Enfilade

From the Museum Van Loon (with thanks to Hélène Bremer for noting it). . .

Adriaan de Lelie and the Eighteenth-Century Family Portrait
Museum Van Loon, Amsterdam, 17 October 2014 — 19 January 2015

Adriaan De Lelie, Jan van Loon and His Family, 1786
(Amsterdam: Museum van Loon)

From 17 October 2014 Museum Van Loon will show works by Adriaan de Lelie (1755–1820). It is the first time that so much of De Lelie’s œuvre will be on view to the public. Most of the paintings are from private collections. Next to paintings by De Lelie, family portraits by famous contemporaries like Tischbein, Regters, Laquy and Quinkhard are on display. The thirty paintings on show give a perfect reflection of family bliss and the lavish interiors of the 18th century.

Although little has been published about De Lelie, he is without doubt one of the most important portrait painters of his time. He was born in Tilburg, and after having studied in Antwerp and Düsseldorf, he settled in Amsterdam where he quickly integrated in the upper classes. With his keen eye for detail, refined palette, and smooth hand he was a successful portraitist. Governors, bankers, notaries, officers, professors, and wealthy merchants had themselves painted by him. Thus De Lelie literally gave face to Amsterdam at the turn of the century.

As a family home, Museum Van Loon is the place for showing family portraits. With this exhibition it intends to disclose its own 18th-century collection of paintings and to offer the public the unique opportunity to view the oeuvre of De Lelie and his contemporaries in the house of one of his large commissioners. For visitors the historic perspective is strengthened by the connection between the paintings, furniture, tapestry and carpets in the rooms as one will see one’s immediate surroundings in the museum reflected in the 18th-century interiors in the paintings.

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From W Books:

Josephina de Fouw, Adriaan de Lelie (1755–1820) en het achttiende-eeuwse familieportret (Zwolle: W Books, 2014), 64 pages, ISBN: 978-9462580398, €15.

Adriaan de Lelie behoort zonder meer tot de belangrijkste portretschilders van zijn tijd. Zijn wieg stond in Tilburg en na een studietijd in Antwerpen en Düsseldorf vestigde hij zich definitief in Amsterdam. Daar wist hij al snel door te dringen in de kringen van de gegoede burgerij. Met zijn oog voor detail en verfijnde palet was hij een veelgevraagd portrettist. Notabelen, bankiers, notarissen, officieren, hoogleraren en vermogende koopmannen: allen lieten zich door de schilder vereeuwigen. De Lelie heeft zo letterlijk een gezicht gegeven aan het Amsterdam van rond de eeuwwisseling.

In deze eerste publicatie gewijd aan De Lelie wordt een beeld geschetst van deze portretten en wordt ingegaan op de karakteristieken van zijn familieportretten. Ook wordt zijn werk vergeleken met voorgangers en tijdgenoten, zoals Tibout Regters, Tischbein en Laquy.