Petrus van Schendel

J. A. Sawyer (per inscription on reverse)
Private collection
Thence by descent to the present owner

Inspired by Dutch genre-painters of the Golden Age, notably Godfried Schalcken (1643-1706), Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), and the Utrecht Caravaggisti, Petrus van Schendel grew up in Breda and trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. By the early 1850s, van Schendel was at the height of his artistic powers and had an international reputation. Nicknamed "Monsieur Chandelle," van Schendel relished the chiaroscuro effects of soft light against sweeping shadows.

Van Schendel lived in The Hague from 1839 to 1845 and painted many market scenes throughout the city, including this one of the Groenplaats (vegetable market), with part of Sint-Jacobskerk visible in the background. Two women illuminated by candlelight converse in the foreground, one carrying a basket of vegetables, the other sitting with a basket of fish. The silvery smooth skin of a still-wet stingray, splayed out at bottom right, glistens against the dark skirt of the seated woman, catching the light in strokes of pure white paint. This hushed but bustling scene exemplifies van Schendel's mimetic mastery of light and shadow, where life is for a moment stilled.

We would like to thank Jan de Meere for confirming the authenticity of this work and for identifying the painted location.