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Lot Essay
This impeccably preserved panel, signed and dated 1641, is an outstanding work by one of the most inspired Dutch practitioners of architectural painting. Based in Arnemuiden near Middelburg, where he served as burgomaster, van Delen devoted his entire artistic career to painting architectural subjects. He painted church interiors from around 1627 onwards, inspired both by the Antwerp tradition and by the monumental interiors painted by his contemporary in Delft Bartholomeus van Bassen (1590-1652). In van Delen’s earlier works the architecture is massive, often with heavy coffered ceilings, rendered with a dullish brown palette. As he developed, his highly refined technique came to the fore as his imaginary churches took on ever grander and more elegant proportions. By around 1640, as beautifully exemplified by this work, he was producing his most ambitious pictures, characterised by a lighter and brighter palette, meticulous attention to detail and a glossier paint surface.
In this fantastical church, vast in scale and rich in decoration, van Delen offers a wide view of the entrance, from an elevated viewpoint, looking straight down the nave towards the choir. With light pouring in from the left and into the crossing from above, the artist achieves an extraordinary sense of light and luminosity, an effect which is currently muted slightly by the old discoloured varnish which covers the paint surface. An ornate organ loft, a heraldic coat of arms and two imposing sculpted monuments mounted high up on the columns adorn the foreground. Beneath them, and dotted down the nave, elegantly dressed men women stroll admiringly through the church serving to punctuate the space and add to the overwhelming sense of space and depth. The figures are especially high quality in this example and were added by the specialist Anthonie Palamedes (1601-1673) who is known to have collaborated with van Delen on some of his best pictures. The small scale of his figures and their highly successful integration into the composition succeeds in emphasising the awe-inspiring height of the architecture.
While first recorded in the possession of John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute, this picture was very probably acquired by his father, John Stuart, 1st Earl of Bute, who assembled an outstanding collection of Dutch pictures. This was hung at Luton Park, the mansion designed for him by Robert Adam but left unfinished at his death. The 2nd Marquess, who evidently favoured a less dense picture hang than his father and grandfather, sent a substantial number of pictures from Luton to a twoday auction at Christie’s, 7-8 June 1822. The picture was bought at this sale by the 2nd Earl of Caledon, the calibre of whose collection can best be judged from the account of this by Dr. Waagen.
In this fantastical church, vast in scale and rich in decoration, van Delen offers a wide view of the entrance, from an elevated viewpoint, looking straight down the nave towards the choir. With light pouring in from the left and into the crossing from above, the artist achieves an extraordinary sense of light and luminosity, an effect which is currently muted slightly by the old discoloured varnish which covers the paint surface. An ornate organ loft, a heraldic coat of arms and two imposing sculpted monuments mounted high up on the columns adorn the foreground. Beneath them, and dotted down the nave, elegantly dressed men women stroll admiringly through the church serving to punctuate the space and add to the overwhelming sense of space and depth. The figures are especially high quality in this example and were added by the specialist Anthonie Palamedes (1601-1673) who is known to have collaborated with van Delen on some of his best pictures. The small scale of his figures and their highly successful integration into the composition succeeds in emphasising the awe-inspiring height of the architecture.
While first recorded in the possession of John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute, this picture was very probably acquired by his father, John Stuart, 1st Earl of Bute, who assembled an outstanding collection of Dutch pictures. This was hung at Luton Park, the mansion designed for him by Robert Adam but left unfinished at his death. The 2nd Marquess, who evidently favoured a less dense picture hang than his father and grandfather, sent a substantial number of pictures from Luton to a twoday auction at Christie’s, 7-8 June 1822. The picture was bought at this sale by the 2nd Earl of Caledon, the calibre of whose collection can best be judged from the account of this by Dr. Waagen.