Gerrit van Honthorst
(1590 - 1656) |
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Illusionistic Paintings, Secular narratives Art Work
| Name: |
Gerrit van Honthorst |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Utrecht |
| Nationality: |
Dutch |
| Birth: |
1590 |
| Death: |
1656 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Illusionistic Paintings, Secular narratives |
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| Method: |
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| Style: |
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| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painting
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Biography
| One of the few internationally recognized Dutch painters of his own day, Honthorst is now best known as one of the leading exponents of Caravaggism in Holland, particularly in Utrecht, where he helped popularize the candle-lit scenes that earned him the name "Gherardo della Notte" in Rome. Co-founder (with Baburen and Ter Bmgghen) of the Utrecht Caravaggisti, Honthorst later on contributed to the "classicizing" decorative style for paintings associated with the Dutch court during the first half of the seventeenth century. He also introduced the Ilalianatc manner of illusionistic ceiling painting to Holland. Born 14 November 1590 in Utrecht, Honthorst trained there first, most likely with Abraham Bloemaert around 1606. Gerrit then traveled to Italy, arriving in Rome around 1610/12. There he became acquainted with Caravaggio's style as well as that of Bartolommeo Manfredi, which was a decisive influence, turning Honthorst's interest to scenes depicted with artificial light and introducing such subjects as musicians and courtesans, or merry topers depicted half-length. He enjoyed the patronage of the leading Roman families, such as the Marchese Giustiniani, and Cardinal Scipione Borghese. The grand duke of Tuscany also admired Honthorst's work. Roman churches and nearby communities commissioned works from him, and he remained in Rome until late 1619 or early 1620. He was back in Utrecht by October 1620, the year in which he married Sophia Coopmans. In 1621 the Englishman Sir Dudley Carelton wrote the Earl of Arundel in London from The Hague, mentioning Honthorst's growing reputation. The following year Honthorst became a master in the Utrecht guild and served as its dean a number of times (1625, 1626, 1628, 1629). Around 1625^7 Joachim von Sandrart became a pupil and later an assistant in the academy Honthorst established. Honthorst was famous enough that Rubens visited him in 1627. Being ill, Honthorst placed Rubens in his pupil Sandrart's care and the two visited Abraham Bloemaert and Cornells van Poelenburgh, after which Honthorst hosted a large banquet in Rubens's honor. The following year Honthorst spent six months (April to December 1628) at the English court in London, where he was employed by Charles I, who paid him very well. There Honthorst painted, among other works, Mercury Presenting the Liberal Arts to Apollo (Charles I) and Diana (Charles's Queen) (signed and dated 1628, London, Hampton Court Palace). In 1635 he began a series of histories and mythologies for Christian IV of Denmark and later worked for the elector of Brandenburg. In 1637 Honthorst moved to The Hague to act as court painter to Frederick Hendrik and Willem II, employment that lasted from that year until 1652. He duly enrolled in the guild there and established himself in a large house on the Westeinde. He enjoyed a lucrative career, signing a contract in 1639 to paint forty-five pictures for King Christian IV's Kronberg Castle for 37,500 gulden. Between 1649 and 1651 he helped decorate the Oranjesaal of the Huis ten Bosch. While he was active in The Hague, Honthorst was painting master to the Queen of Bohemia and her daughters. After Willem IPs death in 1650 Honthorst returned to Utrecht, where he became increasingly active as a portrait artist adept at full-length figures and flattering likenesses, in the manner of Anthony van Dyck. Able to adjust his subject matter and style to suit his clientele, Honthorst thereby assured his success from the start. His three canvases for the Passion Chapel of Santa Maria in Aquiro, Rome (The Flagellation, The Lamentation, and Christ Crowned with Thorns, done between 1612 and 1616 and still in situ), mark him as a quick study who was able to absorb the lessons of Caravaggio and his followers very quickly. His Christ Crowned with Thorns is undoubtedly the third in the series and its confident mastery of form no doubt earned him the admiration of Rome's cognoscenti. A host of pictures are dated to the next several years, indicating his rapidly growing reputation. His Christ before the High Priest (London, National Gallery) was probably painted for the Marchese Giustiniani in 1617. It was so famous in Honthorst's day that it was copied at least six times by his contemporaries. Like other pictures Honthorst painted in Rome, it was clearly inspired by Caravaggio, the Venetian School, and to some extent the Bolognese painters. Nonetheless, his pictures manifest a crisp, confident articulation of form that mark him as his own man. Besides numerous religious subjects, Honihorst also experimented with secular themes, particularly scenes of gamblers and revelers portrayed in half-length groups in the manner of Caravaggio. Best known of these is the undated Merry Company (Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi), which was probably commissioned by the grand duke of Tuscany. During his first years back in Utrecht, Honthorst evidently painted in his Italianate manner (no certain works survive from 1620 to 1621), thus introducing single-figured genre scenes to Holland. The J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu now preserves a picture signed and dated 1622, designated for the ceiling of a house in Utrecht. Showing a group of musicians leaning over a fictive balcony, the painting demonstrates Honthorst's important contribution to the development of illusionistic ceiling painting in Holland. Relying on the lessons he learned from the Italians (particularly Andrea Mantegna), Honthorst created a wonderful illusion of figures, seen from below, enjoying their music. By 1623 he was producing group genre scenes, such as his Musical Group by Candlelight (Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst), in which his style is both more graceful and more intimate than in his earlier scenes. His output of religious subjects declined after his return. He began instead to explore mythological subjects, marking the beginning of his connection with the court in The Hague. He painted decorative subjects for the palace at Rijswijk and fifteen detailed portraits of the princes of Orange. His portrait of Prince Frederick Henry and Amalia van Solms (The Hague, Mauritshuis) is particularly notable. His style moved away from Caravaggism to a lighter palette, a more classicizing and decorative sense of form, and a charming mood. Some of his later pictures seem dull and pedantic, but with the revived interest among scholars in the "classicizing" tradition within Dutch history painting, even these lesser works will no doubt be re-appreciated. Influential not only as an innovator in style and subject matter, Honthorst was also an important teacher whose twenty-four pupils included Jan van Bronckhorst (1603-61), Matthias Stomer, and Joachim van Sandrart (whose Teutsche Academie of 1675 provides a good account of Honthorst's career). Honthorst's Italian paintings are still considered the high point of his career, but the gay charm and earthy conviviality of his later works should not be discounted. Honthorst's impact was widespread, his candle-lit scenes are said to have influenced Georges de la Tour, and his single-figure genre scenes were taken up by numerous Dutch artists including Frans Hals. |
Samples of Work
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