Rijksmuseum

Object data

oil on panel

support: height 34.5 cm × width 45.5 cm
outer size: depth 7 cm (support incl. frame)

Inscriptions

signature, bottom centre: DI[..]K.DALENS

Provenance

…; ? collection H. Muijser, The Hague, c. 1883;¹…; sale, F.M. Hodgson (†), dowager of Baron P.C. Nahuys, et al., Amsterdam (F. Muller), 14 November 1883 sqq., no. 38, as Dirck Dalens and Moyses van Wtenbrouck, fl. 59.20, to the museum²

Object number: SK-A-790

The artist

Dirck Dalens I (? Dordrecht c. 1600 - Zierikzee 1676)

The earliest document relating to the life of Dirck Dalens I dates from 27 December 1626, when the banns of his marriage to Roeltgen Willems were posted in The Hague. It states that he came from Dordrecht, which was probably his native city. Nothing is known about his parents. His wife was a daughter of the painter Willem Lucas, about whom there is no further information. Although the sources do not confirm that Dalens trained with Moyses van Wtenbrouck, the great stylistic affinity between their oeuvres makes this likely. Dalens registered as a master with the Hague Guild of St Luke in 1632. He may have spent some time in Italy, probably before his wedding, which lead to him being asked to give his expert opinion about some pictures by Italian masters in 1672.

In 1636 Dalens informed the Hague guild that he wanted to settle in Leiden, and the deans and wardens gave him permission to auction 80 paintings on condition that he was not to move back to the city for at least two years. His profession was also given as schoolmaster at the time. He got into trouble with the guild because he sold 20 additional works, but he was nevertheless allowed to return to The Hague in 1637 after his father-in-law put in a good word for him. In 1648 he was paid 1,200 guilders for four overmantels which Stadholder Frederik Hendrik commissioned for Huis in ’t Noordeinde in The Hague prior to his death in 1647. Dalens joined the artists’ society Confrerie Pictura in 1656. Two years later, after the decease of his wife, he married Adriaentge de Lieffe (or Lieffde), the widow of Cornelis Couwenaar.

Dalens was evidently not easy to get along with. The archives show that he regularly got involved in conflicts with colleagues, tenants, craftsmen, the guild and the civic authorities. His restless character is also shown by the fact that he was living in Rotterdam in 1662, in Delft in 1663, and was back in The Hague in 1669. In 1676 he was convicted of incest with his daughter Maria, who had been born in 1659. He fled to Zierikzee, where he died that same year.

Dirck Dalens is referred to as Dirck I to distinguish him from his eponymous grandson and great-grandson, who are known to art history as Dirck II and Dirck III. The identical names and the fact that they also painted landscapes, the subject of Dirck I’s almost entire output, has led to a confusion of the three oeuvres. The one of Dirck I is modest in size. His earliest securely dated picture is from 1635,³ and his last known one from 1664.⁴

Richard Harmanni, 2022

References
C. Kramm, De levens en werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche kunstschilders, beeldhouwers, graveurs en bouwmeesters: Van den vroegsten tot op onzen tijd, I, Amsterdam 1857, pp. 317-20; C. Vosmaer, ‘De ordonnantie-boeken van prins Frederik Hendrik over de jaren 1637-1650’, Kunstkronijk N.S. 2 (1861), pp. 37-40, esp. p. 39; C. Kramm, De levens en werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche kunstschilders, beeldhouwers, graveurs en bouwmeesters: Van den vroegsten tot op onzen tijd, VI, Amsterdam 1864, p. 40; F.D.O. Obreen, Archief voor Nederlandsche kunstgeschiedenis: Verzameling van meerendeels onuitgegeven berichten en mededeelingen betreffende Nederlandsche schilders, plaatsnijders, beeldhouwers, bouwmeesters, juweliers, goud- en zilverdrijvers [enz.], III, Rotterdam 1880-81, pp. 259, 274; ibid., IV, 1881-82, pp. 59, 73, 131; ibid., V, 1882-83, pp. 96, 155; A. Bredius, ‘Aus den Haager Archiven, XI: Dirk Dalens senior’, Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst 18 (1883), pp. 617-19, 642-44; A. Bredius, ‘Italiaansche schilderijen in 1672, door Amsterdamsche en Haagsche schilders beoordeeld’, Oud Holland 4 (1886), pp. 41-46, esp. pp. 42-43; G.H. Veth, ‘Aantekeningen omtrent eenige Dordrechtsche schilder. Aanvullingen en verbeteringen’, Oud Holland 21 (1903), pp. 111-24, esp. pp. 116-17; Zoege von Manteuffel in U. Thieme and F. Becker (eds.), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, VIII, Leipzig 1913, p. 294; W. Soechting, ‘Dirck Dalens I, een vergeten landschapsschilder’, Holland 9 (1977), pp. 32-36; Löffler in E. Buijsen et al., Haagse schilders in de Gouden Eeuw: Het Hoogsteder Lexicon van alle schilders werkzaam in Den Haag 1600-1700, exh. cat. The Hague (Haags Historisch Museum) 1998-99, p. 298; Pijl in Saur Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, XXIII, Munich/Leipzig 1999, pp. 492-93

Entry

When the museum bought this landscape in 1883 it was thought that the couple in the foreground had been painted by Moyses van Wtenbrouck, who had supposedly signed the work with his monogram.⁵ However, no trace of it was detected during the 2008 scientific examination of the picture. The original attribution of the figures to Van Wtenbrouck was also conclusively dismissed by Weisner.⁶ From a stylistic point of view they are closer to Dirck Dalens I’s oeuvre.

This landscape lacks the groups of sturdy trees reaching almost to the top of the painting that are so typical of Dalens’s later output, nor is there a view through to the horizon. The figures in the foreground, the cows in the middle ground and parts of the background are brightly lit by the sun. The present contrasts between light and shade, though, are due partly to the severely yellowed varnish, which makes the darker passages difficult to read. The composition owes a debt to Moyses van Wtenbrouck, as shown by several of his etchings, in particular.⁷ Since Dalens quite frequently imitated works by the artist who is believed to have been his teacher, Weisner thought it possible that the Rijksmuseum picture is based on a lost original by Van Wtenbrouck.⁸ In any event, the latter’s influence shows that this is an early painting by Dalens. This is confirmed by the dendrochronology, which indicates that the panel was probably ready for use by about 1629. A date in the first half of the 1630s is therefore very plausible.

The gestures of the shepherd and shepherdess in the foreground, who are recognizable as such by their staffs, suggest that this is a narrative scene. The man is pointing to the background ruin with a roguish look while the woman seems to be fending him off. However, there are not enough clues to identify the story precisely. Dalens quite frequently included pastoral scenes in his Italianate landscapes that are not based on specific tales.

Richard Harmanni, 2022

See Key to abbreviations, Rijksmuseum painting catalogues and Acknowledgements

Citation

(accessed 17 December 2025 16:42:41).