Lot Essay
In 1573 William of Orange instructed a commission to select a suitable location to store the States' artillery, arms and gunpowder. Probably because of its central location, the city of Delft was chosen. As a result until 1667 eight arsenals were put into use in or near the city, these included the gunpowder arsenal called ''t Secreet van Hollandt' situated at the Geerweg in the city. On 12 October 1654 Cornelis Soetens, a clerk of the States of Holland and Westfriesland, went into the arsenal, where at the time some 90.000 pounds of gunpowder was stored. Shortly afterwards, at about 11.30 a.m., five severe explosions were heard far away from Delft. The blast killed at least 100 people, wounded an estimated 1.000 people, destroyed some 200 houses and knocked off the roofs of another 300. Every building in the city was damaged following the blast. The painter Carel Fabritius, who that morning was painting a portrait of Simon Decker, former sexton of the Oude Kerk, was found severely wounded and died in a hospital the same day, Decker was killed, while all pictures in the studio were destroyed. Up to four days after the explosion people were found alive among the ruins.
As Saftleven, who drew the present lot on 27 October, notes, the site of the gunpowder arsenal was marked by only a hole of 13 feet deep which was by then filled with water, while the stained glass of the Oude and Nieuwe Kerk was destroyed or severely damaged. In the Nieuwe Kerk the monuments of admirals Michiel Tromp and Piet Hein were miraculously left undamaged, though the walls had partly been blown away. Because the explosion was regarded as the biggest disaster that ever hit the Republic, money was collected and the States of Holland and West Friesland put forward f.100.000 to support those involved, while many were freed of taxes for up to 25 years.
Though the Delft painters Egbert van der Poel and Daniel Vosmaer painted the aftermath of the explosion many times as the demand for the subject was apparently quite large, the present lot seems to be one of the very few drawn views of the city just after the explosion.
Ruins were favoured subjects for Saftleven, as is shown by his series of twenty drawings of the ruins of the Dom and Pieterskerk in Utrecht dated 1674-7, which was acquired by the city in 1682 (W. Schulz, op. cit., nos. 593-614), and his many drawings of the partly ruined town walls and ruined houses of the same city.
As Broos (loc. cit.) suggests, the present lot probably entered the Feitama Collection in circa 1695
As Saftleven, who drew the present lot on 27 October, notes, the site of the gunpowder arsenal was marked by only a hole of 13 feet deep which was by then filled with water, while the stained glass of the Oude and Nieuwe Kerk was destroyed or severely damaged. In the Nieuwe Kerk the monuments of admirals Michiel Tromp and Piet Hein were miraculously left undamaged, though the walls had partly been blown away. Because the explosion was regarded as the biggest disaster that ever hit the Republic, money was collected and the States of Holland and West Friesland put forward f.100.000 to support those involved, while many were freed of taxes for up to 25 years.
Though the Delft painters Egbert van der Poel and Daniel Vosmaer painted the aftermath of the explosion many times as the demand for the subject was apparently quite large, the present lot seems to be one of the very few drawn views of the city just after the explosion.
Ruins were favoured subjects for Saftleven, as is shown by his series of twenty drawings of the ruins of the Dom and Pieterskerk in Utrecht dated 1674-7, which was acquired by the city in 1682 (W. Schulz, op. cit., nos. 593-614), and his many drawings of the partly ruined town walls and ruined houses of the same city.
As Broos (loc. cit.) suggests, the present lot probably entered the Feitama Collection in circa 1695