The Old Church in Delft with the Tomb of Admiral Tromp

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The Old Church in Delft with the Tomb of Admiral Tromp

Artist Hendrik Cornelisz. van Vliet (Dutch, ca. 1611-1675)

Place of OriginNetherlands

Date1658

Dimensionspainting: 48 3/4 x 43 3/4 in. (123.5 x 111 cm)
framed: 58 1/4 x 53 x 3 1/2 in. (148 x 134.6 x 8.9 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1984.80

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 23

Label TextInterior views of the vast spaces and whitewashed walls of Dutch churches became a specialized category of painting in the Dutch Republic (now the Netherlands) in the 1600s. When the Netherlands became a Protestant nation in the late 1500s, its elaborate Gothic churches were usually stripped of their Catholic altarpieces, crucifixes, and stained-glass windows. In their place, tombs of fallen war heroes were erected, like the tomb of Admiral Marten Tromp (1598–1653) given prominence in this painting of the interior of the Old Church (Oude Kerk) in Delft. War heroes were touted as moral and patriotic models for citizens of all walks of life to emulate. Hendrik van Vliet suggests this idea of moral instruction by including children in the group of tourists gathered around the tomb, since children were thought to learn best by example. Even the children playing a game in the foreground seem to have been inspired by the monument: look for the red chalk graffiti of a battleship on the column near the boys.Published ReferencesLiedtke, Walter A., Architectural Painting in Delft - Gerard Houckgeest, Hendrick van Vliet and Emmanuel de Witte, Doornspijk, 1982, p. 65, note 19, p. 105, no. 31.

"La chronique des arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 107, no. 1406, Mar. 1986, no. 175, repr. p. 28.

Liedtke, Walter, "Pepys and the Pictorial Arts," Apollo, vol. 133, no. 350, Apr. 1991, p. 234, fig. 8.

Lawrence, Cynthia, "Hendrick de Keyser's Heemskerk Monument: The Origins of the Cult and Iconography of Dutch Naval Heroes," Simiolus, 1992, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 265-295.

Grijzenhout, Frans, "Non gloria, sed memoria," In Leselust, Stuttgart, 1993, p. 104, abb. 95.

Slive, Seymour, Dutch Painting 1600-1800, New Haven, 1995, pp. 269-270, fig. 367 (col.).

Lokin, Danielle H. A. C. et al., Delft Masters, Vermeer's Contemporaries, Zwolle, 1996, p. 72, fig. 57.

Wheelock, Arthur K., The Public and the Private in the Age of Vermeer, London, Philip Wilson Publishers, 2000, pp. 29, 78, 80, fig. 8, p. 29 (col.), repr. p. 79 (col.), pp. 80 81, (col. det.).

Ruger, Axel, Vermeer and Painting in Delft, London, 2001, p. 39, fig. 33, p. 40 (col.).

Liedtke, Walter A., et al., Vermeer and the Delft School, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001, pp. 3, 15, 51, 65, 103, 412 414, 416, 423, repr. p. 413 (col.).

Meijer, Bert W. Vermeer: la ragazza alla spinetta e i pittori di Delft, Florence, Giunti, 2007, p. 30, fig. 8, p. 28 (col.).

Ham, Gijsvander, Held, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 2007, fig. 72, p. 161 (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 179, repr. (col.).

Baer, Ronni, Class Distinctions: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer, Boston, MFA Publications, 2015, p. 41, 253. no. 72, repr. (col.) p. 234, repr. (col. det.) p. 40.

Verhoeven, Gerrit, De derde stad van Holland: Geschiedenis van Delft tot 1795, Zwolle, WBOOKS, 2015, repr. (col.) p. 336.

Kammel, Frank M, Die Nürnberger Totenschilde Des Spätmittelalters Im Germanischen Nationalmuseum: Jenseitsvorsorge Und Ständische Repräsentationen Städtischer Eliten, Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, 2020, vol. 1 p. 35, repr. (col.) p. 34.

Exhibition HistoryRotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Perspectives: Saenredam and the Architectural Painters of the 17th Century, 1991, no. 43, pp. 12, 215, repr. (col.).

Osaka, Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, The Public and the Private in the Age of Vermeer, 2000, no. 9

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art; London, National Gallery, Vermeer and the Delft School, 2001, no. 82.

Boston, Museum of Fine Arts; Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Rank and Status in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer, Oct. 11, 2015-May 22, 2016.