Lot 2: Gerrit Houckgeest (The Hague ?1600-1661 Bergen op Zoom)

The west end of the Oude Kerk, Delft, from the southern aisle to the north, with the organ loft
signed with monogram 'GH' (lower right, on the pillar)
oil on panel, shaped top
18 7/8 x 14 7/8 in. (47.9 x 37.8 cm.)

Canon George Millers (1776-1852), Duddon Grove, Ulverston, by whom bequeathed in 1848 to
Fanny Alexander Muriel, and by inheritance to her brother
Willam George Muriel (d. 1870), by whom bequeathed to his wife Susan Lynn (d. 1896) and subsequently to her sister
Mrs Bulkeley Allen, by 1911, and by descent to their great- grandson, the present owner.

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN (lot 2)

This picture has been in the collection of the present owner's family since the mid-nineteenth century, during which time it has never been cleaned and its existence has remained entirely unrecorded. Its recent discovery, as well as its appraisal by Walter Liedtke (on the basis of photographs), confirms this picture's key position within the mature oeuvre of the artist.

Eleven views of Delft churches by Houckgeest are known, all of which were executed between 1650 and 1653 (for a list of these pictures, see W. Liedtke, A View of Delft - Vermeer and his contemporaries, Zwolle, 2000, p. 107). Three depict views inside the Oude Kerk: a painting of the Tomb of Piet Hein from the Joriskapel (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum); a panoramic view of the Nave and Pulpit from the South Aisle (collection of the Duke of Buccleuch) and a reduced (upright) format rendition of the same view with a trompe l'oeil curtain (also in the Rijksmuseum). The present view is original in that it was not adapted, as was Houckgeest's practice (exemplified above), from or for another known composition. However, it did provide the inspiration for several related views by Hendrick van Vliet, including a picture dated 1658 formerly with Agnew's, and another datable to 1657, where he exaggerates the height and expands the view to the right (private collection; see W. Liedtke, op. cit., p. 132, fig. 166). In this respect, Liedtke has acknowledged the present work as 'something of a missing link in the development of architectural painting in Delft'.

Houckgeest had a predilection for depicting his upright church views on panels with half-rounded tops. He also often painted these on rectangular shaped panels within painted borders, for example, the View of the Nieuwe Kerk (Hamburg, Kunsthalle), and the Rijksmuseum view of the Pulpit in the Oude Kerk (cited above). Other panels, like the View of the Nieuwe Kerk in the Mauritshuis, were rounded at the top. In this way, Liedtke believes that the somewhat unusual shape of the top of the present panel is 'original or nearly so, the jagged top cut to fit inside a frame with a half-round top'.

The Reverend George Millers (1776-1852) was a minor canon of Ely Cathedral, as well as Vicar of Stanford (Norfolk), Runham and Rector of Hardwick (Cambs). He ran a private school in Ely for many years and in the late 1840s inherited Duddon Grove near Ulverston. He taught William Muriel (1794-1876) in the early 1800s, the latter joining the Royal Navy just before the Battle of Trafalgar. The present picture was probably passed to Muriel's daughter, Fanny, by Millers after his death in 1852, but was presumably returned to the Muriel family along with her other possessions following her death in 1854. By 1911 it would have been in the possession of Mr and Mrs Bulkely Allen, the great-grandparents of the present owner.

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.