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The Nieuwe Kerk in Delft with the Tomb of William of Orange
Gerard Houckgeest (Dutch, about 1600–1661)
about 1651-52
Medium/Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
60 x 41 cm (23 5/8 x 16 1/8 in.)
Framed: 74.3 x 55.9 x 7.6 cm (29 1/4 x 22 x 3 in.)
Framed: 74.3 x 55.9 x 7.6 cm (29 1/4 x 22 x 3 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art
Accession Number2021.719
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Houckgeest painted several interiors of Delft’s Nieuwe Kerk (“New Church”) in the early 1650s. This detailed, largely accurate painting records the church’s choir. The imposing tomb, completed in 1622, is that of the leader of the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, William of Orange, assas-sinated in Delft in 1584. After the mid-century Treaty of Münster, marking the end of the Eighty Years War, patriotic and Orangist feelings ran high in the Netherlands. Partisan images like this one would have appealed to members or supporters of the Orange Nassau family.
ProvenanceBy 1838, John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury (b. 1791 – d. 1852), Alton Towers, Staffordshire [see note 1]; by descent to his cousin, Bertram Talbot, 17th Earl of Shrewsbury (b. 1832 – d. 1856), Alton Towers, Staffordshire; July 6, 1857, Earl of Shrewsbury sale, Christie’s, London, lot 210, probably unsold; June 1, 1861, Earl of Shrewsbury sale, Christie's, London, lot 100, sold to John Mayor Threlfall (d. 1864), Singleton House, Manchester [see note 2]; May 13, 1864, Threlfall sale, Christie’s, London, lot 87 [see note 3]. 1895, possibly Schwartz collection, Vienna [see note 4]. March 28, 1979, anonymous ("Property of a Lady") sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 75 [see note 5]. Private collection. 1999, David Koetser (dealer), Zurich [see note 6]. 2000, Noortman Master Paintings, London; 2002, sold by Noortman Master Paintings to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA; 2021, gift of Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 15, 2021)
NOTES:
[1] G. F. Waagen, Works of Art and Artists in England, vol. 3 (London, 1838), records a painting by Emanuel de Witte, Interior of a Church, in the Earl of Shrewsbury collection at Alton Towers.
[2] Both Earl of Shrewsbury sales list the painting as by de Witte. Buyer information is according to the 1979 Sotheby’s catalogue.
[3] Sold as de Witte, “Interior of a Cathedral, with Two Figures before a Monument,” from Alton Towers.
[4] According to Hans Jantzen, Das Niederländische Architekturbild (Braunschweig, 1979), p. 225, cat. no. 193.
[5] Sold as by Gerrit Houckgeest.
[6] According to Walter Liedtke, Vermeer and the Delft School (New York, 2001), cat. no. 38.
NOTES:
[1] G. F. Waagen, Works of Art and Artists in England, vol. 3 (London, 1838), records a painting by Emanuel de Witte, Interior of a Church, in the Earl of Shrewsbury collection at Alton Towers.
[2] Both Earl of Shrewsbury sales list the painting as by de Witte. Buyer information is according to the 1979 Sotheby’s catalogue.
[3] Sold as de Witte, “Interior of a Cathedral, with Two Figures before a Monument,” from Alton Towers.
[4] According to Hans Jantzen, Das Niederländische Architekturbild (Braunschweig, 1979), p. 225, cat. no. 193.
[5] Sold as by Gerrit Houckgeest.
[6] According to Walter Liedtke, Vermeer and the Delft School (New York, 2001), cat. no. 38.