Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings Signed and dated (foreground, at base of column): H. van vliet / 1660
Gallery Label Van Vliet was one of several artists in Delft who specialized in the depiction of church interiors. In this painting he portrayed the Oude Kerk from one of the side aisles, looking past the crossing to the northeast, an oblique angle which emphasizes the complexity of the space. The freshly-dug tomb in the foreground may have been intended as a reminder of death and the promise of everlasting life.
Notes This painting of the interior of the Oude Kerk (Old Church) in Delft depicts the view from the southern aisle looking towards the northeast. This particular view was one of the most popular subjects in Dutch architectural painting. Emanuel de Witte's first dated church interior (1651; Wallace Collection, London) has the same vantage point. Similar compositions by Van Vliet himself are in the Baltimore Museum of Art (inv. no. 39.185), the Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna (inv. nos. 685 and 716), and formerly in the Staatliches Museum, Schwerin (inv. no. G2469), and with the Leger Galleries, London [see Ref. Liedtke 1982].
Provenance [Babcock Galleries, New York, until 1931/32; sold to Dillon]; Clarence Dillon, Far Hills, N.J. (1931/32–1976)
Exhibition History The Hague. Mauritshuis. "Great Dutch Paintings from America," September 28, 1990–January 13, 1991, no. 69.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Great Dutch Paintings from America," February 16–May 5, 1991, no. 69.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 18, 2007–January 6, 2008, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Vermeer's Masterpiece 'The Milkmaid'," September 9–November 29, 2009, no. 11.
References Howard Hibbard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art . New York, 1980, pp. 333–34, fig. 602.Architectural Painting in Delft: Gerard Houckgeest, Hendrick van Vliet, Emanuel de Witte . Doornspijk, The Netherlands, 1982, pp. 64–65, 67, 107, no. 68, fig. 50 and colorpl. VII.Tableau 5 (September/October 1982), p. 64, ill. p. 65 (color).Burlington Magazine 128 (November 1986), p. 802, fig. 27.in Ben Broos. Great Dutch Paintings from America . Exh. cat., Mauritshuis. The Hague, 1990, pp. 468–71, no. 69, ill. (color).Die holländischen Gemälde des 17. Jahrhunderts in der Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Wien . Vienna, 1992, p. 394 n. 8, p. 400.Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art . New York, 2007, vol. 2, pp. 922–24, no. 212, colorpl. 212.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Summer 2007), p. 61, fig. 70 (color)."The Milkmaid" by Johannes Vermeer . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2009, pp. 20, 35, no. 11, colorpl. 11.New York Times (September 11, 2009), p. C29.
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