Bartholomeus van Bassen

Madame Duchesse François Melzi d'Eril de Lodi, Brussels;
Her sale, Brussels, J. & A. Le Roy, April 29,1920, no. 22 (as Dirck van Delen);
Private collection, Germany;
Anonymous sale, Köln, Kunsthaus Lempertz, May 21, 2005, lot 605.

To be included in the forthcoming monograph with catalogue raisonné of Van Bassen's work currently in preparation by Axel Rüger, Amsterdam

Panel is uncradled and flat and appears stable. Panel is bevelled on all four sides. U.V. reveals tiny scattered retouches throughout with larger areas of retouching in upper left corner and in the vaults in the upper portion of the painting. All of these retouches, however, have been applied well and no further restoration is recommended. Picture may be hung in present state. In a carved wood and black-painted frame.
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From a low viewpoint we look into a light-flooded, spacious interior of a magnificent church. Contributing to the lively impression of the interior are many figures moving across the space. The figures, which were probably added by a yet to be identified artist, are dressed according to the fashion of the mid 1640s, which is an important clue in dating the painting.¹  The eye is immediately drawn to a chapel adorned with an imposing altar which may seem an odd element given the fact that in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic Catholicism was not permitted. However, during the reign of Stadholder Frederick Henry, when the present painting was done, Catholics enjoyed more freedom than during the days of his predecessor Maurits of Orange, and Catholic priests were allowed to say mass discreetly in private homes where small congregations could gather. Van Bassen was obviously working for a number of catholic patrons. Ornamental embellishments abound in this painting and hardly any space is left bare. The floor is laid with tiles of marble in various colours. In particular typical for Van Bassen's architecture, be it secular or church interiors, is the coffered ceiling. 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. Sometimes Van Bassen included real monuments in fantasy settings. An imaginary church interior by van Bassen in the Louvre, Paris, depicts Hendrick de Keyser's Tomb of William the Silent which is actually located in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft. The Gemeentemuseum in The Hague owns a painting in which Van Bassen portrays The Nieuwe Kerk in that city, which he had designed himself together with the architect Pieter Noorwits (built 1649-56). This unpublished and previously unknown panel is an important and characteristic addition to Van Bassen's oeuvre.

1. Of all artists known to have provided figures for Van Bassen's interiors Anthonie Palamedesz is the most likely author.