History
The Art Hotel Harlingen has a rich history. In 1597, this building at Voorstraat 18 was first mentioned in a proclamation book (a book in which the sale of real estate is recorded). At that time, the port city was expanded for the third time. The Eighty Years’ War caused many people, especially Mennonites, to flee to the free north. In addition to merchants, the building also housed art collectors, painters and an art dealer. Reason enough to honor them with the name Art Hotel Harlingen.
Simon Stinstra and Anna Braam
In 1774, Harlingen resident Simon Stinstra and his incredibly wealthy wife Anna Braam purchased this “exquisite house and carriage house.” At the time, the property included free access through a large alley with a gate leading to the Lanen, the street located behind it. Simon was a physician, as were his father and his son Gooitjen, who was only eleven when the family moved into the house. Gooitjen would later follow in his father’s footsteps. Simon’s daughter Isabella married an Amsterdam merchant and relocated to the capital.
Simon and Anna—nicknamed “the Pearl of Harlingen” due to her immense wealth—were passionate art enthusiasts. Over the years, they collected a significant collection, which their son Gooitjen continued to expand. After Gooitjen’s death, the collection, comprising 218 paintings, was put up for sale in Amsterdam. The auction took an impressive two days to complete!
Several paintings from Simon and Anna’s collection found their way to renowned museums such as the Rijksmuseum and the Amsterdam Museum, where they can still be admired today.
Hendrickus and Nicolaas Baur
If you had stepped into Voorstraat 18 in the late eighteenth century, you would have found the art gallery of Hendrickus Antonius Baur immediately to your left, in the spot where the bar is now stands. Hendrickus, a portrait painter from Germany, sold oil paintings and pastel drawings by contemporary artists of his time.
Hendrickus also painted himself, leaving behind several portraits of eighteenth-century dignitaries who had their portraits painted by himwho commissioned him. One of his works, a portrait of Jan Hannema, hangs above the staircase in the Hannemahuis Museum. Another, a family portrait of an unknown family from 1798, can also be admired there, along with a portrait he made of his own son, Nicolaas.
Nicolaas, born and raised in Harlingen, grew up surrounded by paintings and took painting lessons from his father, quickly surpassing him in talent. He started as a wallpaper painter but transitioned to cityscapes and seascapes when wallpaper fell out of fashion—with great success!
The streets and harbors of Harlingen were among Nicolaas’s favorite subjects, and during those years, it wasn’t uncommon to see him painting around town. For instance, in 1788, the 20-year-old Nicolaas was working on an oil painting near his family home on the Voorstraat. He captured everything he saw: the Town Hall tower, the houses with their elegant gable façades, the bridges, the canal, laundry hanging out to dry, an officer and grenadiers of the Dutch States Army, and a lady wearing a sun hat. This painting can now be seen in the Hannemahuis Mus
Voorstraat near the Town Hall Tower in Harlingen, 1788 – Nicolaas Baur
One of Nicolaas Baur’s most renowned works is “Skating Competition for Women on the City Canal in Leeuwarden” from 1809. The competition, featuring 64 unmarried women, caused a stir at the time, as such behavior was considered “peculiar and corrupting” for women. Nicolaas captured the scene in a painting that is now displayed at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
View of the Westersingel in Leeuwarden with a Women’s Skating Race, 1809 – Nicolaas Baur
Even in his own time, Nicolaas Baur was regarded as one of the finest maritime painters and enjoyed considerable fame. In 1808, King Louis Napoleon purchased two of his works, which are now part of the Rijksmuseum’s collection. Nicolaas frequently participated in exhibitions organized by the Royal Institute in Amsterdam and was a member of the Fourth Class of the Royal Institute as well as an honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels.
Nicolaas Baur passed away at the age of 52 in 1820, in the house at Voorstraat 18.