Bartholomeus Cornelisz. van Bassen - SOLD

Description

Formerly falsely attributed to Pieter Neeffs I (Antwerp, ca. 1578 - after 1656), this painting has recently been identified as a work by the Dutch architectural painter and architect Bartholomeus Cornelisz. van Bassen. From a low viewpoint, the observer looks into a light-flooded interior of a Renaissance church. The eye is drawn to a chapel adorned with an imposing altar in the background and to second altar in the left of the composition. Striking are the impressive red marble columns crowned with while marble Corinthian capitals and the white marble sculpture of an unidentifiable saint. Notable too, are the silk antependium covering the front of the left altar and the refined lace of the altar cover, of which the pattern is etched into the paint surface. The painting features many ornamental embellishments, some of which are typical for Van Bassen (see below under ‘attribution’). The floor is paved with white and blue tiles in a chequered pattern. The church is Van Bassen's own design and wholly imaginary, which is the case with almost all of the artist's painted architectural pieces.

The evidently Catholic altars may seem odd elements, given the fact that in the seventeenth century Catholicism was not permitted in the Dutch Republic. However, during the reign of Stadholder Frederik Hendrik - when the present painting was executed - Catholics enjoyed more freedom than during the days of his predecessor Prince Maurits of Orange. Van Bassen, himself a Roman Catholic, was obviously working for a number of Catholic patrons.

This unpublished and previously unknown panel is an important and characteristic addition to Van Bassen's oeuvre (see below under ‘significance’).

Artist’s biography (1)

There still exists some controversy over Van Bassen’s city of origin. A painting of the Antwerp Cathedral, signed and dated 1614, is responsible for the still widely spread assumption that Van Bassen came from Antwerp. In fact the painting, if by Van Bassen at all, is no more than a copy after a painting of the Antwerp Cathedral by Hendrick van Steenwijk I or Pieter Neeffs I. Far more likely, Bartholomeus Cornelisz. van Bassen was the grandson of Bartolt Ernst van Bassen, who was Griffier (or Clerk) to the Court of Holland in The Hague and who's coat of arms decorates a pillar on Bartholomeus' painting of the Grote Kerk in The Hague. His father, Cornelis, is mentioned only once, in 1590 and probably died soon after. Van Bassen was admitted to the Guild of Saint Luke in Delft in 1613, as coming from out of town. In 1622 he entered the Guild in The Hague, of which he became dean in 1627 and headman twice, in 1636 and 1640. In addition, he was the municipal architect of The Hague from 1638 until his death. In 1624 he married Aaltgen Pietersdr. van Gilst. Their son Aernoudt Ernst van Bassen married Adriana van Poelenburch in 1651, daughter of the well-known Utrecht painter Cornelis van Poelenburch (Utrecht, 1594/1595 - 1667), who often painted the staffage (2) in Van Bassen's works (see below).

Van Bassen, though mainly known for his architectural paintings, also worked as an architect. Although Van Bassen’s architectural paintings are often fantastic and Italianate, as an architect he worked more or less in the traditional idiom of the Dutch Renaissance, as exemplified by the work of Hendrik de Keyser I (Utrecht, 1565 - Amsterdam, 1621) (3). He was far less progressive than his contemporaries Jacob van Campen (Haarlem, 1596 - Amersfoort, 1657) and Pieter Post (Haarlem, 1608 - The Hague, 1669). From 1629 onwards, he was involved in the construction of the palace in Rhenen for Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate, the expelled ‘Winter King’ of Bohemia (4). From 1630 onwards he was involved, though probably only as an executor, in the building of the hunting castle at Honselaarsdijk (5) and the Huis Ter Nieuburch, Rijswijk (6), for Prince Frederik Hendrik, both near The Hague. Between 1634 and 1639 van Bassen worked on the Town Hall, the Catharinakerk and the Gasthuispoort in Arnhem, the city of his ancestors. In 1638 he became municipal architect of The Hague, in which function he was responsible for the construction of the Boterwaag (constructed in 1650) and the Nieuwe Kerk (constructed between 1649 and 1656), the latter together with Pieter Arentsz. Noorwits (ca. 1612 - 1669), who is considered to be the main architect (7).

