Adriaen van de Velde Amsterdam 1636 - 1672

Richard Abraham, New York;
His deceased sale, London, Phillips, 28 June 1831, lot 51;
Offered, London, Foster, 15 April 1833, lot 116;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 14 December 1895, lot 76;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 9 December 1911, lot 107;
With Trafalgar Galleries, London, by 1912;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 22 April 1921, lot 136 (to Holland);
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 12 February 1926, lot 51 (to Morrison);
Mr. Ward, Hampstead, London, by 1934, from whom acquired by the St. Ignatius Residence, Amsterdam;
By whom offered, London, Christie's, 10 July 2002, lot 51 (as 'indistinctly signed and dated 1666').

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné..., vol. V, London 1834, pp. 204-5, no. 101;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné..., vol. IV, London 1911, p. 460, no. 12;
F. Lammertse, Hollands Classicisme in de zeventiende-eeuwse schilderkunst, exhibition catalogue, Rotterdam/Frankfurt-am-Main, 1999-2000, p. 322, under cat. no. 64, reproduced p. 323, fig. 64b;
R. Schillemans, 'Christus in de hof van Gethsemane van Adriaen van de Velde', in Bulletin Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder, no. 19, November 2000, pp. 13-19, reproduced p. 15 and on the front cover;
M. Frensemeier, Studien zu Adriaen van de Velde, diss. Bonn 2001, pp. 107 and 188, no. 229.

This monumental picture belongs to the important group of large-scale religious works by Adriaen van de Velde executed in the 1660s for Catholic places of worship in Amsterdam. Frensemeier mentions eight paintings in this group, including a series of five scenes of The Passion, dated 1664, formerly in the schuilkerk De Ster and currently in the Augustinuskerk, Nieuwendam (see Literature below, pp. 96-120) and an Annunciation of 1667 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. no. A 2688). All eight works are classicist in style, with strongly lit, monumental figures set in carefully arranged compositions.

The subject of the Agony in the garden had been treated before by Van de Velde in the picture of 1664 that constitutes the first of The Passion series (idem, no. 5, reproduced fig. 140). Both Schillemans and Frensemeier (see Literature below) agree that in the present picture from 1665, Adriaen van de Velde created a stronger composition than in the earlier work. The figures of Christ and the Angel are moved to the right of the picture plain and they are placed closer together.

Van de Velde's work for Catholic commissioners followed his marriage in 1657, when he converted to catholicism. His activity as a painter for Catholic churches in the 1660s is not an isolated phenomenon. Painters such as his fellow-citizen Karel Dujardin (1626-1678) and Nicolaes Berchem (1620-1683) are also known to have painted altarpieces for hidden Catholic churches in those years.

Drs. Bart Cornelis, who is currently preparing a catalogue raisonné on the paintings and drawings of Adriaen van de Velde, has kindly confirmed the attribution to the artist.