about 5 minutes until the fruit is evenly distributed throughout
Put the fruited dough back into the mixer bowl, recover with the damp tea towel or cling film/plastic bag and leave in a warm place to prove for a further hour
After rising, turn the dough out onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper
Form the dough into a rectangle about 3cm thick
Shape the almond paste into a log around 1cm shorter than the rectangle of dough
Place the almond paste log in the centre of the dough and fold all four sides of the dough over. Roll gently back and forth to seal the edges
Recover with the damp tea towel or cling film/plastic bag and allow to rise for another half an hour
Brush the bread with milk and put it in a preheated oven at 180ºC/ºF/Gas mark
Bake for 40 minutes
Allow to cool on a wire rack
Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with the icing sugar
Slice and serve

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/