Perspective Interior with Figures
Bartholomeus van Bassen (The Hague c.1590 - The Hague 1652)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1600 - 1652
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
570 x 905 mm
Place of origin
Holland
Order this imageCollection
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
NT 355491
Caption
This Northern Renaissance hall is filled with paintings, many of which depict Biblical scenes. Amongst those that are recognisable, in the upper register are: ‘St Christopher’, ‘The Angel appearing to Hagar and Ishmael in the Wilderness’, ‘The Expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael’ and ‘Rebecca and Eliezar.’ On the lower register can be found a ‘Still Life’, a ‘Seascape’, an ‘Architectural Capriccio’, what might be a ‘Vertumnus and Pomona’, and a ‘St Jerome’. These pictures have not yet been identified, but it is entirely possible that they depict known works.
Summary
Oil painting on panel, Perspective Interior with Figures by Bartholomeus van Bassen (The Hague c.1590 - The Hague 1652). Inscribed on virginals: MUSICA DULCE / LABORUM LEVA/MEN [music is the sweet solace of labour]. Dutch interior, showing a collection of works of art, steps with balcony at right, window in alcove at left, group of figures, dog in foreground, servants with food, a couple dancing, a couple courting, a small child. The 1955 inventory identifies this as the Interior of a Banqueting Hall, School of Francks. The same inscription appears on a Flemish virginal of 1640 (on loan to Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) and a spinet by John Crang, London 1758, in the V&A (W.16:1,2-1947).
Provenance
Bequeathed with the hall and contents by Philip,11th Marquess of Lothian (1882-1940)
Credit line
Blickling Hall, The Lothian Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Bartholomeus van Bassen (The Hague c.1590 - The Hague 1652), artist