Petrus van Schendel artwork • painting • previously for sale Moonlit riverlandscape near The Hague

Belgian-Dutch painter Petrus van Schendel achieved great renown with his moonlit landscapes and night market scenes, which featured candles and open fires as the only light sources. The genre was a response to romantic collectors’ fascination for darkness and the mysterious forces of nature. People were so amazed by his candlelit scenes that they earned him the nickname of ‘Monsieur Chandelle’ in France.This moonlit landscape shows a visual element that Van Schendel often used: the high chimney of the metal foundry and crushing factory of L.I. Enthoven & Co. located on the trekvliet between The Hague and Delft. He also enlivens the performance with a second light source, the fire on one of the boats in the foreground. And in the house on the right, the top windows are lit. Van Schendel also painted Biblical scenes and some portraits