Object data
oil on panel
support: height 54.2 cm × width 133.5 cm
Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne
Princes Maurits and Frederik Hendrik at the Valkenburg Horse Fair
1618
Inscriptions
- signature and date, lower right, on the plank: AD. VENNE. F. 1618.
Technical notes
The oak support consists of two planks with a horizontal grain and is bevelled on all sides. The bevel at the top side is narrower and crudely shaved down, possibly after the painting was cut down slightly to fit in its frame. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1599. The panel could have been ready for use by 1610, but a date in or after 1616 is more likely. The ground layer is probably off-white. Pentimenti are present, for example in the legs of the white rearing horse in the centre and in the forelegs of the brown horse in the left foreground. A figure dressed in red to the left of the princes’ coach was overpainted and replaced with the dog. The thieving boy and the tree on the right are not finished to the edge, possibly as a result of the mounting of the panel during painting. Infrared reflectography shows no underdrawing, just some modifications in the paint layers, for example to the figures in the carriage to the right of centre, and to one of the white horses of the princes’ carriage. The painting is meticulously executed.
Scientific examination and reports
- dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 8 March 1995
- technical report: L. Sozzani, RMA, 2 August 2002
- infrared reflectography: E. Buijsen, RKD, no. 1208, 2 August 2002
Condition
Good.
Conservation
- conservator unknown, 1946: cleaned
- L. Kuiper, 1983: blue, greasy moisture, caused by vaporisation of wax on the floor of the gallery, removed
- M. van de Laar, 2000 - 2001: complete restoration
Provenance
? Collection Johan de Hertoghe van Orsmael, Valkenburg;1...; sale, Jan Lambers, Amsterdam (P. van der Schley et al.), 6 May 1788, no. 8 (‘Een zeer ryke Ordonnantie van een meenigte Beelden, vol gewoel, zynde een gezigt te Ryswyk op een Kermis Tyd, in hetzelve vertoont zich een Wagen met Zes Paarden bespannen, waar in gezeeten zyn, de Prinsen, Maurits, Frederik Hendrik, en andere voorname Persoonen, benevens veele Edellieden te Paard; verders ziet men veele Tenten, kraamen, wagens en verder Bywerk. Dit capitaale Stuk is fraay, uitvoerig en kragtig gepenceeld op Paneel door A.v.Venne Ao. 1618, h. 21, br. 51 duim [54 x 131 cm]’), fl. 190, to Braam Helsdingen [probably the firm Van Braam Helsdingen, which was founded by F.T. van Braam (1700-91) and I. van Helsdingen (1730-93)];2 by descent to Jacob van Helsdingen (1736-1812); his sale, Amsterdam (P. van der Schley et al.), 26 August 1807, no. 221 (‘Dit voorwerp, zynde een ryke Ordonnantie, vol gewoel van een menigte Lieden, zoo te Paard als te voet, verbeeld de Ryswyker Kermis, waardoor de Koning en Koningin van Bohemen, vergezeld van Prins Maurits en Frederik Hendrik, op een prachtige Wagen, met zes Paarden bespannen, ryden, onder de toevloed van een menigte aanschouwers, verders het bevallig Dorpgezicht met de Kerk en verdere Woningen; ongemeen uitvoerig op Paneel geschilderd, [...], hoog 22, breed 52 duim [57 x 134 cm]’), not sold; probably purchased after the sale by P. van der Schley for fl. 17;3...; sale, C.M. Drekman (†), Amsterdam (C.F. Roos et al.), 14 April 1857, no. 100 (‘A. van der Venne. Anno 1613. Bezoek van Prins Maurits en de Koning en Koningin van Boheme, gedurende de kermis, in het dorp Rijswijk. De Prins met eenig gevolg is gezeten in een open rijtuig, getrokken door zes prachtige schimmels, ter wederzijde voorname lieden te paard en eene menigte pages te voet; overal ziet men op het ruime marktveld tenten, waarop vlaggen wapperen en voor dezelve een levendig gewoel van edellieden en boeren; vooraan, nabij den koninklijken stoet, zit eene koopvrouw onderscheidene vruchten uitteventen. h. 55 d, br. 1 el, 34 d [55 x 134 cm]’), fl. 405, to Harington;4...; sale, Leroy d’Étiolles (1798-1860), Paris (l’Hôtel Drouot), 21 February 1861 sqq., no. 125 (‘La Kermesse de Ryswick. Sur la grande place du village, le prince stathouder Maurice de Nassau et son frère le prince Fréderic-Henri, dans une voiture de cour attelée de six chevaux blancs et escortée de cavaliers richement costumés, viennent recevoir le roi et la reine de Bohème, debout sur la droite. On reconnait parfaitement le prince Maurice qui porte un haut chapeau blanc, et à sa droite le prince Frédéric-Henri en chapeau