Petrus van der Velden
Netherlands / Aotearoa New Zealand / Australia, b.1837, d.1913
Figure Study for Dutch Funeral
- c. 1872
- Pencil, ink and wash
- Presented by the family of A. F. Nicoll, 1960
- 320 x 236mm
- 69/237:1 OF 2
Location: W A Sutton Gallery
Tags: deaths, funerals, monochrome, people (agents), studies (visual works)
This pencil figure study offers a glimpse into Petrus van der Velden’s working methods, and is immediately recognisable as one of the young women supporting the grieving widow in Burial in the Winter on the Island of Marken. Following his studies in Rotterdam and Berlin, van der Velden travelled to France, working in Honfleur and elsewhere in Normandy. He returned to the Netherlands at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, and in 1871–3 was on the island of Marken in the Zuiderzee, where he began an important series of paintings depicting the lives of its fishing community. Here, he has focused attention on the figure’s face and hands, leaving the rest loosely or partially drawn.
(Timeless: Treasures from the Historical Collection 19 September 2026 – 30 May 2027)
Exhibition History
Quadrant: Four themes of Petrus van der Velden, 20 October 2006 – 25 March 2007
The woman portrayed in this study is one of the central figures in Van der Velden’s major painting from his Marken funeral series, The Dutch Funeral. It is thought she is the daughter of the drowned fisherman, and Van der Velden depicts her tentatively leaning forward, supporting the arm of her grief-stricken mother as the funeral procession follows the coffin. Van der Velden has worked rapidly with pencil in this sketch to record details of the figure. The woman’s forehead, eyes, lips and chin have been highlighted with delicate sepia washes to accentuate her features.