Cornelis Pronk

The Rotterdamse Poort, Delft

Lot Closed

January 25, 09:34 PM GMT

Estimate

2,500 - 3,500 USD

Lot Details

Description

Lots 306-373: Property from the Collection of A.M. ('Ton') van den Broek

Cornelis Pronk

Amsterdam 1691 - 1759

The Rotterdamse Poort, Delft

Pen and gray ink and wash over indications in graphite, within gray ink framing lines;

bears attribution, verso: C. Pronck and inventory number: V105

158 by 196 mm; 6¼ by 7⅝ in.

J. Theodor Cremer, his sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby Mak van Waay, 17 November 1980, lot 124;
A.M. ('Ton') van den Broek (1932-1995), Haarlem (bears his mark, verso, not in Lugt)

A.W. Gerlagh, 'De familie Schouten. Een 18de-eeuws tekenatelier in de praktijk', in Bulletin KNOB, vol. 88, no.5 (1989), note 20

This finely drawn view, which despite its monochrome media captures well the atmosphere of the scene, shows the view of Delft immortalised for ever by Vermeer, in his painting of circa 1660-61, the Mauritshuis.¹The Schiedam and Rotterdam Gates, with the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk just visible center right, are here seen from across the harbor, appearing very much as they did nearly a century earlier when painted by Vermeer, the only significant difference being the absence of the twin towers of the Rotterdam Gate to the right, which had been demolished in the intervening years.

A fascinating collaborative watercolor of the same view, executed at around the same time as Pronk's drawing by Jan ten Compe (1713-1761) and Jacobus Buys (1724-1801), was recently sold in these Rooms, as part of a Distinguished American Collection of 18th-Century Dutch Drawings and Watercolors.²

1. The Hague, Mauritshuis, inv. 92

2. Sale, New York, Sotheby's, 30 January 2019, lot 107