Jan Hendrik Verheijen (1778-1846)

A bustling market scene with an exotic exhibition showing the wonders of the 'New World'

signed and dated 'JHVerheijen f/1820.' (lower left)

oil on panel, 47x59 cm

Provenance:
-Collection Ms Julia Goldmuntz, New York; Her auction, Parke-Bernet, New York, 31 October 1968, lot 27.
-With Kunsthandel Williams & Son, London, 1968.

The present painting does not just show the ordinary hustle and bustle of a market day in a Dutch city. Jan Hendrik Verheijen shows us a remarkable scene of the past with an exhibition of ‘The Exotic’. These travelling exhibitions were a mix of the circus and peculiar shows where you could see the ‘Wonders of the New World’. The two wooden buildings in the centre of the square show us this remarkable phenomenon. To the left we see a façade with a big sign of an acrobat balancing on the back of a horse; on the balcony members of the circus are visible. On the right side a more obscure cabinet is shown, indicated by extraordinary billboards showing two indigenous hunters and exotic animals such as a jaguar, lion and dromedary. A man and woman are standing on a podium enticing the crowd with flayers and a parrot. Nowadays in our present globalised world this scene is unimaginable, yet this painting shows a different time. A time when the ‘Wonders’ of another continent were very unfamiliar to many ordinary people.