Follower of Dirck van Delen, 
Dutch 1605-1671- 
A Page holding a basket of fruit at a doorway, an...

Follower of Dirck van Delen, 
Dutch 1605-1671- 

A Page holding a basket of fruit at a doorway, an enfilade of rooms beyond; 

oil on canvas, 216.5 x 115.8 cm. 

Provenance: 
Lewis Einstein, and by descent to;
The Marchioness of Tweeddale, Yester House, East Lothian. 
Sold, with the house, to Peter Morris, late 1960s. 
Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 1 November 1996, lot 82 (as 'Follower of Baccio del Bianco'). 
Property of the late Hugo Morley-Fletcher, MA FSA (1940-2022). 

Note: 
The present work is executed in the manner of van Delen's elaborate architectural fantasies, revealing an interest in and exploration of the mathematics of perspective, which was particularly prevalent amongst artists and intellectuals in 16th- and 17th-century Netherlands. Indeed, the influence of van Delen's approach can be seen in the work of the following generation of artists, which included Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678), whose 'View through a Corridor' in the collection of the National Trust at Dyrham Park [453733] very much suggests a debt to the former artist. 

The present composition is particularly reminiscent of van Delen's 'Palace Interior with the Parable of the Rich Man and the poor Lazarus' which sold at Lempertz, Cologne, on 17 November 2018 (lot 1536), which similarly includes the motif of the richly-dressed serving boys holding platters, whose small size emphasises the grand scale of their architectural surroundings. The view through the arches in the present work is also characteristic of van Delen's compositions, as illustrated, for example, in his 'Architectural Fantasy with Susannah and the Elders' in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam [no.1159].