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Bartholomeus Johannes van Hove (1790-1880)
The garden of Gedempte Burgwal 34, The Hague, with a view of the Paviljoengracht. Signed and dated B.J. van Hove 1828. Canvas, 82 × 66.5 cm.

The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, inv.nr.229.

We are all familiar with paintings of Dutch interiors in which a landscape hangs on the wall. Here we see a reversal of that image: a garden with a framed view of a city canal. The effect is magical. Van Hove was the son of a framemaker, and was trained in that profession before going into painting. The interior framing in this composition betrays the influence of his old profession. He used the same device to great effect in his stage backdrop for The siege of Leiden a few years later, in which the townscape is seen from a garden in the foreground. In 1833 van Hove was honoured with a medal and a rich order for paintings by Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, and he was the drawing teacher of Nicholas's sister Anna Paulowna, daughter of Paul I and consort of King Willem II of the Netherlands. For Willem as well, who mounted the throne in 1840, van Hove painted his palace and garden in The Hague. This painting can be seen as a bourgeois predecessor of the civic and royal commissions in van Hove's future. The identity of the owner of the garden is unfortunately not mentioned in the literature on the painting.

Immerzeel 1842, vol.2, pp. 59-60. Bol 1965.