DELEN, Dirck van
(b. 1604/5, Heusden, d. 1671, Arnemuiden)

Distinguished Dinner Company in an Interior

1631
Oil on oak panel, 43 x 69 cm
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

A distinctive group of paintings in Van Delen's oeuvre consists of imaginary palaces or elegant domestic interiors. These pictures are conceived like peepshows or perspective boxes: they open onto a view of opulent interior with staffage, in which skilfully applied rules of perspective, most spectacular in the ingeniously constructed coffered ceilings, play a dominant role. The present painting is a characteristic example of this type.