Dirck van Delen

Dirck van Delen or Dirck Christiaensz van Delen (c. 1605 – 16 May 1671) was a Dutch painter who specialized exclusively in architectural paintings, principally depicting palace perspectives and church interiors.

Life Van Delen was born in Heusden. It is not clear with whom he apprenticed. Art historian have proposed both Frans Hals 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. 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.

Shortly after he was born, his parents moved to Breda. He married in Middelburg in 1625. In 1626 he moved to Zeeland and became master of the toll house in Arnemuiden. From that year until his death he was registered in Arnemuiden where he sat on the town council, most of the time as burgomaster.

His pupils included Daniël de Blieck and Hans Jurriaensz. van Baden.

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. Around 1640 van Delen produced his most ambitious works, which were more sober in colour. Thereafter his output rapidly declined. 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 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'. 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. 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