Hendrick Cornelisz van Vliet

Essay:

Hendrick van Vliet began his career as a pupil of his uncle Willem van Vliet in Delft and later was apprenticed to the portrait painter Michel van Miereveldt. In 1632 he was elected a member of the Guild in Delft. His early works tended to be portraits as well as some genre scenes, often painted in candlelit settings.

In around 1651 van Vliet turned his hand to painting church interiors. By 1654 he had a virtual monopoly over the genre in Delft as fellow native perspective painters Gerard Houckgeest and Emanuel de Witte (who greatly influenced van Vliet) had departed the city. Most of van Vliet's church pictures represent the interiors of the Oude or the Nieuwe Kerk at Delft.

As with de Witte the sense of depth and dignity is heightened by figures in black cloaks standing in quiet contemplation, usually with their backs to the spectator. Van Vliet also borrowed from de Witte the motif of a fresh grave within the composition. In van Vliet's work this features appears regularly and is often paired with children nearby to inject a momento mori theme. While a large number of paintings (both portraits and church interiors) are known by van Vliet, he died in poverty, leaving his widow behind in their little house on Oude Delft.

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The church depicted in this work by van Vliet has been difficult to identify due to the narrow field of vision presented to the viewer. Two similar versions of the present composition have also remained as anonymous 'church interiors' in their titles. However, the composition of all three almost certainly depicts the Oude Kerk in Delft, a church which van Vliet depicted perhaps dozens of times from multiple angles.

As the scene is described the viewer stands in the nave facing north-east looking through the pillars of the aisle towards the north transept (on the left), the wooden barrel-vaulted Mariakoor (Mary's Choir) on the right, and the square Joriskapel (Saint George's Chapel) centre right partially obscured by a column. The brick-edged archways (today whitewashed) was a distinctive feature of the kerk, though Van Vliet was known to make alterations in his church interiors and in other depictions these arches are whitewashed.

The two similar versions of the present composition, with differences to the figures and both signed by van Vliet, were offered at Sotheby's, New York, 12 January 1989, lot 44 and Phillips, London, 11 December 1990, lot 31. The former is dated 166(?) which might indicate the decade in which the present picture was painted. Another view of the Oude Kerk by van Vliet in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, (Accession Number: 1976.23.2) faces the same north-east direction, but the viewpoint is positioned further back and so provides a wider field of vision and helps to contextualise the architecture in our picture.

The rectangular and diamond-shaped escutcheons mounted on columns bear the family crests (or wapens) of members of the congregation interred beneath the stone floor. Van Vliet would himself be buried in the Oude Kerk in 1675. Vermeer, another citizen of Delft, died in the same year and was buried in his family crypt under the northern transept of the Kerk - the area depicted in our painting.

A note on the provenance:
Richard Cosway RA was a leading portrait painter of the Georgian and Regency period and was married to Maria Cosway RA. He assembled an outstanding collection of art which was sold in several multi day sales in 1821 and 1822.

According to the Davies family records (see lit.) the present picture was purchased 'at Cosway's sale 1822' by Col. Thomas Henry Hastings Davies, M. P. for Worcester. This was presumably lot 40 sold on 9 March listed as being by 'de Witt' and described as 'A small Church Piece'. As it is the only church painting listed in Cosway's several sale catalogues, and as Emanuel de Witt and van Vliet are two artists who are often confused, it seems likely that this lot is the present painting.

Provenance:

The Cosway Collection;
(Presumably) Their sale; Stanley's, London, 9 March 1822, lot 40 (sold as 'De Witt' for 5 pounds and 10 shillings),
Purchased at the above sale by Col. Thomas Henry Hastings Davies (1789 - 1846), Elmly Castle, Worcestershire.
By descent in the family of the previous owners.

Literature:

Catalogue of Pictures and China at Elmley Castle, 1877, cat. no. 8.