A Child as Venus in a Chariot Drawn by Doves
Nicolas Maes (Dordrecht 1634 - Amsterdam 1693)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1650 - 1693
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
622 x 527 mm (24 1/2 x 20 3/4 in)
Order this imageCollection
Wimpole, Cambridgeshire
NT 207816
Caption
The sitter in this picture was formerly identified as the Princess of Orange, but this seems extremely unlikely. It seems incongruous to depict a small child as Venus, the goddess of love, but it was quite common in Holland in the 17th-century to portray sitters in mythological guises, regardless of suitability.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, A Child as Venus in a Chariot drawn by Doves, by Nicolas Maes (Dordrecht 1634 – Amsterdam 1693), signed bottom left N MAES. It was quite common in Holland in the 17th-century to portray sitters in mythological guises, regardless of incongruity. Sotheby's 1939 Inventory has this listed as Princess of Orange in a Chariot Drawn by Doves, as a young girl.
Provenance
Bought by Capt. Bambridge in 1940; bequeathed by Elsie Kipling, Mrs George Bambridge (1896 - 1976), daughter of Rudyard Kipling, to the National Trust together with Wimpole Hall, all its contents and an estate of 3,000 acres
Credit line
Wimpole Hall, The Bambridge Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
signed bottom left: N.MAES
Makers and roles
Nicolas Maes (Dordrecht 1634 - Amsterdam 1693)