Aeneas Rescuing Anchises from Burning Troy
Historical Context
Hendrick van Steenwijck the Younger painted Aeneas Rescuing Anchises from Burning Troy around 1610, combining his specialty of architectural painting with classical narrative. Van Steenwijck was the leading painter of architectural fantasies in the early seventeenth-century Netherlands, specializing in dramatic, fire-lit architectural interiors. The subject of Troy's destruction allowed him to showcase his mastery of perspective architecture and dramatic lighting effects.
Technical Analysis
Van Steenwijck's oil on panel demonstrates his expertise in architectural perspective, rendering the burning classical buildings with precise recession and dramatic fire effects. The small figures of Aeneas and Anchises are subordinate to the spectacular architecture, reflecting his primary identity as an architectural painter.
Provenance
Walter John Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 8th duke of Buccleuch, Boughton House, Kettering, Northamptonshire, from at least 1912 to 1946 [1912 Boughton House inventory, no. 158]; sold Christie’s, London, 1 November 1946, lot 137, to Soukup for 30 guineas [according to annotated catalogue in Ryerson Library]. Charlotte Frank, London, to 1962; sold by Charlotte Frank to the Art Institute of Chicago December 1962.
