Berkel en Rodenrijs No. 1

The entry for this church in the Rijksmonumenten.nl [https://rijksmonumenten.nl/monument/9346/dorpskerk/berkel-en-rodenrijs] [accessed 9 November 2021] reports :"Hardstenen, gotisch doopvont." A communication to BSI by Pol Herman (e-mail of 28 December 2021) includes an e-mail of 28 December 2021) from Arine Kool, president of the local historical society Vrienden van de Dorpskerk Berkel en Rodenrijs, the English version of which has been facilitated by Pol Herman: "The bluestone baptismal font you are talking about is not present in our church. We have done some research and talked to various sources so that we can tell you a little more about this baptismal font. Indeed, the baptismal font seems to have been present in earlier centuries in an earlier church building in Berkel en Rodenrijs. According to our records, it is now in the cellars of the Louvre in Paris. We have found an image in a booklet with the title "De ster uit Jacob", written by W.van der Louw [cf. infra & ImagesArea]. Attached we send you a photo of the baptismal font from this booklet. You may be able to find further details or the relevant baptismal font in Paris." The source referred to above is: De ster uit Jacob, geschiedenis van de bijna vier eeuwen oude Nederlandse Hervormde Gemeente van Berkel en Rodenrijs, by W.van der Louw, 158 p., 1969. A further communication from Pol Herman to BSI (e-mail of 29 July 2022) notes: "Abide with me, this is a long and complicated story. There is new conflicting information about the font of Berkel, that leads me to a bold hypothesis. The journal Nieuwe Schiedamsche Courant, 20th of June 1900 writes on page 4 : During an excavation in the Dutch Reformed Church in Berkel near Rotterdam, the masons found a baptismal font made of freestone that is still in very good condition. The top is round, with four images of human heads. There are also some figures on it. It has a size of more than one meter, and according to experts, it was used 1000 years ago. Source : De ster uit Jacob, geschiedenis van de bijna vier eeuwen oude Nederlandse Hervormde Gemeente van Berkel en Rodenrijs, by W.van der Louw, 158 p., 1969. Perhaps on the occasion of the opening of the newly built church in 1347, the interior was enriched with a beautiful early Gothic baptismal font. Pastor Veldhuijse tells the following about it in his beautiful book: "Katholiek Berkel en Rodenrijs in de loop der eeuwen " : "Remembering the times, when Berkelaren baptized their children there with joyful devotion, the later fortunes of this baptismal font are painful. After the Reformation, the baptismal font fell into disuse and was removed from the church. Through sale it passed from one hand to the other, had to serve as a jardinière (flower pot) for a while, was bought by an antiques dealer for 5 Guilders, he sold it for 1.700 Guilders, and it was finally auctioned by Fred Muller at Amsterdam." According to later reports, the baptismal font of the church in Berkel must now be in the collection of the Louvre museum in Paris. Note that he does not mention any burial of the font at all. The book to which W. van der Louw refers is : Katholiek Berkel en Rodenrijs in de loop der eeuwen, door J.I.J.M. Velthuyse met tekeningen door Cor Hijdra, 102 p.,1948, Gebroeders Peters, Rotterdam, on pages 13 and 14. In it, pastor J. Velthuyse comes to the conclusion that Berkel en Rodenrijs became an independent parish around 1050. All my reference documents on Dutch ecclesiastical art mention a baptismal font at Berken [Berkel?]. https://www.orgelsite.nl/berkel-en-rodenrijs-dorpskerk/ Binnen zijn ook zeker bezienswaardig:… een hardstenen, gotisch doopvont… https://www.monumenten.nl/monument/9346 Tot de inventaris behoren:… hardstenen, gotisch doopvont,…. https://reliwiki.nl/index.php/Berkel_en_Rodenrijs,_Kerksingel_1_-_Dorpskerk Hardstenen, gotisch doopvont. https://rijksmonumenten.nl/monument/9346/dorpskerk/berkel-en-rodenrijs/ Hardstenen, gotisch doopvont. Monumenten in Nederland. Zuid-Holland, Ronald Stenvert, Chris Kolman, Saskia van Ginkel-Meester, Elisabeth Stades-Vischer, Sabine Broekhoven en Ronald Rommes, Rijksdienst voor de Monumentenzorg, Zeist / Waanders Uitgevers, Zwolle 2004 Tot de inventaris behoren een gotisch hardstenen doopvont (circa 1400) However, Arine Kool, Bestuur stichting Vrienden van de Dorpskerk Berkel en Rodenrijs wrote to me that it not in the church today : Indeed, the baptismal font seems to have been present in earlier centuries in an earlier church building in Berkel en Rodenrijs. I read on Internet : The church in its present form dates from 1732, and was designed by David van Stolk. The present building replaced an older church on the same site from 1347 that had fallen into disrepair. In the city archive of Rotterdam is "file 1303 Archive of the Parish O.L. Vrouw Birth in Berkel en Rodenrijs" In it a document of 1785 : "182 Declaration of Wilhelmus Greve about the baptismal font" See document Wilhelmus Greve in annex [cf. ImagesArea]. What does Wilhelmus Greve declare ? I still have to consult this document. As you know, I was able to track “the font of Berkel” back to the Museum van Stolk at Haarlem. It was in the collection when the museum was closed after the death of father and son van Stolk. The baptismal font was sold by the “kerkfabriek” in 1915 to the Museum van Stolk. In 1902, together with his son Adriaan Pieter, the Scheveningen grain merchant and art collector Jan Bertram van Stolk had founded the “Museum van Stolk” at Den Haag. The museum was located in Scheveningen, but in 1911 Gustaaf van Kalcken moved it to his house/workshop Eccles Art in the Jansstraat in Haarlem. Gustaaf van Kalcken stayed director of the Museum van Stolk untill his death in 1920. