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Dirck van Delen or Dirck Christiaensz van Delen (c. 1605 – 16 May 1671) was a Dutch painter who specialized exclusively in
at the
New York : The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2001, p. 80 His pupils included Daniël de Blieck and Hans Jurriaensz. van Baden. He was widowed three times and had at least one son, but none of his children survived him.Bernard Vermet. "Delen, Dirck van.", Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 1 February 2016
Van Delen's work consists almost entirely of architectural paintings of imaginary palaces and church interiors. A single flower still life by his hand is known (formerly in the 
After 1630 van Delen’s style became more exuberant and palace exteriors became his favourite subject. Van Delen’s palette also became lighter and brighter. The fullness of the Antwerp Baroque style had by then taken a firm grasp of the artist. His palette also became brighter and lighter. The buildings he depicted became dominated by pink, white and black marble and were from then on decorated with an excess of sculpture. Around 1640 van Delen produced his most ambitious works, which were more sober in colour. Thereafter his output rapidly declined.
at the National Galleries of Scotland There is some doubt about all of these attributions as van Delen lived in relative isolation and it would not have been easy for him to collaborate with these artists. He probably painted most figures himself and in old inventories only figures by Poelenburch and a certain Gerards are mentioned. It is more likely that he was a capable figure painter himself and that in many of his work he copied or took as his model the figures of contemporary figure specialists. Van Delen is believed to have collaborated with the Antwerp painter
architectural painting
Architectural painting (also Architecture painting) is a form of Genre art, genre painting where the predominant focus lies on architecture, including both outdoor and interior views. While architecture was present in many of the earliest painting ...
s, principally depicting palace perspectives and church interiors.
Life
Van Delen was born inHeusden
Heusden () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the south of the Netherlands. It is located between the towns of Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch. The municipality of Heusden, including Herpt, Heesbeen, Hedikhuizen, Do ...
. It is not clear with whom he apprenticed. Art historian have proposed both Frans Hals
Frans Hals the Elder (, ; ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places of worship but citizens liked to decorate thei ...
and Hendrick Aerts (who also specialized in architectural paintings) as his presumed masters. More plausible are studies under Pieter van Bronckhorst and/or Bartholomeus van Bassen in Delft
Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...
. The influence of Hendrick Aerts could have reached van Delen in this manner. An apprenticeship in Delft would also explain why Anthonie Palamedesz. was able to provide the figures in works by van Delen as witnessed by co-signed examples.Dirck van Delenat the
Netherlands Institute for Art History
The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: ), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in document ...
Shortly after he was born, his parents moved to Breda
Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...
. He married in Middelburg in 1625. In 1626 he moved to Zeeland
Zeeland (; ), historically known in English by the Endonym and exonym, exonym Zealand, is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the southwest of the country, borders North Brabant to the east ...
and became master of the toll house in Arnemuiden
Arnemuiden is a city#Netherlands, city of around 5000 people in the municipality of Middelburg, Zeeland, Middelburg in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands. It is located on the former island of Walcheren, about 3 km east of the city of ...
. From that year until his death he was registered in Arnemuiden where he sat on the town council, most of the time as burgomaster. He was a member of the Middelburg Guild of St. Luke from 1639 until 1665. In 1666 he gave to the Antwerp Chamber of rhetoric '' Olyftack'' a painting, which he had made in collaboration with the painter Theodoor Boeyermans. Two years later he became a member of the Olyftack.His relative renown is evidenced by the fact that in the early 1630s van Delen received a commission to paint five large canvases (four of which are about 3.1 meters high) that were installed in a house in The Hague that was owned by Count Floris II van Pallandt van Culemborg. Walter Liedtke; with Michiel C. Plomp and Axel Rüger; contributions by Reinier Baarsen, Marten Jan Bok, Jan Daniël van Dam, James David Draper, Ebeltje Hartkamp-Jonxis, and Kees Kaldenbach, ''Vermeer and The Delft School''New York : The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2001, p. 80 His pupils included Daniël de Blieck and Hans Jurriaensz. van Baden. He was widowed three times and had at least one son, but none of his children survived him.Bernard Vermet. "Delen, Dirck van.", Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 1 February 2016
Work
General
Van Delen's work consists almost entirely of architectural paintings of imaginary palaces and church interiors. A single flower still life by his hand is known (formerly in the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen
Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from its two most important donors, Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. The museum is located a ...
. His earliest paintings of palace scenes were influenced significantly by the work of Hans Vredeman de Vries and his son Paul Vredeman de Vries.
