Dirck van Delen
Dirck van Delen | |
|---|---|
| Born | Dirck Christiaensz van Delen 1605 Heusden,Dutch Republic |
| Died | May 16, 1671 Middelburg,Dutch Republic |
| Occupation | Painter |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Period | Dutch Golden Age |
| Subject | Architecture |
Dirck van DelenorDirck Christiaensz van Delen(c. 1605 – 16 May 1671) was a Dutch painter who specialized exclusively inarchitectural paintings,principally depicting palace perspectives and church interiors.
Life
[edit]Van Delen was born inHeusden.[1]It is not clear with whom he apprenticed. Art historian have proposed bothFrans HalsandHendrick Aerts(who also specialized in architectural paintings) as his presumed masters. More plausible are studies underPieter van Bronckhorstand/orBartholomeus van BasseninDelft.The influence of Hendrick Aerts could have reached van Delen in this manner. An apprenticeship in Delft would also explain why Anthonie Palamedesz. was able to provide the figures in works by van Delen as witnessed by co-signed examples.[2]
Shortly after he was born, his parents moved toBreda.He married inMiddelburgin 1625. In 1626 he moved toZeelandand became master of the toll house inArnemuiden.From that year until his death he was registered in Arnemuiden where he sat on the town council, most of the time as burgomaster.[3]He was a member of the MiddelburgGuild of St. Lukefrom 1639 until 1665. In 1666 he gave to the AntwerpChamber of rhetoricOlyftacka painting, which he had made in collaboration with the painterTheodoor Boeyermans.Two years later he became a member of the Olyftack.[2]
His relative renown is evidenced by the fact that in the early 1630s van Delen received a commission to paint five large canvases (four of which are about 3.1 meters high) that were installed in a house in The Hague that was owned by Count Floris II van Pallandt van Culemborg.[4]
His pupils includedDaniël de Blieckand Hans Jurriaensz. van Baden.[3]
He was widowed three times and had at least one son, but none of his children survived him.[3]
Work
[edit]General
[edit]
Van Delen's work consists almost entirely of architectural paintings of imaginary palaces and church interiors. A single flower still life by his hand is known (formerly in theMuseum Boijmans van Beuningen.[2]His earliest paintings of palace scenes were influenced significantly by the work ofHans Vredeman de Vriesand his sonPaul Vredeman de Vries.
He also produced some intimate interiors with genre scenes. Examples are theA Musical Company in a Renaissance Hall,a collaboration withPieter Codde(1636,Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen) and theInterior with Ladies and Cavalier,with figures copied afterDirck Hals(1629,National Gallery of Ireland).[3]In these painting he emphasizes the walls and their panelling.[2]Through his regular presence in Antwerp van Delen likely had an important influence on succeeding architectural painters in Antwerp.[3]
In his church interiors van Delen initially revealed the influence of the paintings made by the Flemish architectural painterHendrick Aertsafter the architectural prints ofJan van Londerseel.He may also have drawn inspiration for his gothicizing church architecture from Antwerp architectural painters, although he did not adopt their rigid tunnel perspective. His church interiors are in style also close to those ofBartholomeus van Bassen.[3]
After 1630 van Delen’s style became more exuberant and palace exteriors became his favourite subject. Van Delen’s palette also became lighter and brighter.[3]The fullness of the Antwerp Baroque style had by then taken a firm grasp of the artist. His palette also became brighter and lighter. The buildings he depicted became dominated by pink, white and black marble and were from then on decorated with an excess of sculpture.[5]Around 1640 van Delen produced his most ambitious works, which were more sober in colour. Thereafter his output rapidly declined.[3]
Collaborations
[edit]Thestaffageof his works has at times been attributed to other painters, such asAnthonie Palamedesz.,Dirck Hals,David Teniers the YoungerandHieronymus Janssens.[6]There is some doubt about all of these attributions as van Delen lived in relative isolation and it would not have been easy for him to collaborate with these artists. He probably painted most figures himself and in old inventories only figures by Poelenburch and a certain Gerards are mentioned.[2]It is more likely that he was a capable figure painter himself and that in many of his work he copied or took as his model the figures of contemporary figure specialists.
Van Delen is believed to have collaborated with the Antwerp painterGonzales Coques,who painted the staffage, on the paintingInterior with figures before a picture collection.[7]It was believed earlier that it wasWilhelm Schubert van Ehrenbergwho painted the architectural setting but it is now ascribed to Dirck van Delen. The compositionInterior with figures before a picture collectionfalls into the genre known as 'gallery paintings'.[8]Gallery paintings depict large rooms in which many paintings and other precious items are displayed in elegant surroundings. The composition depicts a large gallery with many pictures on the walls and standing on the floor. A man and woman are sitting at a table on which are placed various sculptures and two children stand next to them. Possibly the picture depicts the Antwerp collector Antoon van Leyden (1626–1686), his wife Marie-An van Eywerven and their two daughters.[9]The couple appears to be discussing and appreciating some of the artworks in the gallery. They are thus portrayed as forming part of an elite who possess privileged knowledge of art. The composition aims to emphasize this notion that the powers of discernment associated with connoisseurship are socially superior to or more desirable than other forms of knowing. The pictures depicted in the room likely represent works of leading Antwerp painters. The presence of children in this type of composition has been explained by the popularity in the Netherlands during the 1660s and 70s of genre scenes showing domestic interiors and ‘ordinary’ people.[8]
References
[edit]- ^Dirck van Delen biographyinDe groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen(1718) byArnold Houbraken
- ^abcdeDirck van Delenat theNetherlands Institute for Art History(in Dutch)
- ^abcdefghBernard Vermet. "Delen, Dirck van.", Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 1 February 2016
- ^*Walter Liedtke; with Michiel C. Plomp and Axel Rüger; contributions by Reinier Baarsen, Marten Jan Bok, Jan Daniël van Dam, James David Draper, Ebeltje Hartkamp-Jonxis, and Kees Kaldenbach,Vermeer and The Delft School,New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2001, p. 80
- ^Dirck van Delen,An Elaborate Palace Courtyard With Elegant CompanyArchived2016-06-06 at theWayback Machineat Sotheby's
- ^Dirck van Delen,A Conversation in a Palace Courtyardat the National Galleries of Scotland
- ^Interior with figures before a picture collectionat the Netherlands Institute for Art History(in Dutch)
- ^abMarr, Alexander (2010) 'The Flemish 'Pictures of Collections' Genre: An Overview', Intellectual History Review, 20: 1, 5 — 25
- ^Gonzales Coques and Dirck van Delen,Familie in een interieur met een schilderijenverzamelingat the Netherlands Institute for Art History(in Dutch)
External links
[edit]
Media related toDirck van Delenat Wikimedia Commons
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