Lot 550: Jan van der Heyden (Gorinchem 1637-1712 Amsterdam)

A view of a canal with a village beyond, possibly the Vecht near Maarssen oil on panel 18 1/8 x 231/2 in. (46 x 59.7 cm.) PROVENANCE Marquis de Montesquiou; Lebrun, Paris, 9 December 1788, lot 93. Anonymous Sale; Palais Galli‚ra, Paris, 14 March 1970, lot 14, as Attributed to Jan van der Heyden. F. Mont, New York, by 1971. With Xavier Scheidwimmer, Munich, 1974. Anonymous Sale; Sotheby's, London, 20 April 1988, lot 76 (to Dreesmann). Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. A-68). LITERATURE H. Wagner, Jan van der Heyden, Amsterdam and Haarlem, 1971, p. 107, no. 178A, illustrated. NOTES Van der Heyden was one of the first Dutch painters, and perhaps the greatest, to specialize 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 idealized depictions of his surroundings above the absolute reproduction of nature. Van der Heyden's principal subjects were Amsterdam and the region near the Dutch-German border, which he visited for business and recreation. In addition, however, he also painted several views of country estates and houses, probably, as Helga Wagner suggested ( op. cit., pp. 44-6), commissioned to glorify the rural life enjoyed by the wealthy merchantmen and noblemen living in the city. Favorite areas for Amsterdam merchants were the Beemster and the river Vecht, where Maarsen is located; the latter is the site suggested by Wagner for the present view. It is interesting to note that, amongst Van de Velde's other works, are a group of fourteen paintings connected with that village, of which some or all were made for Joan Huydecoper II, the Amsterdam burgomaster who developed real estate around that village. In 1674 the latter commissioned Van der Heyden to execute paintings of his house and estate at Goudstein, including the painting to be sold from the Dreesmann collection, Christie's, Amsterdam, 16 April 2002, lot 1227.