Esaias van de Velde

Essay:

Born in Amsterdam in 1587, Esaias van de Velde was one of the most important figures in developing the tradition of naturalistic painting in Holland. He began his career as a pupil of Gillis van Coninxloo, the eminent landscape painter. In 1611 he moved to Haarlem and married Cateleyne Maertens and the following year he became a member of the Haarlem Guild. In 1618 he moved to The Hague where he also joined the Guild.

Esaias's earliest works are in the mannerist tradition, but by 1615 he had already moved away from the panoramic effect and high view point of his predecessors. His use of realism, fresh brushwork and directness of vision herald the subsequent accomplishment of his pupils, Jan van Goyen, Salomon van Ruysdael and Pieter de Neyn. Although primarily a painter of landscapes, Esaias is also known to have produced some genre and battle pictures, and he was recognised as an excellent etcher and draughtsman. His brother was the marine painter Willem van de Velde the Elder.

After moving to The Hague in 1618, Esaias became Court Painter to the Princes Maurits and Frederik Hendrik of Orange and he remained in their employment until his death on 18th November 1630.

-

This previously unpublished skating picture by Esaias van de Velde is signed and dated 1624. It is a typical winter scene by the artist, but enlivened by being a tondo which creates an energetic diagonal from the frozen canal and skaters. Van de Velde painted a handful of other tondo winter scenes in this period with a tall building to the right and a canal on the left. This includes a 1620 work of identical dimensions titled 'Farm to the right of a Frozen River' (see G. Keys, cat. no. 74, plate 202). George Keyes suggests that it may be a companion piece to another tondo titled 'Summer Landscape'. This hints at the tantalising possibility that the present picture may also have a warmer counterpart.

A closely related drawing by van de Velde with the same dovecote by a frozen canal but from a slightly different angle dated 1625 was once in the Ten Cate Collection (see Keyes, op. cit., cat. no. 88, plate 210).

Provenance:

Anon. sale; Sotheby's, New York, 26 Jan. 2017, lot 152;
With Kunsthandel Peter de Boer, Amsterdam, until 2018;
Private collection, USA.