Lot 17: Anthonie de Lorme (Doornik 1620-1673/6 Rotterdam) and Anthonie Palamedesz. (Delft 1601-1673 Amsterdam)

Anthonie de Lorme (Doornik 1620-1673/6 Rotterdam) and Anthonie Palamedesz. (Delft 1601-1673 Amsterdam)
The interior of a Renaissance-style church at night with an elegant couple making an entrance
indistinctly signed(?) 'A.DE(M?)OR.E' (lower left)
oil on panel
46 x 61 7/8 in. (117.5 x 157.2 cm.)

K.G. Rumantsova, Russia.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 24 April 1998, lot 74.
with Otto Naumann, New York, 1999.

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION

A specialist in architectural painting, Anthonie de Lorme favored depictions of fantasy churches, often with nocturnal effects, as in the present painting. His early works display the influence of his teacher, Jan van Vucht, whom he is recorded as studying with in 1627, as well as the more accomplished Bartholomeus van Bassen. In the early 1650s, de Lorme began painting views of actual churches, almost exclusively Rotterdam's Laurenskerk. These views reflect the influence of contemporary Delft architectural painters Gerard Houckgeest and Hendrik van Vliet.

Throughout his career de Lorme employed a complex frontal system of single-point perspective. In his interior scenes, he favored pools of light cast by chandeliers and candlelit vaults. In the 1660s, his manner became more delicately stylized and he often painted theatrical juxtapositions of near and far views.

The present painting appears to be an example of one of de Lorme's later paintings, harking back to his first stylistic phase. The church is surely imaginary but the pulpit at the back is that of Rotterdam's Laurenskerk. This work is similar in style, scale and conception to a painting dated 1652 in Rennes (see W. Liedtke, Architectural Painting in Delft, Doornspijk, 1982, pl. 110), which also features a nocturnal view of a fantasy church with a tall organ at the right, the Laurenskerk pulpit at the back, elegant visitors, a beggar, and dogs.

The staffage in these works is by the Delft genre painter Anthonie Palamedesz., best known for his merry companies, who also worked with the architectural painter Dirck van Delen.