Dirck van Delen
, Dutch, 1604/05-1671 and
Dirck Hals
, Dutch, 1591-1656
Title
An Interior with Ladies and CavaliersDate1629
MediumOil on wood panel
Dimensions
72 x 95 cm
Signedlower centre: Dirck van / Delen: / 1629
Credit LinePurchased, 1889
Object numberNGI.119
DescriptionDecked out in the latest fashion, a group of youths have gathered for a leisurely meeting, with alcohol and tobacco. The painting reflects contemporary ideas of how some of the young and affluent waste their lives. The lavish setting comprises a marbled floor of three colours, a gilt door case, a wall bed set between pilasters and a chimney piece derived from classical architecture. Although the room is fictitious, the painting demonstrates the way prints and paintings were hung in domestic settings at the time. Van Delen, who was responsible for painting the interior, probably based the composition on a print by the painter and architect Hans Vredeman de Vries. Dirck Hals, the Younger brother of Frans Hals, painted the figures. Collaborations between architectural and figure painters were common in early seventeenth-century dutch art.
March 2016
ProvenanceParis, 30 May 1881, Leopold Double sale, lot 12; purchased, Paris, 1 July 1889, Secretan sale, lot 127 Label TextDepicting fashionably dressed men and women who have gathered for a leisurely meeting with alcohol and tobacco, this painting reflects contemporary ideas of how some wealthy youths wasted their lives. The lavish setting comprises a marbled floor of three colours, a gilt door case, a box bed set between pilasters and a chimneypiece. Although the room is fictitious, the painting gives an idea of how people hung prints and paintings in a domestic setting at the time. Van Delen was responsible for painting the interior, while Dirck Hals, the younger brother of Frans Hals, painted the figures.