Cornelis de Bruijn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cornelis de Bruijn (c.1652-1727) was a Dutch artist and traveler. He made two large tours and published beautifully illustrated books about them.
During his first tour, he visited Rome, Egypt, Jerusalem, and many towns in the Ottoman Empire; among his drawings were the first pictures of Jerusalem and the interior of the Great Pyramid that became known in Europe. His book was a great success and was translated in several languages; two examples are known that have colored illustrations - the first color prints in history.
The second tour was even more spectacular. He visited the Samoyeds in northern Russia, Moscow (where he was among the favorite artists of czar Peter the Great), and Astrakhan, and reached Persia, where he made drawings of towns like Isfahan and Persepolis (1704-1705). He continued to Java and returned to Persia, Russia, and ultimately Holland. His drawings of Persepolis caused a sensation, and were, for a century, the best that were available to western scholars.
His second book, Reizen over Moskovie, is really nice to read, because De Bruijn, who had read every Greek and Latin source he had been able to obtain, really knows what he is talking about, and has a dry sense of humor. In Persia, he obtained a copy of Firdausi's Shahnamê, which he summarized and made accessible to the west.
[edit] De Bruijn's Books
- Reizen van Cornelis de Bruyn door de vermaardste Deelen van Klein Asia (1698)
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- Corneille le Brun, Voyage au Levant (French translation, 1700)
- Corneille le Brun, A Voyage to the Levant: or Travels in the Principal Parts of Asia Minor (English translation, 1702)
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- Reizen over Moskovie, door Persie en Indie (1711)
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- Voyages de Corneille le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes Occidentales (French translation, 1718)
- Corneille le Brun, Voyage to the Levant and Travels into Moscovy, Persia, and the East Indies (English translation, 1720)
- C. le Brun, An Abstract of M.C. Le Brun's Travels through Russia (1722)
- Puteshestvie cerez Moskouviju Kornelija de Brujna (Russian excerpt 1873)
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- Aenmerkingen Over de Printverbeeldingen van de Overblijfzelen van het Oude Persepolis (1714)
Other English translations appeared in 1737, 1759, and 1873.
[edit] Literature
- J.W. Drijvers, J. de Hond, H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg (eds.): "Ik hadde de nieusgierigheid". De reizen door het Nabije Oosten van Cornelis de Bruijn (ca.1652-1727) (1997 Leiden and Leuven)
- J. de Hond, "Cornelis de Bruijn (1652-1726/27). A Dutch Painter in the East", in: G.J. van Gelder, E. de Moor (eds.), Eastward Bound. Dutch Ventures and Adventures in the Middle East (1994 London/Atlanta), pp.51-81
- G. Jurriaans-Helle (ed.), Cornelis de Bruijn. Voyages from Rome to Jerusalem and from Moscow to Batavia (Catalogue of an exposition in the Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam, 1998)