Style

From 1620 onwards, Van Bassen's development as a painter can be clearly followed. The most important sources for his paintings were the works by the Antwerp architectural painters, the prints of Hans Vredeman de Vries (8) and the published editions of Italian architectural books and print series. Under those influences, he painted fantasy palace exteriors as well as room- and church interiors in a very personal Renaissance style. Notable is the combination of Antwerp and Dutch motives in Van Bassens’s work. For instance, in the Fantasy Interior of the Nieuwe Kerk, Delft, with the Tomb of William of Orange, painted in 1620 (9), Van Bassen included both Antwerp and Dutch motifs. This combination of fantasy and reality has been described by Liedtke as ‘the realistic imaginary church’ (10).

Van Bassen’s series of room interiors dating to the 1620s are typified by heavy decorated Renaissance-style wood panelling and portals and ceilings coffered in the manner of Sebastiano Serlio (11). Later on, church interiors became his main subject, often with more or less gothic forms that due to the absence of horizontal lines, suited his search for special innovation much better. Until about 1626, Van Bassen painted mainly monumental Renaissance-type church interiors with a view down the centre of the nave, although the inclusion of a pronounced transept or side chapel distinguished his work from the traditional tunnel perspective of the Antwerp painters. After 1626, he strove for more spatial complexity. His interiors became less symmetrical, with the vanishing point less apparent and moved to the side. Striking parallels exist with the contemporary work of Dirck van Delen (Heusden, ca. 1605 - Arnemuiden, 1671). By the 1630s, the dichotomy between the orthogonals towards the vanishing point on the one side and the successively receding spaces towards the other side, forms one of the most important points of departure for the radical development of the diagonal or two-point perspective introduced around 1650 by Van Bassen’s renowned pupil Gerrit Houckgeest (The Hague, ca. 1600 - Delft, 1661). Towards the end of his life, Van Bassen regularly returned to his previous, more monumental and centralized spatial treatment, though changed to a high Baroque style. Van Bassen’s use of colour was initially varied, if matt and heavy, but later became more monochrome.

Until 1631, the staffage of the interiors was often painted by Esaias van de Velde (Amsterdam, 1587 - The Hague, 1630) and occasionally by Frans Francken II (Antwerp, 1581 - 1642 (12). Van Bassen later employed Anthonie Palamedesz. (Delft, 1601 – Amsterdam, 1673) and the above mentioned Cornelis van Poelenburch as staffage painters.
 

Attribution

This painting is a very characteristic work for Van Bassen. Dr. Bernard Vermet points to distinctive architectural details such as the Ionic capitals with garlands and the framed wall surface with sagging bottom corners, right above the central arch. These motives are typical and unique for Van Bassen, especially regarding his earlier period. The treatment of the space shows his strive for a dichotomy in directions, though in a quite moderate way. While the receding lines run to the central vanishing point on the pillar to the right, the eye is drawn to the left side of the painting. This, together with the rather monochrome brownish colour scheme, allows Vermet to suggest a dating in the early or mid 1630's.

Vermet furthermore points to the fact that due to the transparency of the old paint layers, one can clearly see Van Bassen's characteristic way of working. While other architectural painters often draw lines of perspective only as far as they were used in the final architecture itself, Van Bassen seems to have preferred to draw a far more complete perspective scheme with many help-lines (e.g. the one through the tile floor or those at the end of the cornice in the tunnel vault in the present painting). On this scheme, Van Bassen builds his composition step by step and from background to foreground. This implies that architectural parts which are covered by others, are nevertheless worked out in the underdrawing (in some cases even in paint), and are visible through the ornaments or objects that cover them. In the present painting this process can best be seen in the two capitals of the columns of the altar on the left.

Significance

What makes this painting especially interesting is the fact that not only the staffage, but also the two altar paintings are failing. It is common knowledge that Van Bassen practically always employed other artists to adorn his architecture with figures, but this work indicates that the paintings inside his church interiors were also done by the staffage painter (13).

