This is for sure one of the best examples of church interior scenes painted by Jan van der Vucht, who passed away in his mid thirties.

It is also an excellent illustration of his successful cooperation with the excellent figure painter Anthonie Palamedesz.

 

 

Dutch painter

Rotterdam circa 1603 – 1637 Rotterdam

 

His name is sometimes spelt Johannes van Vucht.

 

Painter of church interiors and of just a few palace courtyards.

 

Van der Vucht probably studied perspective painting in Delft under Bartholomeus van Bassen.

In 1624 he got married in Rotterdam, where he spent most of his life. He also joined here the Painter’s Guild of Saint Luke. In 1632 however he is recorded in The Hague.

 

Some sources mention our painter as the Master of the Rotterdam church interior painter Anthonie de Lorme (Tournai circa 1610 – 1673 Rotterdam), others think that both van der Vucht and de Lorme studied together under van Bassen in Delft.

 

Van der Vucht died at a very young age, already in 1637. He regularly had made wrong investments, which made him loose a lot of money:

- first with the silk and art dealer Abraham van Waesberghe (1602 – 1672) in peat farms;

- in 1636 in tulip bulbs. These became a frenzied commodity. Between 1634 and 1637, the enthusiasm for the new flowers triggered a speculative frenzy now known as the tulip mania. Tulip bulbs became so expensive that they were treated as a form of currency, or rather, as futures. By 1636 the tulip bulb became the fourth leading export product of the Netherlands, after gin, herrings and cheese. In February 1637 prices suddenly collapsed: this was the first recorded speculative bubble, be it still limited to a fairly small group of people.

 

 

Dutch painter

Delft 1601 – 1673 Amsterdam

 

Genre and portrait painter. He often painted interior scenes, especially guardroom scenes. Anthonie Palamedesz. regularly painted the staffage in landscapes and architectural scenes by other painters. Palamedesz. also painted figure staffage for Anthonie de Lorme, who was to become Rotterdam’s leading perspective painter.

 

Palamedesz. was nicknamed “Stevers” after his father’s last name, Stevaert. He was a gem-cutter and sculptor from Delft who carved semi-precious stones (jasper, porphyry, agate, etc.) into vases and other decorative art.

Our Anthonie was the older brother of the battle scene painter Palamedes Palamedesz. (1607 – 1638).

 

Anthonie’s teacher is unknown, but it has been speculated that he may have studied in Delft with the court painter Michiel van Mierevelt and/or Hendrick Pot, who was in the city in 1620. Palamedesz. joined the Delft Guild of St Luke in 1621 and was head man in 1653 and 1673. 

 

In 1673 Anthonie was residing in Amsterdam, probably with his eldest son, the painter Palamedes Palamedesz. II (1633–1705), when he died. 

 

 

Because it is a great example of the early fantasized Dutch Protestant Temple interiors.