Bartholomeus Johannes van Hove Dutch, 1798-1880

His father being a frame maker and gilder, Bartholomeus Johannes van Hove was raised in an artistic environment. At a young age, Van Hove began with engraving. Later on he worked under his father and through him became acquainted with the scene-painter of the Royal Theatre in The Hague, J.H.A.A. Breckenheimer (1772-1856). Van Hove soon became a well-known scene-painter and painted sceneries for theatres in The Hague and Nijmegen. The side-scenes for The Wreck of the Medusa in the theatre in The Hague are considered to be his best stage work. From 1812 Van Hove studied at the Academy of The Hague. In 1829 he succeeded Breckenheimer as scenery painter in the theatre, a post he held until 1880. Nowadays Van Hove is best known for his town views crowded with figures, usually painted in a setting located in The Hague, his town of birth.

The present lot is a good example of his well-known town views. It depicts a town square animated with figures unloading goods from a barge in the background and selling them on the square on the foreground. Van Hove managed to make an interesting combination of a moving and swarming crowd and majestic buildings. 

According to the Dutch art historian G.H. Marius, Van Hove was ´of much greater importance than Schelfhout to nineteenth-century painting´. He may be described as the foundation upon which a whole generation of artists has built, either directly through himself or indirectly through his son and pupil Hubertus van Hove. Johannes Bosboom was also one of his pupils. In his church interiors Bosboom was strongly influenced by Van Hove.  In his time Van Hove was a renowned painter and an excellent instructor, who, according to Marius, directed the art of painting into another and wider channel.