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustaaf_van_Kalken After the death of Adriaan Pieter in 1926 and the death of his father Jan Bertram in 1927, the museum was closed. After some arguments going back and forth between the heirs and official bodies, which is also described in the newspapers of the time, the collection was finally auctioned by Frederik Muller & Cie. It seems that many objects have moved to America. The now empty museum building was also sold somewhat later. The digitized version of the auction catalogue can be found on the Internet: https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/muller1928_05_08/0009/image,info Musée van Stolk, fondé à la Haye en 1902: 300 sculptures et tableaux Xe - XVIe siècles, objets de vitrine, art textile, etc ; la vente aux enchères publiques aura lieu à Amsterdam dans la Grande Salle de Ventes de Frederik Muller & Cie., session 8 et 9 mai 1928; number 161 is Berkel's baptismal font. I also found the sales price in the Nieuwe Haarlemsche Courant | 1928 | 10 mei 1928 | pagina 1 There is a direct genealogic link between David van Stolk (1692-1770) https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_van_Stolk , who built the church of Berkel in 1732 and Jan Bertram van Stolk (1854-1927), who bought the font of Berkel in 1915. See Google Books : Genealogie van het geslacht Van Stolk, Johan Hendrik Willem Unger, 1887. David → Jan → Abraham → Cornelis → Adriaan → Jan Bertram. Coincidence ? THESE ARE ALL THE FACTS, NOW I START DETECTIVE WORK There are some details in the Nieuwe Schiedamse Courant that drew my attention : THERE ARE ALSO SOME FIGURES ON IT. We only have 1 picture of the baptismal font of Berkel, and except for the 4 heads, it has no decoration (= no figures). SIZE OF MORE THAN ONE METER On the picture it does not look like that big IT WAS USED 1000 YEARS AGO To me it looks like an early gothic, Mosan font on the picture. Compared with other fonts, I would date it in the early 15th century. It doesn’t look like 1347. It doesn’t look Romanesque THE TOP IS ROUND But as the auction catalogue of Fred. Muller states : it has an octagonal form I read twice that the font of Berkel should be in the Louvre in Paris. But I only find 1 Mosan baptismal font in the Louvre : the one that Lisbeth Tollenaere describes on page 250/251 of “La sculpture sur pierre de l’ancien diocese de Liège à l’époque romane”, 1957 What does she write ? CUVE CYLINDRIQUE QUATRE TÊTES D’ANGLE DÉCOR : les quatre symboles évangélistes DIAMETRE CUVE 90cm (probably without the protruding heads ?) Provenance : provenant de Huy, église indéterminée. On display at Pavillon de Marsan, galerie 1er étage, n° PE 526 - étiquette : fonts région de Huy - vallée de la Meuse, XIIe s. Indeed this font is mentioned in the Guide Illustré du Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Pavillon due Marsan, Palais du Louvre, 1926. According to information by Jean-Claude Ghislain, this font now is « dans une réserve (extérieure à Paris) du Musée des Arts décoratifs à Paris ». MY TENTATIVE HYPOTHESIS TO BE PROVEN : there are 2 baptismal fonts of Berkel. The church of Berkel became an independent parish around 1050 (to check : how did pastor J. Velthuyse come to this conclusion ?) As so many churches in the region, it was given baptismal rights (late in the twelfth century ?), and a romanesque baptismal font was bought (pure speculation) This font got somehow buried (when ?) and was found in 1900. It is said that “the font of Berkel is in the Louvre at Paris” (to check : on what is this presumption based ?) Hypothesis : it is now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs at Paris (to check : provenance of the font in Paris, when did it enter the collection,…) A new church was built at Berkel in 1347. Somewhere in the beginning of the 15th century, it bought a gothic baptismal font. This font was sold in 1915 to the Museum van Stolk, and was auctioned off in 1928. Its present whereabouts are unknown to me. I know that a professional art historian couldn’t afford making such big leaps, not yet scientifically substantiated. But that’s what amateurs are for ? They can afford to make mistakes, they can always invoke the excuse that they are merely dilettantes. I think that having information on the font in Paris would be most efficient to make further progress. Do you have contacts in Paris that could help me retrieve the font at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs ? Many thanks in advance for your opinion. Kind regards. Pol"