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The Departure of the Pilgrim Fathers from Delfshaven on their Way to America
Adam Willaerts (Dutch, 1577–1664)
1620
Medium/Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
30 × 47.5 cm (11 13/16 × 18 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art
Accession Number2020.408
OUT ON LOAN
On display at High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, April 19, 2024 – July 14, 2024
On display at High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, April 19, 2024 – July 14, 2024
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Scholars believe that this painting depicts the Pilgrims, strict Protestants who fled religious intolerance in England and settled in the Dutch city of Leiden for twelve years before 1620. Willaerts probably shows the Pilgrims boarding the Speedwell for Southampton, England, where they would join the Mayflower for the trip across the ocean. The settlers eventually cultivated and colonized Algonquian peoples’ land, in what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The Pilgrims sought religious freedom, but European settlement in New England was catastrophic for Native communities. Please visit level LG of the Arts of the Americas Wing to learn more about New England in the 17th century.
The Pilgrims sought religious freedom, but European settlement in New England was catastrophic for Native communities. Please visit level LG of the Arts of the Americas Wing to learn more about New England in the 17th century.
Signed
Signed and dated: A.willaerts.1620.
Provenance1620, Barlow [see note 1]. Stuyvesant family, possibly Margaret Chanler Stuyvesant (b. 1820 – d. 1890), New York; probably by descent through the family to John P. Rutherfurd (b. 1910 - d. 1987), Connecticut [see note 2]; June 16, 1977, Connecticut private collector (Rutherfurd) sale, Sotheby’s, New York, lot 203, sold to Richard Green Gallery, London; July 5, 1989, anonymous (Richard Green) sale, Sotheby’s, London, lot 44 [see note 3]. Until 2019, private collection, Vught, The Netherlands [see note 4]. 2019, sold by Bob Haboldt (dealer), Paris, New York, and Amsterdam, to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA; 2020, gift of Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 16, 2020)
[1] According to a label on the verso. See Frederik Duparc, Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection (Boston, 2020), p. 131.
[2] According to the 1977 Sotheby’s catalogue, the painting belonged to “Adam Stuyvesant (a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant).” Since no descendant of Peter Stuyvesant has been identified with that name, it is possible if not probable that “Adam” is a mistake and the painting belonged to another member of the Stuyvesant family. John P. Rutherfurd was the grandson of Margaret Chanler Stuyvesant, the niece and adopted daughter of Peter Gerard Stuyvesant (b. 1778 – d. 1847).
[3] Jeremy Bangs, New Light on the Old Colony (Leiden and Boston, 2019), p. 156, states that dealer Richard Green consigned the painting in 1989.
[4] Frederik J. Duparc, Dutch and Flemish Masterworks: From the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection (Boston, 2020), p. 131.
[1] According to a label on the verso. See Frederik Duparc, Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection (Boston, 2020), p. 131.
[2] According to the 1977 Sotheby’s catalogue, the painting belonged to “Adam Stuyvesant (a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant).” Since no descendant of Peter Stuyvesant has been identified with that name, it is possible if not probable that “Adam” is a mistake and the painting belonged to another member of the Stuyvesant family. John P. Rutherfurd was the grandson of Margaret Chanler Stuyvesant, the niece and adopted daughter of Peter Gerard Stuyvesant (b. 1778 – d. 1847).
[3] Jeremy Bangs, New Light on the Old Colony (Leiden and Boston, 2019), p. 156, states that dealer Richard Green consigned the painting in 1989.
[4] Frederik J. Duparc, Dutch and Flemish Masterworks: From the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection (Boston, 2020), p. 131.