Lot 2: DIRCK VAN DELEN HEUSDEN CIRCA 1605 - 1671 ARNEMUIDEN

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF LILY AND EDMOND J. SAFRA

AN ELABORATE ARCHITECTURAL CAPRICCIO WITH JEPHTHAH AND HIS DAUGHTER

AN ELABORATE ARCHITECTURAL CAPRICCIO WITH JEPHTHAH AND HIS DAUGHTER

measurements note
50 1/2 by 77 1/8 in.; 128.3 by 195.9 cm.

signed and dated lower right D. van Delen. f. 1633 and dated above central arch Anno 1633

oil on panel

PROVENANCE

Simon Stinstra, Amsterdam;
His sale, Amsterdam, March 26, 1783, lot 44;
Lt.-Col. W. Forbes, Callendar House, Falkirk;
By whom sold, London, Christie's, November 29, 1963, lot 40, for 1400 Guineas, to Arnold;
With Didier Aaron & Cie, Paris, 1978;
With Maurice Segoura, Paris, from whom purchased by the present collector in 1986.

LITERATURE

W. Liedtke, "From Vredeman de Vries to Dirck van Delen: Sources of Imaginary Architectural Painting," in Bulletin of Rhode Island School of Design, Museum Notes, Winter 1970, p. 24, under note 4 (as The Meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba);
T. T. Blade, The Paintings of Dirck van Delen, dissertation, University of Minnesota, Ann Arbor 1976, p. 227, cat. no. 45, reproduced fig. 69 (as The Meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, with figures possibly by Dirk Hals or Palamedes).

NOTE

Van Delen specialized in portraying imaginary architectural subjects, often borrowing motifs from the graphic work of Hans and Paul Vredeman de Vries. After 1630, his work was dominated by palace exteriors such as in the present painting. This work's subject was given as Solomon and the Queen of Sheba in the 1963 sale and Blade's dissertation (see Provenance and Literature below). However, the Stinstra collection sale of 1783 (see below) gave the subject as Jephthah and His Daughter which does, indeed, seem more fitting. The story (Judges 11:30-40) relates how the great warrior Jephthah was called upon to lead the Israelites in battle against the Ammonites. On the eve of battle, he made a pact with God that, in return for victory, he would sacrifice the first creature to come out of his house to meet him when he returned, never imagining it would be his daughter. Here Jephthah is shown recoiling as she advances towards him.

We are grateful to Bernard M. Vermet for confirming the attribution, on the basis of photographs. He also confirms all the figures to be by van Delen.