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Herman van Swanevelt (1600 - 1665)
Herman van Swanevelt
(1600 - 1665) |
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Landscapes, Classical Landscapes Art Work
| Name: |
Herman van Swanevelt |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Woerden |
| Nationality: |
Dutch |
| Birth: |
1600 |
| Death: |
1665 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Landscapes, Classical Landscapes |
| Medium: |
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| Method: |
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| Style: |
Baroque |
| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painting
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Biography
| Though Swanevelt was formerly placed among the followers of Claude Lorrain, his importance has been re-evaluated by recent scholars who now consider him a seminal figure who not only anticipated Claude but at times influenced him. Swanevelt is unique among Dutch landscape painters for spending most of his career outside his native Holland. He achieved quite a reputation painting landscapes in Rome (where he was the most successful Dutch landscape artist working there), but his career ultimately took him to Paris, where his pictures gained particular favor. The details of Swanevelt's training and biography are sketchy. Since he was born near Utrecht, it is generally thought that he passed through Abraham Bloemaert TV studio. Swanevelt's career unfolded outside Holland almost from the start. Two drawings in the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig, establish that he was Paris in 1623. Between 1624 and 1629 he arrived in Rome; he is likely the Herman van Swanevelt who lived with Claude Lorrain in 1628. Swanevelt is more securely documented in Rome in 1629 and thereafter appears often in city archives until 1641. He shared quarters with the French printmaker Charles Audran (1594-1674), who published Swanev;lt's prints on occasion. He also belonged to the Bentveughels painters* organization and lived with some of its members, including Jan van der Camp. Swanevelt earned the nickname "the Hermit" evidently because, according to Sandrart, he haunted the ancient and deserted ruins around Rome and Tivoli. In 1634 Swanevelt was imprisoned for failing to observe a feast day, and while he was there he painted two lunettes for the sacristy of S. Maria sopra Minerva. