Cornelis de Bruijn
Cornelis de Bruijn or Cornelius de Bruyn (pronounced [də ˈbrœyn]; 1652 – 1726/7), also formerly known in English by his French name Corneille Le Brun, was a Dutch artist and traveler. He made two large tours and published illustrated books with his observations of people, buildings, plants and animals.
Also recorded as Cornelis De Bruyn · Kornelis Bruin · Cornelio de Brugn · Adonis Bruyn
Cornelis de Bruijn

Godfrey Kneller · Home: Info: Pic · Public domain
- Born
- 1652. · The Hague.
- Nationality
- Dutch Republic.
- Occupation
- writer, explorer, painter and traveler.
- Fields
- painting, Dutch literature and travel.
- Known for
- Joan van Hoorn (1653-1711). Gouverneur-generaal (1704-09).
- Honours
- Prijs voor Meesterschap.
- Languages
- Dutch.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Cornelis de Bruijn or Cornelius de Bruyn (pronounced [də ˈbrœyn]; 1652 – 1726/7), also formerly known in English by his French name Corneille Le Brun, was a Dutch artist and traveler. He made two large tours and published illustrated books with his observations of people, buildings, plants and animals.
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wikipedia incomplete · checked 25 September 2026
- Identity
- resolved
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Authority files
wikidata · Q2535359 · wikipedia · Cornelis de Bruijn
In this article
Biography
Biography
The recorded working language is Dutch. The field of work recorded is painting, Dutch literature and travel. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Places of work recorded in the authority are Greece. Works named in the authority record are Joan van Hoorn (1653-1711). Work by Cornelis de Bruijn is recorded in the collections of National Museum of World Cultures, Rijksmuseum and Het Scheepvaartmuseum. Distinctions recorded are Prijs voor Meesterschap.
De Bruijn was born in The Hague, the Netherlands. During his first tour, he visited Rome, where he became a member of the Bentvueghels with the nickname Adonis, which is how he signed the bentbrief of Abraham Genoels II. He travelled in Egypt and climbed to the top of a pyramid where he left his signature. De Bruijn made secret drawings of Jerusalem, then part of the Ottoman Empire. His drawings of Palmyra are copies. De Bruijn reached Cyprus and stayed among the Dutch merchants in Smyrna and Constantinople. From 1684 he worked in Venice with the painter Johann Carl Loth, returning in 1693 to The Hague, where he sold his souvenirs. In 1698 he published his book with drawings, which was a success and was translated in several languages. Two examples have colored illustrations, the first colour prints in history. Among his drawings were the first pictures of the interior of the Great Pyramid and Jerusalem that became known in Europe. In 1701 he headed for Arkhangelsk. During his second tour he visited the Samoyeds in northern Russia. In Moscow he became acquainted with emperor Peter the Great: de Bruijn painted his nieces, and the paintings were sent to possible candidates for marriage. In late April 1703, De Bruijn left Moscow along with the party of an Armenian merchants from Isfahan whose name he recorded as Jacob Daviedof. De Bruijn and the Armenians sailed down the Moscow River, the Oka and the Volga, eventually reaching Astrakhan. Thanks to de Bruijn's short stopover in Nizhny Novgorod during the Easter holidays, we now have his description of that major centre of the Russian Volga trade as it existed in 1703, with its Kremlin, stone churches, and a lively bar (kabak) scene. Leaving the borders of the Russian state, de Bruijn arrived to Persia, where he made drawings of towns like Isfahan and Persepolis (1704–1705). He continued to Java and returned to Persia, Russia, and ultimately the Netherlands. His drawings of Persepolis, a city destroyed by Alexander the Great, caused a sensation. The mayor of Amsterdam Nicolaes Witsen and a member of the Royal Society probably asked him to draw the city famous for its 40 columns. For a century, they were the best prints available to western scholars. De Bruijn was accused of plagiarism and his second book, Reizen over Moskovie was not such a success. From Amsterdam he fled to Vianen. De Bruijn was invited by a Mennonite silk merchant and died in Utrecht. It is not known when and where he was buried. De Bruijn, who had read every Greek and Latin source he had been able to obtain, displays a convincing knowledge of subjects, at times going into the humorous. In Persia, he obtained a copy of Firdausi's Shahnamê, which he summarized and made accessible to the west.
Works
Works
Reizen van Cornelis de Bruyn door de vermaardste Deelen van Klein Asia (1698) Corneille le Brun, Voyage au Levant (French translation, 1700) Corneille le Brun, A Voyage to the Levant: or Travels in the Principal Parts of Asia Minor (English translation, 1702) Reizen over Moskovie, door Persie en Indie (1711) Voyages de Corneille le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes Occidentales (French translation, 1718) Corneille le Brun, Voyage to the Levant and Travels into Moscovy, Persia, and the East Indies (English translation, 1720) C. le Brun, An Abstract of M.C. Le Brun's Travels through Russia (1722) Puteshestvie cerez Moskouviju Kornelija de Brujna (Russian excerpt 1873) Aenmerkingen Over de Printverbeeldingen van de Overblijfzelen van het Oude Persepolis (1714) Other English translations appeared in 1737, 1759, and 1873.

Illustration of the ruins of Tyre in the 17th century by the Dutch traveller and artist Cornelis De Bruyn (1652?-1727?)
De Bruyn, Cornelis (1652?-1727?)

Identificatie Titel(s): Portretten van Cornelis de Bruyn, Theodorus Netscher en Bonaventura van Overbeek
Rijksmuseum
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1652–1727
The full dated record · 3 entries
1652
Cornelis de Bruijn was born on 1 January 1652.
1701
The Travels of Cornelis de Bruyn is dated 1701.
1727
Cornelis de Bruijn died on 1 January 1727.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
The Hague.
Birth place
Utrecht.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Cornelis de Bruijn (1652-1726/27), Eastward Bound, 1994
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 1994
- J.W. Drijvers, J. de Hond, H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, 'Ik hadde de nieusgierigheid'. De reizen door het Nabije Oosten van Cornelis de Bruijn (ca. 1652-1727), BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, 1999
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 1999
reference work
- “Cornelis de Bruijn”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q2535359: Cornelis de Bruijn
Unverified · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.de Bruijn Map of Jerusalem. Eran Laor Cartographic Collection, The National Library of Israel.
- 2.Bruin, 1725, pp=233–235
- 3.Bruin, 1725, pp=247–250
Bibliography printed in the source article · 3
- J.W. Drijvers, J. de Hond, H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg (eds.): "Ik hadde de nieusgierigheid". De reizen door het Nabije Oosten van Cornelis de Bruijn (ca.1652–1727) (1997 Leiden and Leuven)
- J. de Hond, "Cornelis de Bruijn (1652-1726/27). A Dutch Painter in the East", in: G.J. van Gelder, E. de Moor (eds.), Eastward Bound. Dutch Ventures and Adventures in the Middle East (1994 London/Atlanta), pp. 51–81
- G. Jurriaans-Helle (ed.), Cornelis de Bruijn. Voyages from Rome to Jerusalem and from Moscow to Batavia (Catalogue of an exposition in the Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam, 1998)
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Cornelis de Bruijn (1652-1726/27), Eastward Bound, 1994Crossref registry
Verifiedscholarly publication
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolvedauthority record
Unverified
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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