The absence of staffage suggests that the painting possibly remained in Van Bassen's workshop. This seems to be confirmed by the existence of another painting by Van Bassen, sold at Sotheby's New York in 2009 (14). This painting, recognizable as dating from the mid 1640's by its more colourful appearance, its spaciousness and its high Baroque architecture, shows a remarkably similar space, only on a far greater scale. Most remarkable is the original altar to the left that has been transformed into a portal. The two columns, however, are still there, even though much bigger, and even the statue remained (virtually identical), but is now on top instead of in front of the columns. Sill it is speculative that the present painting is a study, especially since it appears as a finished work.

Heritage

The work of Bartholomeus Cornelisz. van Bassen is represented at the Gemeentemuseum, The Hauge, the Netherlands; the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia; the Martin-von-Wagner-Museum der Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; the Musée de Douai - La Chartreuse, Douai, France; the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France; the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie de Troyes, Troyes, France; the Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, the Netherlands; the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands and The Royal Collection, London, United Kingdom

Notes

(1) This biography is principally based on: Briels, J. (1997). Vlaamse schilders en de dageraad van Hollands Gouden Eeuw 1585-1630. Antwerpen, p. 298; Buijsen, E. [et.al.] (1998). Haagse Schilders in de Gouden Eeuw. Den Haag, pp. 86-89, p. 284; Scheffer, C. (1985). Bartholomeus van Bassen. (diss.) Leiden: Rijksuniversiteit Leiden; Vermet, B. M. (1996). Bartholomeus Cornelisz. van Bassen. In: Groves Dictionary of Art. Oxford University Press; Rüger, A. (2004). Ein Palastinterieur von Bartholomeus van Bassen - Beobachtungen zur Arbeitsmethode anhand der Unterzeichnung. In: Manuth, V. & Rüger, A. [red.] Collected Opinions. Essays on Netherlandish Art in Honour of Alfred Bader. Londen , pp. 148 – 161
(2) In art staffage refers to human and animal figures and other adornments, such as miniature works of art, depicted in a scene that are not the primary subject matter of the work.
(3) Kuile, E. H. ter [et.al.] (1957). Duizend jaar bouwen in Nederland, ii, Amsterdam, pp. 125
(4) When completed in 1631, this palace had a large central residence, a courtyard, a two-storey main building with two wings projecting to the south, and was surrounded by large gardens. The palace was torn down in 1812. For more information see: Olde Meijerink, B. (2008). Het Koningshuis te Rhenen. In: Geschiedenis van Rhenen. Utrecht, pp. 214 - 225
(5) The ‘Hof van Honselersdijk’ was bought by Prince Frederik Hendrik in 1612 and was later on rebuilt. The castle was confiscated in 1795, subsequently served public functions and was demolished in 1814.
(6) Frederik Hendrik obtained this estate in 1630 and had a castle built there between 1630 and 1634. The castle was demolished in 1793; see drawing by Jan de Bisschop, collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
(7) For additional information on Van Bassen’s work as architect see: Vermeulen, E. A. J. (1941). Handboek tot de geschiedenis der Nederlandse bouwkunst, iii, The Hague, pp. 60 - 61, pp. 107 – 110
(8) Hans Vredeman de Vries (Leeuwarden, 1527 - Antwerp, The Hague or Hamburg, ca.1606/09) is known for his publication in 1583 on garden design and his books on ornaments (1565) and perspective (1604). Studying Vitruvius and Sebastiano Serlio (translated by his teacher Pieter Coecke van Aelst), he became an internationally known specialist in perspective.
(9) Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary
(10) Liedtke, W. A. (1982). Architectural Painting in Delft. Doorspijk, pp. 22 – 33
(11) Sebastiano Serlio (1475 - ca. 1554) was an Italian Mannerist architect, who was part of the Italian team building the Palace of Fontainebleau. Serlio helped canonize the classical orders of architecture in his influential treatise, I sette libri dell'architettura (aka Tutte l'opere d'architettura et prospettiva).
(12) e.g. Interior, dated 1624, collection of the Bode-Museum, Berlin, Germany
(13) According to Vermet, this particular part of Van Bassen’s workshop practise was not known, yet is demonstrated by this painting.
(14) Sotheby’s New York, Sale N08516, 29 January 2009, lot 125