Lot 64: JAN VAN DER HEYDEN GORINCHEM 1637 - 1712 AMSTERDAM

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION

AN IMAGINARY VIEW OF A TOWN WITH ELEGANT FIGURES STROLLING AND CONVERSING ON A SQUARE

measurements note
33.3 by 39.8 cm.

signed lower right: JVH (in ligature) eyden.

oil on panel

NOTE

Jan van der Heyden started his professional life, according to Houbraken (see A. Houbraken, De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlandsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen, Amsterdam 1721, vol. III, ed. P.T.A. Swillens, Maastricht 1944, p. 63) in the studio of an anonymous glass engraver, where he learned to create mirrors. His interest in the optical possibilities of mirrors was long-lasting, and is to be noted in a number of his compositions. One example is his series of views of the Groote Kerk at Veere (see H. Wagner, Jan van der Heyden 1637-1712, Amsterdam 1971, p. 83, cat. nos. 74 and 75, reproduced) in which he reversed the buildings to either side of the square. Another is a painting with a View of a small town square with figures promenading (sold London, Sotheby's, 7 December 2005, lot 14).

A slightly different version of this composition, in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch at Drumlanrig Castle, shows a high square building with two chimneys which Van der Heyden reused in mirrored appearance for the present lot. Moreover, there are also two other buildings used in mirrored position, that appear in his view of the Dom and Domhof in Cologne in The Wallace Collection, London(ibid., p. 77, cat. no. 45). As it is in relation with the Buccleuch and Wallace paintings, we can carefully date this painting to the early 1660s.

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