Provenance:

Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Lebrun (1748-1813), Paris.

Lebrun, Paris, sale of March 20, 1810, Lot 161.

Pierre-Joseph Lafontaine (1758-1835), Paris, acquired from the above sale.

By whom presumably sold to (or bought on behalf of) Johan Gijsberg, Baron Verstolk van Soelen (1776-1845), The Hague, by 1836.

From whom purchased en bloc with his collection in 1849 by a consortium (see note, below) and retained by Humphrey Mildmay (1794-1853).

Henry Bingham Mildmay (1828-1905), London, bequeathed from the above.

(Possibly) Pierre Landry, Paris.

Private Collection, acquired by the grandfather of the owner.

Christie's, London, sale of July 9, 2003, Lot 52.

Literature:

John Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of The Works Of The Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, And French Painters, vol. V, London, 1834, p. 397, no. 93.

(Possibly) Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain, London, 1857, p. 342.

Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, vol. VIII, London, 1927, p. 372, no. 141.

Helga Wagner, Jan van der Heyden, Amsterdam, 1971, p. 105, no. 172.

Engraved:

Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Le Brun, Recueil de gravures au trait, etc., Paris, 1809, no. 161 (for the catalogue of his 1810 sale).

Lot Note:

The present work boasts a distinguished provenance, beginning with the French dealer and auctioneer Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Lebrun before entering the notable collection of the Mildmay family, known for its longstanding interest in Old Master paintings through its ties to the Baring family. Retained through the dispersal of much of the Mildmay collection at Christie’s in 1893, the painting subsequently reappeared at Christie’s in 2003.

Jan van der Heyden was among the first Dutch painters to specialize in cityscapes and architectural subjects, producing views of Amsterdam and other Dutch, Flemish, and German towns, as well as country houses and imaginary architectural compositions. Although his paintings often depict recognizable locations, he frequently altered architectural details and rearranged settings to achieve carefully balanced compositions. His aim extended beyond topographical accuracy to the creation of an idealized, harmonious vision of the built environment.

Van der Heyden’s architectural paintings are distinguished by their crisp detail and subtle interplay of light and shadow, qualities evident in the present work. The meticulous rendering of the brickwork and the tower’s architectural elements exemplifies his precision and technical mastery. The staffage in his paintings were often supplied by a collaborator, most notably Adriaen van de Velde, whose lively figures complemented van der Heyden’s precisely rendered settings. Another prime example of their successful partnership is The Dam and Damrak (c. 1663, Fogg Museum).

Helga Wagner, in her 1971 catalogue raisonné of Jan van der Heyden’s work, recorded that the present painting was held at the Düsseldorf Museum during the Second World War before being restituted to the Dutch government. However, neither the Dutch National Archives nor the Düsseldorf Museum’s records document the painting’s presence. The only work by van der Heyden identified in these records is the View of Nijenrode, now in the Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit, The Hague. Wagner therefore appears to have confused the provenance of that painting with that of the present work and should be considered erroneous.

Framed: 36 3/4 x 31 1/2 x 2 5/8 in.

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