The Cloister of Bethanien in Mechelen.

Watercolour, 14,5 x 19 cm, laid paper, signed in pen at lower right corner "J.B. De Noter Fc.".

Under passe-partout and gilt frame (not studied outside frame).

Original drawing of De Noter's famous series of watercolours of his hometown Mechelen. Between 1830 and 1850 the Mechelen canon Schöffer commissioned Van Noter to deliver 340 watercolours of Mechelen. The majority if these drawings are now in the Mechelen city archives. Many of these views were historical reconstrutions of long-lost buildings. This is also true for the Cloister of Bethanien, founded in 1477, but destroyed during the religious revolts in 1572. A second version of this drawing with different figures and a slightly highter point of view, is now in the Mechelen city archives (inv. Sch. 249).
Ref. J. Neckers, "Mechelen zoals Jean-Baptiste De Noter het zag", Mechelen 1980.