gris. Le carrosse est au milieu, les chevaux vus presque de face. Un aide de camp à cheval, le chapeau à la main, salue le roi et la reine. Tout ce cortège de cour est noyé au milieu des personnages qui affluent à la kermesse. Au premier plan, à droite, une auberge ombragée de grands arbres; quantité de paysans derrière le roi et la reine, et tout à fait en avant une marchande de fruits et de légumes étalés par terre. A gauche, des cavaliers, des chevaux en liberté, et diverses figurines. Au second plan, derrière le carrosse, des tentes surmontées de leur pavillon, les maisons du village, et au milieu son clocher pointu. Par là surtout circulent des personnages innombrables, hommes et femmes qui fêtent la kermesse. Il y a peut-être un millier de figurines, toutes vivement tournées, élégantes et spirituelles au possible. Cette composition importante se classe en tête de l’oeuvre de ce charmant maître, à côté du tableau du musée d’Amsterdam et de celui du Louvre. [...] Ce tableau, qui fut peint assurément pour le prince Maurice, protecteur de van der Venne, doit, comme le tableau du musée d’Amsterdam, provenir du château du Loo, près de La Haye, ancienne résidence des princes d’Orange. [...] H. 0,54. - L. 1,33. [54 x 133 cm]’), not sold;5 his son;6 from whom, fr. 17,000, to the museum, through the mediation of E. Warnecke, Paris, 18807
Object number: SK-A-676
Copyright: Public domain
The artist
Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne (Delft c. 1589 - The Hague 1662)
According to Cornelis de Bie, Adriaen van de Venne was born into a southern Netherlandish immigrant family in Delft in 1589. De Bie also states that he was taught drawing and illumination by the Leiden goldsmith and painter Simon de Valck, and was then apprenticed to the grisaille painter Jeronymus van Diest, both of whom are now otherwise unknown.
Van de Venne is first documented in 1614 in Middelburg, where he remained until around 1625. It was in 1614 that he married the daughter of a Zeeland sea captain, Elisabeth de Pours. Dating from that same year are his earliest known paintings, Fishing for Souls (SK-A-447) and two summer and winter pendants.8 On the evidence of an affinity with the work of Jan Brueghel the Elder, it has been assumed that he spent some time in Antwerp before 1614. However, the local Middelburg painters were already working in Brueghel’s style at that time. The fact that he married a woman of Zeeland, and that his father and his brother Jan had settled in the town in 1605 and 1608 respectively, make it likely that he was in Middelburg before 1614. In 1618, his brother Jan opened a shop selling paintings and set up a publishing business, in which Adriaen played an important role as a print designer, poet, and illustrator of books by Jacob Cats, among other authors. Starting in 1618 he also designed several propaganda prints supporting the House of Orange and Frederick V, the Elector Palatine. Van de Venne is last documented in Middelburg on 30 June 1624. He then moved to The Hague, where he is recorded as a resident on 22 March 1625. His departure from Middelburg roughly coincided with the death of his brother Jan, and his decision to settle in The Hague probably had something to do with the presence of the court there, which played an important part in the subjects he chose. Among his earliest works in The Hague were the prints and paintings of Prince Maurits Lying in State (SK-A-446), several impressions of which were ordered by the States-General on 21 July 1625.9 He enrolled in the Guild of St Luke in 1625, and a year later acquired his Hague citizenship. He retained his house in Middelburg, and in 1630 bought another one in The Hague, from which he sold his prints and books. He was warden of the guild from 1631 to 1633 and from 1637 to 1639, and filled the post of dean from 1639 to 1641. He was also a member of the Ionghe Batavieren (Young Batavians) chamber of rhetoric. His fame was such that he was included in Johannes Meyssens’s book, Image de divers hommes desprit sublime, where it is stated that the Prince of Orange owned several works by him. In 1656, Van de Venne was also involved in setting up a new confraternity, the Confrerie Pictura, which broke away from the Guild of St Luke. At the end of his life he ran into financial difficulties. He made his will in 1660 after falling ill, and died on 12 November 1662. Two of his sons, Pieter (c. 1615-57) and Huijbregt (1634/35-after 1682), were also painters.
