Johannes Rach

Johannes Rach (1720 – 4 August 1783) was a Danish painter and draughtsman whose works from Copenhagen and Indonesia are a valuable source of architectural and cultural historic knowledge.

Probably due to lack of success as a painter, Rach turned to a military career in 1762 when he left for Asia to serve as gunner aboard one of the ships of the Dutch East India Company, leaving his wife and daughter behind in Amsterdam.

In 1764, he continued to Batavia, where he was promoted through the military hierarchy, becoming a major in 1779, while at the same time making progress as an artist of topographical views.

To cope with demand, Rach recruited assistants, most often unknown, who worked in his style and are probably responsible for most of the drawings from Java signed to him.

Several fellow draughtsmen, such as Robert Jacob Gordon, Frederik Reimer and the aforementioned Jan Brandes, Rach personally knew or could have known.

Rach's work from Copenhagen is artistically quite primitive but it is of great architectural and cultural historic value since it provides valuable information on both buildings and street life of his day.

The National Library of Indonesia in Jakarta and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam have, since 1995, been in consultation over their common heritage in Johannes Rach's drawings.

The two parties studied the possibility of temporarily reuniting and the Erasmus Huis in Jakarta was prepared to support the united initiatives of the two institutions.

It was expected that an exhibition together with a publication would attract considerable attention not only in Indonesia and the Netherlands but also in Japan, Singapore, South Africa and Great Britain.

In 1999 the Rach-project was launched when HGIS, an organization set up by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, granted funds to implement the plans.

The Johannes Rach Project was concluded by a seminar in the National Library and the opening of an accompanying exhibition as well as the publishing of a catalogue.