A van de Venne painting donated to the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Angers

Adrien Pieterz van de Venne (1589-1662)
Moses Striking the Rock, c. 1625
Oil on canvas - 66.5 x 81.5 cm
Angers, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Photo: Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Angers

17/6/08 — Acquisition — Angers, Musée des Beaux-Arts — This rare event deserves attention. The Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Angers has just received a donation of a beautiful 17th century Dutch painting by Adrien Pieterz van de Venne representing Moses Striking the Rock (ill.).
The work had been on deposit at the Boymans Museum in Rotterdam between 1932 and 1938 and was purchased by the donors, Louis and Marie-Joseph Harel-Blanchard at auction in the Netherlands in 1989. After his wife passed away recently, Louis Harel-Blanchard wished to offer it to the city of Angers where they had first met during their medical studies.

Adrien Pieterz van de Venne became specialized in grisaille paintings, a technique which he practiced almost exclusively after settling down in The Hague in 1625, along with his extensive activity as an engraver. Strongly influenced by Bosch and Brueghel, his figures are often realistic, almost to the point of caricature. He also produced portraits, moralizing genre scenes such as the panel in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lons-le-Saunier, What People Do for Money and religious paintings such as Christ and the Adulteress in Caen, the Pietà in Valenciennes and this new Moses in Angers.