Chronology of 1750-1913

1750 - 1759

The new owner of Hofwijck, Jacob des Tombe, is captain of the Delft militia and married to his cousin Susanna Helena des Tombe. With great zeal he refurbishes his newly acquired estate according to his own tastes. The painter Jacob Xavery is commissioned to embellish the interior. Above the door to the reception room and above the mantelpiece he paints some of his famous ‘whites’ (trompe l’oeils), in white and grey tones with a three-dimensional effect. He also has a new gardener's house, coach house and stable built at Hofwijck. In 1752 Des Tombe also regains the upper garden of Hofwijck by buying the plot for 2,384 guilders from Hendrik van Leeuwen, who had bought it three years earlier for a considerably lower amount. Des Tombe also has an auction of household goods. In 1754 he sells alder wood, oak and beech trees, hedges, fruit trees, box and four large lead statues with their pedestals. On May 16, 1759, Jacob des Tombe sells Hofwijck to Jacob Guiot for 6,500 guilders.

1759 – 1781

Jacob Guiot, like his predecessor, comes from Delft. He dies eight years after the purchase, in July 1767, after which his widow Barbara Durven remains at Hofwijck. She died in 1781. Hofwijck is then auctioned. In the meantime the estate appears to have been enriched with hothouses in which grapes and peaches are grown. There is also a collection of animals in a small menagerie. In addition to other buildings, there is also a salon or a pavilion. The highest bidder for this pleasant country house and garden is the Rotterdam regent Jacob Philippus Bogaert. He pays 11,800 guilders plus 500 guilders for gardening tools and other movable goods.

1781 – 1788/’90

In the year in which he acquired Hofwijck, Jacob Philippus Bogaert, was a member of the Rotterdam Council and the Rotterdam delegate to the Chamber of Accounts of Holland. As patron of the Batavian Society, Jacobus Philippus is known for his strong patriotic sympathies in these troubled times. Around 1787 tensions mount between the pro-Orange Dutchmen and the anti-Orange Patriots in many cities, including Voorburg. Here the bomb bursts in August 1787. Various Patriot houses are plundered and the residents molested.