Dirck van Delen

Charles Brunner, Paris, 1919;
With Richard Green;
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 14 January 1988, lot 93;
There acquired by the late owner.

B.G. Maillet, Intérieurs d'Églises 1580-1720, La Peinture Architecturale des Écoles du Nord, Wijnegem 2012, p. 232, cat. no. M.-0325, reproduced.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work is in beautiful condition. The oak panel is flat and may be a single piece of wood. No joins or cracks are visible either on the surface or on the reverse. There is a retouch at the base of one of the golden columns on the right side, but there are otherwise no retouches. The condition is remarkably good.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Dated 1629, this splendid panel is an early work by Dirck van Delen, one of the most important Dutch Golden Age artists to specialize in architectural subjects, in particular palaces and church interiors.  Although the identity of his teacher remains unclear, the influence of artists such as Pieter Neefs, active a generation earlier, and Hans and Paul Vredeman de Vries, the Dutch father and son who worked at the court of Rudolf II in Prague, on van Delen's art is indubitable.  Unlike his contemporary Pieter Saenredam, who was renown for his naturalistic paintings of existing buildings, van Delen specialized in imaginary architectural scenes that freely reinterpreted known interiors and emphasized dramatic spatial recession.  His works are recognized for their refined details, vivid palettes, impressive and convincing use of perspective, as well as an overall feeling of monumentality, all of which are found within the present painting.   In this painting, we look from a low point into the spacious interior of a magnificent church.  A shadowed foreground opens onto a light-flooded and soaring space whose archways and columns pull the eye into the depths of the composition to the to the towering windows beyond.  The ornate golden organ that rises above a stone figure between the columns of the staircase at left is balanced on the right by an impressive tomb, adorned with sculpture, elaborate marble stone, and and coats of arms, suggesting the entombed is of impressive or historical lineage.  Contributing the the lively impression of the rest of the interior are the myriad of figures that move throughout the space.  In addition to the two figures on left the stairway, the elegant group gathered in the central foreground, the two peasants near the tomb, and the single white dog, a group processes in a line from left to right across the composition and a number of religious female clergy are gathered in prayer in front of an empty pulpit in the distance.