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Lot Essay
Although largely self-taught, Adriaen van de Venne received instruction in painting and illumination from two lesser known painters, Simon de Valck, who was also a goldsmith but is otherwise unrecorded, and the grisaille painter Jeronymus van Diest I.
Van de Venne's move from Middelburg, where he is recorded to have lived from 1614, to The Hague in 1625 led to a profound change in his artistic production and intention. Both in style and iconography these works contrast sharply with the polychrome outdoor scenes of his earlier career. He develops a preference for a grey and brown tonality, and concentrates solely on the human figure, usually peasants, as the main subject. Although clearly based on observation, the peasants in van de Venne's grisaille paintings become conveyers of ideas or symbols of envy, greed, poverty and extravagant wealth. This moralizing character places van de Venne firmly within the tradition of Pieter Breughel and Hieronymus Bosch, artists who were also fascinated by the lives of people and their virtues and vices.
The sympathetic representation of the peasants in the present lot is done with remarkable narrative clarity, despite the use of a reduced palette. The contrasting moments of abundance and scarcity serve as a warning to the viewer about the consequences of excess. His intensely felt and vivid response to contemporary life distinguishes van de Venne from other artists working in a similar vein. Another version of the second picture is found in the Herzog Anton-Ulrich Museum, Brunswick (see Laurens J. Bol, Adriaen Pietersz. Van de Venne. Painter and Draughtsman, Davaco, 1984, p. 81, no. 70).
Van de Venne's move from Middelburg, where he is recorded to have lived from 1614, to The Hague in 1625 led to a profound change in his artistic production and intention. Both in style and iconography these works contrast sharply with the polychrome outdoor scenes of his earlier career. He develops a preference for a grey and brown tonality, and concentrates solely on the human figure, usually peasants, as the main subject. Although clearly based on observation, the peasants in van de Venne's grisaille paintings become conveyers of ideas or symbols of envy, greed, poverty and extravagant wealth. This moralizing character places van de Venne firmly within the tradition of Pieter Breughel and Hieronymus Bosch, artists who were also fascinated by the lives of people and their virtues and vices.
The sympathetic representation of the peasants in the present lot is done with remarkable narrative clarity, despite the use of a reduced palette. The contrasting moments of abundance and scarcity serve as a warning to the viewer about the consequences of excess. His intensely felt and vivid response to contemporary life distinguishes van de Venne from other artists working in a similar vein. Another version of the second picture is found in the Herzog Anton-Ulrich Museum, Brunswick (see Laurens J. Bol, Adriaen Pietersz. Van de Venne. Painter and Draughtsman, Davaco, 1984, p. 81, no. 70).