Gerard Hoet I (1648 Zaltbommel - 1733 The Hague) The Homage to Venus Elaborately arranged scene in antique columned architecture, executed in a finely painted manner and subtly nuanced colouring. In front of the sublimely staged statue of Venus, a large number of women offer colourful garlands and bouquets of flowers as sacrificial offerings. A work typical of Hoet's style and motif, who studied under Warnard van Rysen and Cornelius van Poelenburgh, one of the first Dutch landscape painters in the Italian style. Hoet settled in The Hague in 1672, then spent some time in Amsterdam and Paris before returning to the Netherlands via Brussels, where he founded a drawing academy in Utrecht together with Hendrick Schoock in 1697. In 1714, he returned to The Hague, where he spent the rest of his life. He mainly created religious and mythological motifs, which he staged - influenced by his teacher Cornelius van Poelenburgh - in Italian landscapes with ruins or in antique columned architecture with statues. The present work is an excellent example of this; comparable works can be found in the Bavarian State Painting Collection in Bayreuth New Palace (cf. inv. no. 1969, 1104 and 1955). Oil on canvas, relined. Signed lower r. "G. Hoet". Verso various. Exhibition/inventory numbers verso. 56 cm x 70 cm. Frame. Provenance: Dissolution of an important German private collection - Part II. Oil on relined canvas. Signed.