Joseph Albert Alberdingk Thijm (8 July 1820 – 17 March 1889) was a Dutch writer. In his triple capacity of art critic,
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
, and poet, Alberdingk Thijm was an important figure of Catholic literature. After finishing his studies in his native city, he took up a commercial career.
Writing
He made his entry into the literary world as an art critic in the ''Spectator'' in 1842, and immediately attracted attention by his views and his style. The following year he published an essay on the spelling of hybrid words, in which he came out as a philologist. In 1855 he founded the literary magazine ''Dietsche Warande'', which is still in existence under the title ''
DWB''.
In his poems, he shows that he is a disciple of
Willem Bilderdijk
Willem Bilderdijk () (7 September 1756 – 18 December 1831) was a Dutch poet, historian, lawyer, and linguist.
Life
Willem Bilderdijk was born on 7 September 1756 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic.Joris van Eijnatten,Bilderdijk, W., ''Bio- en ...
. This he himself declares in his celebrated poem "U min ik, Oude met uw stroefgeplooide trekken" (I love you, old one, with your rugged features).
As a Catholic writer, "nil nisi per Christum" was his motto. He was influential in the Catholic revival, and the restoration of the hierarchy in the Netherlands. In 1852 Thijm sent a memorial to Rome setting forth the historic reasons for considering
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...
to be the traditional archiepiscopal see of the Netherlands, and the anxiety of the Catholics at that time that the historic tradition be not broken.
Besides the periodical "Dietsche Warande" which he edited from 1855 to 1886, the people's almanac for the Catholics of the Netherlands (1852–89), and numberless brochures in defence of the Church and church history, his most important works are: "Het Voorgeborchte", "Palet en Harp", "Portretten van Joost van den Vondel", "Verspreide Verhalen", "Kerstliederen", "De la Litérature Néerlandaise", "Karolingische Verhalen", "De Heilige Linie". His last efforts were devoted to the preparation of a complete edition of the works of
Joost van den Vondel
Joost van den Vondel (; 17 November 1587 – 5 February 1679) was a Dutch poet, writer and playwright. He is considered the most prominent Dutch poet and playwright of the 17th century. His plays are the ones from that period that are still mos ...
.
Family
The writer
Peter Paul Maria Alberdingk Thijm was his brother.
Alberdingk Thijm was a friend of architect
Pierre Cuypers
Petrus Josephus Hubertus "Pierre" Cuypers (16 May 1827 – 3 March 1921) was a Dutch architect. His name is most frequently associated with the Amsterdam Central Station (1881–1889) and the Rijksmuseum (1876–1885), both in Amsterdam. ...
. His writings about Catholic art were a major influence on Cuypers in the first decades of his career. In 1859 Cuypers married Alberdingk Thijm's sister Antoinette.
Commemoration
*There is an Alberdingk Thijm street in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
,
Arnhem
Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...
,
Gendringen,
Etten-Leur
Etten-Leur () is a municipality in the Dutch province North Brabant. Its name is a combination of the two villages from which the municipality originally acrose: Etten and Leur. History
The villages were always part of one municipality, originally ...
,
Haarlem,
's-Hertogenbosch
s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...
,
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...
,
Schiedam, ,
Tilburg
Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...
,
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...
,
Venlo
Venlo () is a city and municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg, about 50 km east of the city of Eindhoven, 65 km north east of the provincial capital Maastricht, a ...
,
Vlijmen
Vlijmen is a town in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Heusden, about 6 km west of 's-Hertogenbosch.''ANWB Topografische Atlas Nederland'', Topografische Dienst and ANWB, 2005.
Vlijmen was a separate m ...
and .
*The in
Hilversum is named after him.
References
*''Katholieke Illustratie'' (1889), 377 sq.;
*''Dietsche Warande'' (1889), p. 239 sq.;
*Van de Duys (Amsterdam, 1896);
*''Busken Huet, Litterarische Fantasieen en Kritieken'' (Haarlem, 1881);
*''Levensgeschiedenissen van de leden der Maatschappij van Letterkunde van Leiden'' (Leiden, 1889)
External links
*
''Catholic Encyclopedia'' article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thijm, Joseph Albert Alberdingk
1820 births
1889 deaths
Dutch male writers
Writers from Amsterdam
Dutch Roman Catholics
Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium