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Egbert van der Poel (1621-1664)

The explosion of the powder magazine in Delft, 1654. Signed E. van der Poel and inscribed 12 act 1654. Panel, 32 × 39 cm.

The Netherlands Office for Fine Arts, inv.nr.NK 2784. Confiscated by the Germans from the D. Hoogendijk gallery, Amsterdam. During the war it was in Hitler's collection.

'A large part of Delft was destroyed by the explosion of a powder magazine on the morning of Monday, 12 October 1654, at 10.30 a.m. This magazine lay in the North-East corner of the town, near to the Geerweg. According to the account given by Dirck van Bleyswijck, at the time of the explosion the magazine contained between 80,000 and 90,000 pounds of powder, and the force of the explosion was so great that it completely destroyed all the houses in the area bounded on the North by the the Geerweg, on the West by the Verwersdijk, on the South by the Doelenstraat and on the East by the Singel canal; many houses beyond were wrecked and there was lesser damage throughout Delft. Of the magazine itself nothing was left and on its site was a deep pool full of water (presumably the one visible towards the right in the picture). The number of those killed was never known; among them was Carel Fabritius, who was taken out of the ruins dying.... The area of complete devastation was not rebuilt and served afterwards as a horse market, and much of it is an open space to this day.'

Painting the Delft explosion became a specialty in itself for van der Poel, who produced at least a dozen versions of this scene, and for several other Delft painters, including Daniel Vosmaer. This is a poignant fact in view of Vosmaer's collaboration with the most famous victim of the explosion, Carel Fabritius (see cat.nr.87).

MacLaren 1960, from which it is always a pleasure to quote, p. 292, nr. 1061.