Jan van der Heyden (Gorinchem 1637-1712 Amsterdam)

A view of a town square, with a procession during the Feast of Corpus Christi and figures kneeling before the Host

Details

Jan van der Heyden (Gorinchem 1637-1712 Amsterdam)
A view of a town square, with a procession during the Feast of Corpus Christi and figures kneeling before the Host
signed with monogram 'VDH' (lower right, on the well)
oil on canvas
8 5/8 x 10 7/8 in. (21.9 x 27.6 cm.)

Provenance

(Probably) Sale; Amsterdam, 13 July 1718, lot 12, as 'Een Stad van binnen te zien, waer in de hostie onder een Verhemelte over straet gedragen wert, door Vander Heyde, meet Beeldjes van dito [A. vande Velde], zeer uytvoerig' (54 florins).
Mary, Countess of Holderness (1720-1801); her sale (†), Christie's, London, 6 March 1802, lot 57, as 'figures of A. V. de Velde' (61 gns. to Seguier).
Edward Coxe; his sale, Peter Coxe, London, 25 April 1807, lot 45 (61 gns. to W. Seguier for the following),
John Dent (1760-1826), Hertford Street, May Fair; his sale (†), Christie's, London, 28 April 1827, lot 93, as 'figures by A. V. de Velde' (60 gns. to Emmerson).
Sir Charles Bagot, G.C.B.; his sale, Christie's, London, 18 June 1836, lot 50, as 'Van der Heyde and Adrian van de Velde' (200 gns. to Clowes).
The Rev. John Clowes, Manchester.
Sir Henry Hope Edwardes, 10th Bt. (1829-1900), Wootton Hall, Ashbourne, Derbyshire; (†), Christie's, London, 27 April 1901, lot 32 (920 gns. to Morgan).
Lt. Col. Herbert James Hope-Edwardes, Netley Hall, Shropshire, and by descent to
Lady More (née Hope-Edwardes formerly, Coldwell), Netley Hall, and subsequently Linley Hall, Shropshire, and by descent.

Literature

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French painters, etc., V, London, 1834, p. 393, no. 77, as figures by A. van de Velde.
J. Smith, A Supplement to the Catalogue Raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French painters, etc., IX, London, 1842, p. 673, no. 15.
T. Cox, Inventory of the contents of Netley Hall, Shropshire, 1917, p. 4 (drawing room).
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch painters of the Seventeenth Century, etc., VIII, London, 1927, pp. 387-8, no. 196.

Exhibited

London, British Institution, Works of Ancient Masters: The Property of His Most Gracious Majesty William the Fourth, the Most Noble The Marquess of Westminster and the Right Honourable Sir Charles Bagot, G.C.B., 1834, no. 56.

Brought to you by

Katharine Cooke

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Lot Essay

Van der Heyden was one of the first Dutch painters, and perhaps the greatest, to specialise in painting townscapes, although he also painted village streets, country houses and some forty landscapes. Unusually for an artist, van der Heyden is also remembered as an inventor and engineer: he designed, amongst other things, a comprehensive street-lighting scheme for Amsterdam and a fire-engine fitted with pump-driven horses, and much of his independent wealth derived from that aspect of his career. Painting, by contrast, was almost a secondary interest, although one that he maintained throughout his life. Van der Heyden's townscapes are frequently only loosely based on actual views, topographical accuracy being the least of his concerns; despite his naturalistic style, van der Heyden strove to present idealised depictions of his surroundings above the absolute reproduction of nature.

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