Lot 20: Hendrick Cornelisz. van Vliet , Delft 1611/12 - 1675 the interior of a protestant gothic church, with elements of both the Oude Kerk and Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam oil on canvas

signed lower left: H: V: Vliet.f oil on canvas

measurements note 87 by 73.7 cm.; 34 1/4 by 29 in.

Possibly Galerie K, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg);
Anonymous sale (but probably part of a consignment from the above listed on the title page of the sale catalogue), Stockholm, Konstauktionshuset Hoving & Winborg, Konstnärshuset, Smålandsgatan 7, 23-25 September 1918, lot 116 (as depicting the Oude Kerk, Delft), where bought by the great-grandfather of the present owner.

THE PROPERTY OF A NOBLEMAN
The greater part of Van Vliet's output consisted of architectural portraits of the interiors of the two great churches in his native Delft: the Oude Kerk (Old Church) and the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church). The present picture however seems to be a capriccio, with similarities with the interiors of the Oude Kerk in Delft, and the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam.

The same view, with some differences to the detail, was depicted in a work by Emanuel de Witte, which is now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.υ1 The principal difference in the architecture is in the window in the far distance, which De Witte paints as one single pointed top window. De Witte's work is generally dated to circa 1680, well after Van Vliet's death in 1675, and the greater likelihood is that De Witte used a work by Van Vliet, probably the present picture or one very like it, as his prototype. This would by no means be the only example of a work by De Witte taking its composition from an earlier painting by Van Vliet.υ2

The present picture is likely to be a late work, dating from well after 1660.

1. See I. Manke, Emanuel de Witte, Amsterdam 1963, pp. 101-2, cat. no. 102, reproduced fig. 94, & W.A. Liedtke, Architectural Painting in Delft, Doornspijk 1982, reproduced fig. 94.
2. See Liedtke, op. cit., pp. 86-7.