A Canal Junction, near a Church
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Small oil painting of an imaginary view of a junction of two canals, with a bridge and a church. On the left, there is a stone and wooden jetty with a flight of steps down to the water. A woman washes clothes in the canal at the foot of the steps. Two men stand on the jetty talking. Houses and trees are behind. To the right, two swans float on the canal below a large red-brick building next to the church. The church has a bottle-neck shaped pediment above a gothic arched two light window flanked by four large Corinthian columns supporting a broken entablature. The façade of the church is made of brick and has holes to support statues. Grass grows from the top left of the pediment. In front of the church, a woman carrying a basket on her head crosses the bridge. Another man enters the bridge from the right. Clouds and birds fill the sky.
The meticulous detail in this small panel make it a particularly fine example of the work of Jan van der Heyden. The curious semi-ruined church is probably an imaginative structure, combining Gothic and Baroque architectural features. Van der Heyden's work was popular with 18th and early 19th-century French collectors.
Van der Heyden specialised in townscapes. He was less accomplished in figure work, and collaborated with other artists including Adriaen van de Velde, who may have painted the washerwoman and passers-by in this work. He painted many fantastical views of churches, canals and ruins as well as depicting actual places.
The church has holes on the façade which would have once supported religious sculptures. This detail may be Van der Heyden's subtle comment on the Protestant-inspired iconoclasm of the 16th century. Many sculptures were destroyed for being idolatrous leaving façades empty of decoration. Sculptures were particularly attacked by Calvinist writers as their three-dimensional form could make them appear life-like. The un-restored façade adds to the sense that this is a quiet backwater, far from the hustle and bustle of city life.
During the 19th century, this painting had several very important owners, including Prince Talleyrand, the French diplomat who commanded much influence in European politics after the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France. Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild acquired it later in the century from the English collection of Lord Northbrook.
Phillippa Plock, 2011
Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)
488 x 584
Signature & date
signed, centre left on jetty stonework: VHeyde [VH in monogram]
Provenance
- Bought by Jan Yver (b.1747, d.1814) from the Pieter de Smeth van Alphen sale, Amsterdam, 1-2 Aug 1810, no. 38 for 2,999 florins; sold by Yver to Charles Maurice Prince of Talleyrand-Périgord (b.1754, d.1838) for 10,000 francs; bought by William Buchanan as part of the en-bloc purchase of Prince Tallyrand's collection, before planned Anon, sale, Henry, Paris, 7-8 July 1817; probably sold by William Buchanan to Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry (b.1778, d.1820); acquired by Prince Michel-Alexandrowitsch Galitzin (b.1804, d.1860) before 1825; bought by Brongeest for Baron Johan Verstolk van Soelen (b.1776, d.1845), The Hague, at Anon (Prince Galitzen etc) sale, Paris, 28 Feb ff. 1825, lot no. 78; for 8,010 francs; bought with the rest of the Verstolk collection en-bloc through Chaplin by Thomas Baring, Humphrey Mildmay and Jones Loyd, and selected by Thomas Baring (b.1799, d.1873) in 1846; inherited by his nephew Lord Northbrook (b.1826, d.1904); acquired by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (b.1839, d.1898) from Lord Northbrook; inherited by his sister Alice de Rothschild (b.1847, d.1922); inherited by her great-nephew James de Rothschild (b.1878, d.1957); bequeathed to Waddesdon (National Trust) in 1957.
Exhibition history
- British Institute Exhibition, London, 1850, no. 144, lent by Thomse Baring
- Royal Academy Exhibition, London, 1872, no. 176, lent by Thomas Baring
- London, Guildhall, 1890, no. 88, lent Earl of Northbrook
Collection
- Waddesdon (National Trust)
- Bequest of James de Rothschild, 1957
Bibliography
- William Buchanan; Memoirs of Painting: with a chronological history of the importation of pictures by the great masters into England since the French Revolution; 2 vols; London; R. Ackerman; 1824; vol. 2, pp. 308, 325
- John Smith; A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters; 9 vols; London; Smith and Son; 1829-1842; vol. 5, no. 84
- W. H. J. Weale, Jean Paul Richter; A descriptive catalogue of the Collection of Pictures belonging to the Earl of Northbrook; London; Griffith, Farran, Okeden, & Welsh; 1889; no. 123
- Cornelis Hofstede de Groot; A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. Vols 5-8 [1907-1927]; Bishops Stortford; Chadwick Healey; 1976; vol. 8, no. 205
- The James de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, The Connoisseur, 578, 1959, 208; p. 208
- Ellis Waterhouse, Anthony Blunt; Paintings: The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor; Fribourg; Office du Livre, The National Trust; 1967; pp. 146-147, no. 61
- Helga Heikamp-Wagner; Jan van der Heyden 1637-1712; Amsterdam; Scheltema & Holkema; 1971; p. 86, cat. no. 84, ill.
- J Q Van Regteren Altena, Review of The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor. Ellis Waterhouse, Paintings., Oud Holland, 85, 1970, 59-61; p. 60
Subjects
- Figures/Female
- Figures/Group
- Figures/Male
- Nature, Landscape & The Elements/Water
- Animals/Birds/Swan
- Architecture/Architectural Features
- Architecture/Buildings/Domestic
- Architecture/Buildings/Religious
- Work & Occupations/Domestic Service/Washerwoman
- Everyday Life/Domestic Tasks
- Objects/Vessels & Containers/Basket
- Everyday Life/Entertainment/Conversation
- Work & Occupations/Social Rank/Lower Classes
- Nature, Landscape & The Elements/Clouds
- Animals/Birds
- Nature, Landscape & The Elements/Trees & Plants
- Architecture/Town or Village Scape
- Decorative Motifs & Patterns/Scroll Motifs