De Nederlands-Italiaanse knipkunstenaar Joannes van Achelom omstreeks 1700

Abstract

The authors venture to draw the attention of art historians to the art and craft of paper cutting. In this article they make it plausible that some miniature paper cut outs are made by a catholic man, Joannes van Achelom, from Amsterdam. The paper cuts are mounted as pendants, between glass and precios metal frames, and are dated around 1700; one points to grandduke Cosimo III. Indeed, at about 36 years of age, Joannes had been invited in 1668 to join prince Cosimo de'Medici, then visiting Amsterdam, and work at the Florentine court as an artist. He became a valet of the grandduke, and descriptions of ten of his paper cuts were identified in the art inventories of the court. Unfortunately, the real pieces of this scissor artist have not (yet) been traced. Van Achelom facilitated shelter and financial support in Florence for Dutch priests and students, on their way to or from Rome. One of them, his nephew Allardus Titsingh, priest in The Hague, inherited from his uncle Joannes a large collection of drawings from known Italian artists. This collection also contained eight paper cuts of exceptional quality, as witnessed by the German art connoisseur Zacharias von Uffenbach, who visited the priest in 1711. The whole collection was auctioned after the death of Allardus in 1713, without leaving a trace.