DIRCK VAN DELEN (Heusden 1605 – Arnemuiden 1671)
Revelers in a Palace Interior
oil on panel
14 ½ x 19 ½ inches (36.5 x 49.5 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, The Netherlands
Brian Koetser Gallery, London, 1970 from whom acquired by
Private Collection
EXHIBITED
London, Brian Koetser Gallery, Exhibition of Paintings by Old Masters, October 14 - December 1970
LITERATURE
Exhibition of Paintings by Old Masters, Brian Koetser Gallery, London, 1970, pp. 26 – 27, no. 16
Timothy Trent Blade, “The paintings of Dirck van Delen”. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Minnesota, 1976, p. 251, no. 103, fig 16, illustrated
In a palatial Renaissance interior cavorting couples drink and play cards. A lone servant tends to a wine cooler before an ornate fireplace. Two dogs attentively follow the action. Under a coffered ceiling sunlight pours in through large windows illuminating a spectacular checkerboard floor. Tooled leather covers walls adorned with paintings. A beautiful carved wardrobe and canopied bed complete the scene.
Dirck van Delen devoted his entire career to painting architectural subjects of imaginary palaces and churches. His mentors are unknown, but possibly an apprenticeship in Delft with Pieter van Bronckhorst and/or Bartholomeus van Bassen have been suggested. By 1626 Van Delen was living in Arnemuiden, an hour’s walk from Middleburg where he was a member of the guild from 1639 to 1665. Arnemuiden also afforded him easy access by ship to Antwerp where he maintained friendships with members of its guild as well as a local rhetoric’s chamber; and a Flemish influence is notable in his works.[1]
Timothy Blade dates this painting to probably the early 1630s, a period in which the artist’s style becomes more exuberant. His palette is lighter and brighter, and the paint surface more lustrous now under the influence of the Antwerp Baroque.[2] Blade additionally states that the figures in our panel are by Anthonie Palamedesz.