INFO
Portrait of J.C.C. van Rijsing
Piet Cottaar
1976
watercolour, gouache, and gold paint on thin vellum
h 118 x w 75 cm
Smile!
Cees van Rijsinge was known as 'Mister Smile' at the Heineken Brewery in Rotterdam. Joining the Sales Department for the hospitality sector in 1954 at the brewery office building on Crooswijkse Singel, he later worked as a hospitality consultant in the early 1970s. Upon his retirement 22 years later, he received this portrait, along with a drill and a large potted plant for his wife.
The painting was created from a colour photograph by advertising and decorative painter Piet Cottaar, 'from Mr Smile to Mr Smile,' as the employee magazine Vers van ’t vat recounted. The long ribbon around Van Rijsinge was inscribed by the artist: 'WHO DOESN'T KNOW THIS JOLLY GENTLEMAN/ WHO IN THE MEUSE CITY OF OLD,/ AS WELL AS IN THE NEW CITY,/ IS MORE SPARKLING THAN MANY A BEER.'
Life of the party
This description holds true: according to his colleagues, Cees van Rijsinge (1911-1995) was the veritable life of the party. Moreover, the equally jovial Cottaar was indebted to him: Van Rijsinge not only brought him in as Heineken's 'house painter' but also secured numerous commissions for him. Cottaar created many advertising paintings for Heineken, which were loaned to hospitality establishments in Rotterdam. The two men also got along well personally and shared the same sense of humour. This is evident in the caricature Cottaar created for his patron of the Raadskelderexpres at Rotterdam Central Station, featuring the heads of Van Rijsinge and colleagues. The Raadskelder was the internal café and the main meeting place for Heineken Rotterdam.
United brewers
On the cheerful honouree’s left, Cottaar painted the coat of arms of Rotterdam, and on the right, that of the Central Brewery Office (CBK). The CBK was established in 1939 by all 99 breweries in the Netherlands at that time, in the run-up to World War II. Thanks to the CBK, the breweries collectively endured the raw material shortages during the war, laying the foundation for a strong industry organisation: the current Dutch Brewers Association (2009).
Cheers?
Above the honouree, you finally see, from left to right, three icons of Rotterdam: the tower of the Rotterdam Laurenskerk and that of the city hall, both with smiles on their clock faces, next to the Euromast with the Hefbrug. Winged glasses of beer circle around the towers, small glasses of Dutch gin around the Euromast: Mr Smile apparently enjoyed a traditional Dutch ‘kopstootje’ (a shot of Dutch gin with a beer chaser)!