Lot 25: HENDRIK VAN MINDERHOUT ROTTERDAM 1632 - 1696 ANTWERP

signed lower right: Hvan Minderhout F

oil on canvas

AN EXTENSIVE VIEW OF THE ROADS OF A CITY WITH A LARGE FLUTE, A SMALL CARGO SHIP, A KAAG AND OTHER SHIPPING MOORED, TOGETHER WITH AN ELEGANT COUPLE AND OTHER FIGURES STANDING IN THE FOREGROUND

93 by 121.5 cm.

THE PROPERTY OF A DECEASED'S ESTATE

Anonymous sale, Rotterdam, Van Marle, De Sille & Baan, 21 December 1955, lot 73, where bought by the father of the present owners.

The Rotterdam-born painter Hendrik van Minderhout went to Bruges in 1652, where he stayed until his move to Antwerp in 1672. Although Van Minderhout may be better known for his Mediterranean capriccio harbour scenes, which he painted from the 1670s onwards, his earlier marines, such as the present, show parades and views of the cities of Antwerp, Rotterdam or Amsterdam. Although the depicted view seems to be very close to that of the harbour of Amsterdam as seen from across the river IJ, this composition seems to be a capriccio view based on the actual roads of the cities of Amsterdam and Antwerp.

This early work, of which there are not many examples known, clearly shows Van Minderhout's Rotterdam roots, and can be dated to the early 1650s, when the painter was in his twenties. It is closely connected with the works by other Rotterdam marine painters such as Hendrick Maertensz. Sorgh, Jacob Adriaensz. Bellevois, Pieter de Haen and Hendrik de Meijer (c. 1620 - after 1689), who might have even been Van Minderhout's teacher.