Van de Venne’s painted oeuvre can be divided into his Middelburg and Hague periods. In Middelburg he produced some of his most ambitious, meticulously painted works with politico-allegorical subjects, as well as many landscape scenes in the manner of Jan Brueghel the Elder. In The Hague he concentrated almost exclusively on grisailles for the open market, most of them genre pieces with a comical, moralistic slant with inscribed banderoles, but he also made religious, allegorical works and a few large-scale equestrian portraits of rulers. He abandoned the meticulous style of his Middelburg period for a freer, sometimes even sketchy technique, which enabled him to boost his output to ‘hundreds of monochrome pieces, both known and desired by devotees of art’, as J. Campo Weyerman put it.
Yvette Bruijnen, 2007
References
Meyssens 1649; De Bie 1661, pp. 234-46; Van Bleyswijck 1667, II, pp. 857-58; Houbraken I, 1718, pp. 136-37; Campo Weyerman I, 1729, pp. 340-41; Franken 1878, pp. 7-30; Obreen II, 1879-80, pp. 108-09, III, 1880-81, pp. 258, 272, 275, IV, 1881-82, pp. 59, 128, 148, V, 1882-83, pp, 68-69, 71-74, 96, 102, 133, 153, VI, 1884-87, pp. 52, 226; Bredius II, 1916, pp. 374-93, VII, 1921, pp. 240-45; Bol 1958; Royalton-Kisch 1988, pp. 37-74; Bol 1989; Van Suchtelen in Amsterdam 1993, p. 321; Briels 1997, pp. 394-95; Buijsen in The Hague 1998, pp. 255-62, 354
Entry
The setting of this painting was long thought to be a kermis in Rijswijk, and was only later recognized as being the horse fair at Valkenburg, a small village north of The Hague.10 The subject is the visit to the fair of Maurits and Frederik Hendrik, who are clearly recognizable in the open carriage drawn by six greys. Their retinue consists of two closed carriages, each drawn by four brown horses, accompanied by horsemen and several pages on foot. One of the riders is making a levade towards a distinguished looking couple in the right foreground, whom Pelinck persuasively identified as Johan de Hertoghe van Orsmael and his wife Josyna de Beye.11 In 1615, De Hertoghe van Orsmael had bought the manor of Valkenburg and had forged a strong bond with the village, and even accepted payment so that the horse fair could continue to be held there.12 In addition, he was in Maurits’s service. In 1618, when he had himself portrayed in this painting, he was Quartermaster-General of the States army.13 Given this background, it is only natural that De Hertoghe van Orsmael should allow Van de Venne to portray him as a sort of host of Maurits and Frederik Hendrik.