He also produced some intimate interiors with genre scenes. Examples are the ''A Musical Company in a Renaissance Hall'', a collaboration with Pieter Codde (1636, 
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from its two most important donors, Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. The museum is located a ...
) and the ''Interior with Ladies and Cavalier'', with figures copied after Dirck Hals (1629, .jpg.html){kind=link}
National Gallery of Ireland
The National Gallery of Ireland () houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street, Dublin, Clare Street. It ...
). In these painting he emphasizes the walls and their panelling. Through his regular presence in Antwerp van Delen likely had an important influence on succeeding architectural painters in Antwerp.
In his church interiors van Delen initially revealed the influence of the paintings made by the Flemish architectural painter Hendrick Aerts after the architectural prints of Jan van Londerseel. He may also have drawn inspiration for his gothicizing church architecture from Antwerp architectural painters, although he did not adopt their rigid tunnel perspective. His church interiors are in style also close to those of Bartholomeus van Bassen.
After 1630 van Delen’s style became more exuberant and palace exteriors became his favourite subject. Van Delen’s palette also became lighter and brighter. The fullness of the Antwerp Baroque style had by then taken a firm grasp of the artist. His palette also became brighter and lighter. The buildings he depicted became dominated by pink, white and black marble and were from then on decorated with an excess of sculpture. Around 1640 van Delen produced his most ambitious works, which were more sober in colour. Thereafter his output rapidly declined.
Collaborations
Thestaffage
In painting, staffage () are the human and animal figures depicted in a scene, especially a landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often c ...
of his works has at times been attributed to other painters, such as Anthonie Palamedesz., Dirck Hals, David Teniers the Younger and Hieronymus Janssens.Dirck van Delen, ''A Conversation in a Palace Courtyard''at the National Galleries of Scotland There is some doubt about all of these attributions as van Delen lived in relative isolation and it would not have been easy for him to collaborate with these artists. He probably painted most figures himself and in old inventories only figures by Poelenburch and a certain Gerards are mentioned. It is more likely that he was a capable figure painter himself and that in many of his work he copied or took as his model the figures of contemporary figure specialists. Van Delen is believed to have collaborated with the Antwerp painter
Gonzales Coques
Gonzales Coques (between 1614 and 1618 – 18 April 1684) was a Flemish painter of portraits and history paintings.Veronique van Passel, "Coques ocks; Cox Gonzales onsael; Gonsalo, ''Grove Art Online''. Oxford University Press, Interior with figures before a picture collection''. It was believed earlier that it was Wilhelm Schubert van Ehrenberg who painted the architectural setting but it is now ascribed to Dirck van Delen. The composition ''Interior with figures before a picture collection'' falls into the genre known as 'gallery paintings'.Marr, Alexander (2010) 'The Flemish 'Pictures of Collections' Genre: An Overview', Intellectual History Review, 20: 1, 5 — 25 Gallery paintings depict large rooms in which many paintings and other precious items are displayed in elegant surroundings. The composition depicts a large gallery with many pictures on the walls and standing on the floor. A man and woman are sitting at a table on which are placed various sculptures and two children stand next to them. Possibly the picture depicts the Antwerp collector Antoon van Leyden (1626–1686), his wife Marie-An van Eywerven and their two daughters.Gonzales Coques and Dirck van Delen, ''Familie in een interieur met een schilderijenverzameling''
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History The couple appears to be discussing and appreciating some of the artworks in the gallery. They are thus portrayed as forming part of an elite who possess privileged knowledge of art. The composition aims to emphasize this notion that the powers of discernment associated with connoisseurship are socially superior to or more desirable than other forms of knowing. The pictures depicted in the room likely represent works of leading Antwerp painters. The presence of children in this type of composition has been explained by the popularity in the Netherlands during the 1660s and 70s of genre scenes showing domestic interiors and ‘ordinary’ people.
File:Church Interior with the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican.jpg, ''Church Interior with the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18:9-14)'' (1653), oil on panel, 19 7/16 × 22 in. (49.4 × 55.9 cm),
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History The couple appears to be discussing and appreciating some of the artworks in the gallery. They are thus portrayed as forming part of an elite who possess privileged knowledge of art. The composition aims to emphasize this notion that the powers of discernment associated with connoisseurship are socially superior to or more desirable than other forms of knowing. The pictures depicted in the room likely represent works of leading Antwerp painters. The presence of children in this type of composition has been explained by the popularity in the Netherlands during the 1660s and 70s of genre scenes showing domestic interiors and ‘ordinary’ people.
Gallery
Clark Art Institute
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European ...
References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Delen, Dirck Van 1600s births 1671 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Painters from Middelburg People from Heusden Painters from North Brabant