Dirk van Delen

Family in the Nieuwe Kerk (Delft), 1645

Dirck Christiaensz van Delen (born ca. 1605 – died May 16, 1671) was a Dutch Golden Age painter.

Biography

According to Houbraken, he was born in Heusden, and was a student of Frans Hals. In 1626 he moved to Zeeland and became mayor of Arnemuiden. He specialized in architectural studies.

Shortly after he was born his parents moved to Breda. He married in Middelburg in 1625. Though he is registered in Arnemuiden from the following year until his death, he became a member of the Middelburg Guild of St. Luke from 1639-1665. In 1666 he gave a painting to the Antwerp chamber of rhetoric Olyftak, that was a collaboration with the painter Theodoor Boeyermans. In 1668 he became a member of the Olyftak. The staffage of his baroque churches has at times been attributed to other painters, such as Anthonie Palamedesz, Dirck Hals, and Pieter Codde. He died in Arnemuiden.

Works

His works hang in various museums, including the Rijksmuseum, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Museum Catharijneconvent, and the Hermitage Museum. There is a church Interior by this painter in the Norton Art Museum in West Palm Beach, Florida.

References

• Dirk van Delen biography in De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the Digital Library for Dutch Literature
• Dirck van Delen in the RKD
• Dirck van Delen on artnet