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Lot Essay
'Everything at a distance turns into poetry: distant mountains, distant people, distant events: all become Romantic' (Friedrich Leopold, Freiherr von Hardenberg, a.k.a. Novalis (1772-1801)).
The German Romantic poet Novalis anticipated the appeal of one of the richest motifs in the visual arts: the open window. In contrast to examples from earlier centuries, such as those by Vermeer, early 19th century pictures usually show the windows straight on, with a view seen through them. For example, in the present work the urban rooftops and billowing curtain in an opposite building. The vogue for paintings featuring the window as the sole motif, or combined with a pensive figure in the artist’s studio, coincided with the upheaval of the Napoleonic Wars and their aftermath.
Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) inaugurated the motif in Romantic painting in 1805 with two sepia drawings of the Elbe seen through his studio window and epitomised in Woman at a Window (1822, Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin). As in the present painting, the juxtaposition between the familiarity of a room and the uncertain, often idealized vision of what lies beyond could be interpreted as a metaphor for unfulfilled longing. Woman at a window, Mechelen,1816 depicts a young lady of slender and graceful build, precariously seated on the ledge of a large open window. A wicker basket full of recently harvested grapes from the vine surrounding the aperture is placed on the wooden floor by her feet. To her left the bookshelves are teeming with studio props and teaching tools including a skull, globe, flintlock pistol, écorché and armour. Her mouth is tightly closed and her stare is pensive. Uncertain of the future, the abundance of grapes may refer to her sensuous side, but she seems to harbour an unresolved dilemma. The rooftops and street of a town are possibly the view from Vervloet's brother’s studio in Mechelen. The artist’s minute attention to detail includes a fly resting on the windowpane, cracked glass, and the early evening raking light penetrating the translucent vine leaves. A maid leans out of a dormer window in the distance to observe the empty street below.
Frans Vervloet was born in Mechelen and in 1809 enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts. He was given additional instruction by his brother Jan J. Vervloet (1790–1869), a genre and portrait painter. Frans established his name as a successful artist of church interiors and remained in Mechelen until 1820. He then moved to Brussels before leaving Belgium in 1822 after being awarded a two year scholarship from the Society of Encouragement of Fine Arts of Brussels to study in Rome. The architecture of Italy enthralled him and he became a celebrated vedute artist.
The German Romantic poet Novalis anticipated the appeal of one of the richest motifs in the visual arts: the open window. In contrast to examples from earlier centuries, such as those by Vermeer, early 19th century pictures usually show the windows straight on, with a view seen through them. For example, in the present work the urban rooftops and billowing curtain in an opposite building. The vogue for paintings featuring the window as the sole motif, or combined with a pensive figure in the artist’s studio, coincided with the upheaval of the Napoleonic Wars and their aftermath.
Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) inaugurated the motif in Romantic painting in 1805 with two sepia drawings of the Elbe seen through his studio window and epitomised in Woman at a Window (1822, Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin). As in the present painting, the juxtaposition between the familiarity of a room and the uncertain, often idealized vision of what lies beyond could be interpreted as a metaphor for unfulfilled longing. Woman at a window, Mechelen,1816 depicts a young lady of slender and graceful build, precariously seated on the ledge of a large open window. A wicker basket full of recently harvested grapes from the vine surrounding the aperture is placed on the wooden floor by her feet. To her left the bookshelves are teeming with studio props and teaching tools including a skull, globe, flintlock pistol, écorché and armour. Her mouth is tightly closed and her stare is pensive. Uncertain of the future, the abundance of grapes may refer to her sensuous side, but she seems to harbour an unresolved dilemma. The rooftops and street of a town are possibly the view from Vervloet's brother’s studio in Mechelen. The artist’s minute attention to detail includes a fly resting on the windowpane, cracked glass, and the early evening raking light penetrating the translucent vine leaves. A maid leans out of a dormer window in the distance to observe the empty street below.
Frans Vervloet was born in Mechelen and in 1809 enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts. He was given additional instruction by his brother Jan J. Vervloet (1790–1869), a genre and portrait painter. Frans established his name as a successful artist of church interiors and remained in Mechelen until 1820. He then moved to Brussels before leaving Belgium in 1822 after being awarded a two year scholarship from the Society of Encouragement of Fine Arts of Brussels to study in Rome. The architecture of Italy enthralled him and he became a celebrated vedute artist.