The faithful depiction of the Valkenburg horse fair combined with portraits of the couple indicate that Van de Venne travelled to Valkenburg for the commission. His reputation as a painter had evidently spread beyond Middelburg by 1618, and this is confirmed by the state portraits of Maurits and Frederik Hendrik that were published as prints that same year. In 1619, the States-General ordered 25 impressions of them on satin.14
The frieze-like format, meticulous execution and ambitious design with numerous figures and a wealth of secondary details are in the same mould as Van de Venne’s Fishing for Souls (SK-A-447) of 1614 and, above all, The Departure of a Dignitary from Middelburg of 1615 (SK-A-1775). As in the latter work, the wealthy burghers and dignitaries are shown cheek by jowl with the simple villagers, who have even been brought to the foreground and thus play a more prominent role in the composition. The style is a little looser than in the two earlier works, and the relationships between the groups of figures are more successful. There are more anecdotal details, such as the peasants brawling in the left background and the woman running a stall in the right foreground, who is being robbed by a boy. This is an example of the comical and moralistic tone that is such a feature of Van de Venne’s later works. Westermann has put forward an unconvincing argument that these motifs appear to justify the imposition of centralized order by the Republic’s leaders, making The Valkenburg Horse Fair patriotic in nature.15
The still life of shells in the right foreground is an unrealistic element in an otherwise naturalistic scene. Variants of this shell still life are found in Fishing for Souls and The Departure of a Dignitary from Middelburg, and can be regarded as the artist’s personal mark. In his later paintings these carefully elaborated still lifes were replaced by the motif of three mussels.16
In Braunschweig there is a drawing which is generally regarded as a preliminary study for the small group of horsemen in the left foreground (fig. a).17 However, there are arguments for the drawing being made after the painting, and not the other way round. In the painting there is a pentimento by the forelegs of the foremost horse of which there is no trace in the drawing, which follows the painted surface precisely.18 Also missing in the drawing is the little dog that the leading rider is looking at in the painting, with the result that his downward gaze in the drawing loses its point. Finally, the fall of light in the painting is followed precisely in the drawing. The purpose of the drawing appears to have been more to reuse the motif of the mounted group in other works, as in the case of the horseman in the album ’tLants Sterckte (The land’s fortress and strength) of 1626.19 Although not followed literally, the portrait studies of Maurits and Frederik Hendrik painted on paper (SK-A-1776) could have served as models for their portraits in The Valkenburg Horse Fair.
Keyes rightly observed that Van de Venne’s Horse Fair was a model for Prince Maurits and Frederik Hendrik at the Rijswijk Horse Fair by Esaias van de Velde, who probably saw it in De Hertoghe van Orsmael’s collection.20
Yvette Bruijnen, 2007
See Bibliography and Rijksmuseum painting catalogues
See Key to abbreviations and Acknowledgements
This entry was published in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, I: Artists Born between 1570 and 1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2007, no. 294.
Literature
Franken 1878, pp. 40-42, no. 8; Knuttel 1917, pp. 64-66; Pelinck 1958; Keyes 1984, p. 102; Royalton-Kisch 1988, pp. 39, 42, 46, 47, 73, 172; Bol 1989, pp. 45-47; Westermann 1999, p. 225; Zandvliet in Amsterdam 2000a, pp. 334-35, no. 173
Collection catalogues
1880, pp. 321-22, no. 375 (as The Visit of Prince Maurits to the Kermis in Rijswijk); 1887, p. 177, no. 1522 (as The Visit of Prince Maurits to the Kermis in Rijswijk); 1903, p. 277, no. 2488 (as The Visit of Prince Maurits to the Kermis in Rijswijk); 1934, pp. 294-95, no. 2488 (as The Visit of Prince Maurits to the Kermis in Rijswijk); 1960, p. 322, no. 2488; 1976, p. 565, no. A 676; 2007, no. 294
Citation
Y. Bruijnen, 2007, 'Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne, Princes Maurits and Frederik Hendrik at the Valkenburg Horse Fair, 1618', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.6404
(accessed 22 November 2024 13:34:22).