1 / 2
Featured lot selected by the auctions House.
Premium Osenat
46
-
Jan VAN GOYEN (1596-1656) Fishermen near the Oostpoort in De…
See original version (French)
46
-
Jan VAN GOYEN (1596-1656) Fishermen near the Oostpoort in De…
See original version (French)
Estimate €80,000 - €120,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Jan VAN GOYEN (1596-1656)
Fishermen near the Oostpoort in Delft, 1645
Oil on oak panel, not parqueted
H_99 xcm W_66 cm
Signed and dated "VGoyen 1645" in the hull of the boat lower left.
Provenance :
Miss Bunyon Collection, Kensington, with P. & D. Colnaghi in London, 1919
Sale from the G... de Londres and others collection, 20 May 1919
P. & D. Colnaghi & co, London
Sale U. M. Kneppelhout-Van Braam and others , 16 December 1919, lot
27, sold for 5600f (Dutch worker's wage in 1919, 800 to 1500f per year)
Leggatt Bros. London, 1923
English collection, by succession since 1923
French private collection
Bibliography :
C. Hofstede de Groot, A catalogue raisonné of the works of the most
eminent Dutch painters of the seventeenth century, vol. VIII, p.248, number
999
H-U. Beck, Jan van Goyen 1596-1656, Amsterdam, 1973, volume II, p.309,
number 676, reproduced
H-U. Beck, Jan van Goyen 1596-1656, Amsterdam, 1987, number 676
Related works :
Jan van Goyen, A View of Nijmegen with the Valkhof, 1646, oil on panel
panel, 36 x 51 cm, Sotheby's sale 4 December 2025, lot n°137,
sold for £361,950
Jan van Goyen, View of the Oostpoort in Delft, 1644, oil on canvas 99 x 136
cm , collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth Museum
Jan van Goyen, A Preparatory Sketch of the Oostpoort, 1651, oil on paper
papier marouflé sur panneau, 26.5 x 38.5 cm, Christie's London sale of 8
December 2017, lot n°127, sold for £62,500
Jan van Goyen, L'Oostpoort de Delft, graphite on paper, preparatory to our painting
our painting, 12 x 19 cm, Rijksmuseum
Preparatory drawings for our composition, Z 694, Z 845/35 and G 664, 668,
710 from Beck's catalogue
Jan van Goyen occupies a key position among Dutch landscape painters of the seventeenth century.
Dutch landscape painters of the seventeenth century. Together with Salomon van Ruysdael and Pieter de Molijn, he
the emergence of a new vision of landscape, free from the traditions of the
the traditions of the previous century and based on direct observation of nature,
light and everyday life in the United Provinces. His influence was
decisive influence on a whole generation of painters, right up to Jacob van Ruisdael and
Meindert Hobbema.
Dated 1645, our painting belongs to the artist's mature period
during which he painted his best landscapes. From the mid
1630s, Van Goyen developed a pictorial language that was immediately
recognisable: a palette deliberately restricted to shades of brown, silver-grey
and golden ochres and an extraordinary ability to suggest the atmosphere of Dutch
Dutch landscapes through the variations in his skies, which take precedence over the
skies that take precedence over a deliberately low horizon.
Representing Delft's Oostpoort, the city's eastern gateway built in the early
century and the only vestige of the medieval fortifications to have survived to the present day.
our painting is one of a series of views of fortified towns and cities
by the artist.
Its slender towers and conical roofs are one of the most emblematic
architectural motifs in the Netherlands. Van Goyen took an interest in
several times, as evidenced by the numerous preparatory drawings
preparatory drawings compiled by Hans-Ulrich Beck, as well as the canvas
in the collection of the Dukes of Devonshire at Chatsworth, executed the
the previous year.
When Van Goyen painted this view in 1645, Delft was at the height of its
golden age. An important administrative, commercial and artistic centre
and artistic centre of the United Provinces, the town was enjoying great prosperity
canals and its manufacturing activities. It was precisely at this time that
the first earthenware factories developed, which would soon make the city
the town's reputation throughout Europe. Dominating the eastern entrance to the city,
the Oostpoort epitomises this dynamic and flourishing city, just a few years before
the explosion of the powder magazine in 1654, which had a profound effect on its history. This
same Delft, then at the height of its prosperity, would be immortalised some fifteen
fifteen years later by Vermeer in his famous View of Delft, one of the most emblematic
most emblematic images of the Dutch Golden Age.
The skilful combination of architecture, figures and landscape perfectly illustrates
the way in which Van Goyen managed to combine the reality of everyday life with
poetic construction. The presence of the fishermen gives the scene a human
human dimension.
This freedom of execution, which in some ways anticipates the landscape painting of later centuries
of later centuries, is one of the artist's most admired signatures.
the artist.
The interest of our work is heightened by the existence of several listed
studies. The small painting sold at Christie's in 2017
also highlights van Goyen's research into the motif of the Oostpoort and
van Goyen's research into the Oostpoort motif, underlining the particular importance that this subject
his work.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures modified on 06/09/2026 at 11:38 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like