Lot 83: ADRIAEN PIETERSZ. VAN DE VENNE

ADRIAEN PIETERSZ. VAN DE VENNE DELFT 1589 - 1662 THE HAGUE JAMMERLIJCK: A BRAWL BETWEEN GROUPS OF PEASANTS signed and dated lower centre: 1636 / Ad (in ligature) r v. Venne , and inscribed lower left: Jammerlijck! oil on panel, en grisaille 37.2 by 48.6 cm.

L.J. Bol, 'Een Middelburgse Brueghel-groep. VIII. Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne, schilder en teyckenaer. B. Haagse periode 1625-1662', in Oud Holland 73, 1958, p.140, reproduced p. 138, fig. 20;
A. Plokker, Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne (1589-1662): de grisailles met spreukbanden, Leuven/Amersfoort 1984, p. 151.

Von Parpart;
Anonymous sale, Berlin, Lepke, March 1912 (both the above according to fiches at the Witt Library);
In the family of the present owner since at least the 1960s.

This grisaille portrays the life of peasants and beggars in a caricatural way. It is one of many grisailles made by Van de Venne, often accompanied with a strong moral or political message. The motto 'Jammerlijck' in this context means 'pathetic', giving notion to the fact that with those who have nothing, violence is inevitable. A similar grisaille by the artist, with the same motto and dated 1631, is in the Amsterdam Historisch Museum, Amsterdam (inv. no. SA 7423).

We are grateful to Edwin Buijsen, Head of collections, Mauritshuis, The Hague, for his help in cataloguing this lot.