Nicolaas van der Waay - drawing of a sleeping cat - Sold

Van der Waay studied at the Amsterdam National Academy. He attended school there from 1871 to 1875. After his education, he shared a studio with his classmate Jan Hillebrand Wijsmuller (1855-1925) for some time. In 1880 he won the Willink van Collen Prize for his painting Among Friends. In the early eighties, he and his childhood friend Ernst Witkamp (1854-1897) - who was also a student of Koopman - moved into a workshop on Koningsplein. Van der Waay later owned a studio on the Rozengracht. Van der Waay was the only one to compete for the Prix de Rome in 1883, but due to the lack of competition he was not awarded this prize. However, August Allebé provided him with a ministerial subsidy of a thousand guilders for a study trip through Italy. He was a teacher at the National Academy for more than 30 years and taught the painting class there together with Allebé. Since 1891 he has held a professorship at the aforementioned National Academy, succeeding Prof. Barend Wijnveld. He held this position until his retirement in 1927. One of his best-known works is Church Walk of Citizen Orphan Girls, painted around the beginning of the 20th century, which is kept in the Amsterdam Museum. Every Sunday the citizens went in a long procession from the Burgerweeshuis to the Westerkerk on the Prinsengracht or to the Nieuwe Kerk on Dam Square. Van der Waay made a series of drawings and paintings after existing models, dressed in their typical red and black clothing. At the end of the nineteenth century he became strongly influenced by his fellow painter Isaac Israëls and his painting touch became looser and his style more impressionistic. His range of subjects is also closely aligned with that of Israëls. Like Israëls, Van der Waay was a master at capturing cityscapes and mundane scenes, often with women in the leading roles. Several museums in the Netherlands have work by Van der Waay, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Van der Waay also drew illustrations for books, such as the girls' book The Enchanted Ravine by Cora (pseudonym of C. van Berckel-van Heek), published in 1895. In 1915 he produced a watercolor for the Liber amicorum of Coenraad Kerbert, the then director of Artis. Van der Waay, like Witkamp and Wijsmuller, belonged to the secret artists' society MAB; an abbreviation that stood for the initials of the painter Michel Angelo Buonarotti, whom they admired. He was also an honorary member of the Society "Rembrandt", Society for Art and Art Desires, founded by Jan de Boer (1877-1946) on October 28, 1922 in Amsterdam. In addition to De Boer, nine other artists were members of this association. The Society's goal, among other things, was to bring art to the common man at affordable prices. Van der Waay's most important students were: Lizzy Ansingh, Tjeerd Bottema, Johannes Elsinga (from 1915 to 1918), Henri Goovaerts, Harry Koolen (from 1922 to 1926), Piet Mondriaan (in 1892 and 1893), Paul Rink, Jan Sluijters (during one academic year, from October 1901 to July 1902).