Casper Netscher
(1635 - 1684) |
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Portraiture, Genre Narratives Art Work
| Name: |
Casper Netscher |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Heidelberg or Prague |
| Nationality: |
Dutch |
| Birth: |
1635 |
| Death: |
1684 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Portraiture, Genre Narratives |
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| Style: |
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| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painter
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Biography
| One of the most successful painters of genre and portraiture active during the second half of the seventeenth century, Netscher cannot be called an innovator, but his meticulously executed small-scale portraits were in great demand and influenced a number of other Dutch painters active in the period. Netscher's career parallels that of Nicolaes Maes.* They both began as painters of genre and subjeci pictures and later turned almost exclusively to portraits, done in the fashionable French manner - focusing on richness of dress, elegance of sitter, and adopting the artifice of placing subjects in a parklike setting embellished with sculpture, a manner of portraiture that prevailed among international circles in the late seventeenth century. Born either in Heidelberg or Prague, Caspar's birthdate is variously cited as 1635/6 or 1639. He was the son of Johannes Netscher, a sculptor from Stuttgart. After first studying with the still-life and portrait painter Herman Coster in Arnhem from around 1642 to 1649, Casper became one of the few (and certainly the most famous) pupils of Hendrick Ter Borch* in Deventer. Ter Borch's influence was most important for Netscher's development. From his master Netscher learned the technique of skillfully translating textures of various precious materials into paint, and to work in the small scale that was Ter Borch's specialty. In 1658/9 Netscher undertook a journey for Rome, stopping in Bordeaux in 1659 to marry and apparently remaining there until about 1661. It is doubtful he ever reached Italy. By 1662 he was back in the Netherlands, having paid his entry fee for membership in Pictura, the artists' society in The Hague, where he became a citizen in 1668. He lived in his adopted city from then on. Shortly after his arrival in The Hague, he established a reputation as a portrait artist. His fame grew to the extent that Charles II invited him to England, although Netscher apparently did not go. He was popular among English patrons but probably executed their likenesses in Holland. Some "English" sitters are, however, simply misidentified Dutch citizens. After his death from gout in 1684, Netscher left behind a considerable fortune for his family, which included nine surviving children and a wife. Among Netscher's earliest dated works are copies after his master, of which the most famous is his signed and dated (1655) copy of Ter Borch's Parental Admonition of around 1654/5 (Netscher's copy is in Gotha). A group of genre scenes depicting the humble existence of workers or simple domestic life is dated generally to the early 1660s. These include the Chaff Cutter with Woman Spinning and Boy (Philadelphia Museum of Art), which bears a partial signature and the impossible date of 1649. Inspired by Ter Borch, this group also includes Netscher's most famous masterpiece, The Lace Maker (signed and dated 1664, London, Wallace Collection). Here Netscher's predilection for precise detail is tempered by the modesty of his subject and the simplicity of its presentation as well as its palette. By the mid-1660s Netscher's style had begun to change. Even his depictions of lower-class life, such as the Woman at a Spinning Wheel (signed and dated 1665, London, National Gallery), reflect a more elegant approach. After 1665 Netscher concentrated more on upper-class life in his genre pictures, as can be noted in his masterful Musical Company (signed and dated 1665, Munich, Alte Pinakothek). Here again Ter Borch was a principal influence (to the point where some scholars note that Ter Borch's figures seem to have wandered into Netscher's paintings), but Netscher was also responding to the elegant manner of the Leiden fine painters, particularly the celebrated Frans van Mieris the Elder.* By 1670 Netscher was concentrating almost exclusively on portraits, specializing in small-scale, halflength likenesses of the aristocracy, painted to flatter and please, and consequently probing little beneath the surface but concentrating on the dress, refined attitude, and dignity of his subjects. If these works are now less prized than his earlier genre pictures, Netscher's portraits are what brought him wealth and fame in his own day. Painter to the courtly circles of The Hague, Netscher's position remained secure until his death and provided the legacy for his heirs. His close followers included his sons Th6odor (1661- 1732), Constantijn (1668-1723), and Antonie (died 1713). Numerous portrait specialists active in the waning seventeenth century looked to Netscher's example as well. |
Samples of Work
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