Lot 1687 Dα

The fascination that emanates from collectors of the Dutch painter Petrus van Schendel stems, on the one hand, from the stupendous technical precision of the porcelain-like smooth surface of his works and, on the other hand from his skill in dealing with artificial light sources such as lamps and above all candles, which lead to subtle sometimes theatrical lighting effects.
In the present painting, the three figures in the foreground are lit by the flame of a candle, while the silhouettes of the architecture in the background are merely diffusely illuminated by moonlight. The scene is the Groenmarkt in The Hague, a vegetable and fish market, with the Chapel of St Nicolae visible on the right and the tower of the old town hall behind it. A vendor in a wide-brimmed straw hat sits behind her small market stall where she presents her wares. She is talking to a customer who is pointing to the rich assortment of fish, while a third woman with a basket on her head is looking at the viewer. This results in two lines of sight, on the one hand between the saleswoman and her customer and on the other, crossing the first line of sight, between the third woman and the viewer, who thus appears directly integrated into the group of figures.
Our painting, dated 1851, was created during a productive phase of the artist's career, which also includes the famous fish market in Rotterdam (illustrated on the cover of Jan M.M. de Meere: Petrus van Schendel (1806-1870), Leiden 2012). It is thus an outstanding example of the artist's nocturnes, the nocturnal market scenes by candlelight or moonlight with their refined contrasts of light and dark.
We would like to thank Dr Jan M.M. de Meere for confirming Schendel's authorship on the basis of digital photographs and for assisting with the cataloguing.