Skip to main content
Menu
♥ Donate
eventREF E-0067742Revised

Event record

Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk, landscape painter, is born near Riversdale, Western Cape

Date
20 Aug 1853
Updated
30 Sep 2019
Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk, landscape painter, is born near Riversdale, Western Cape

Jan Volschenk was a self taught painter who specialised and excelled in the landscape genre. He found inspiration from his local surroundings of Riversdale and the Langeberg range served as the subject matter for most of his work. He held very few exhibitions during his art career. On the rare occasions that he did exhibit, these took place mostly in Cape Town and a few were held internationally as well. Though he is most famous as a painter, Volschenk has also made a contribution to natural history with his collection of more than 4000 beetle specimens. He also did a lot of heraldry work around his home town. Volschenk died in 1936 after he suffered a stroke, leaving behind his wife Helen Smalberger and nine daughters. His oldest daughter Vera followed in his footsteps and also made a name for herself as a landscape painter.

Search events by date

What happened on your birthday?
View more events from this day

How we know this

  1. 01Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau.
  2. 02Berman ,E., 1994. “Jan Ernest Abraham Volschenk” from Art & Artists of South Africa. Southern Book Publishers [online] available at: https://www.arcyart.com [Accessed 12 July 2011] ,>

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, August 12). Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk, landscape painter, is born near Riversdale, Western Cape. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0067742

South African History Online (2011) 'Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk, landscape painter, is born near Riversdale, Western Cape', South African History Online, 12 August. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0067742 (Accessed: 30 July 2026).

South African History Online, Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk, landscape painter, is born near Riversdale, Western Cape [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0067742, (accessed 30 July 2026).

"Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk, landscape painter, is born near Riversdale, Western Cape." South African History Online, 12 Aug. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0067742. Accessed 30 July 2026.

South African History Online. "Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk, landscape painter, is born near Riversdale, Western Cape." South African History Online. August 12, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0067742.

Further reading

SAHO is free because readers fund it. Donate →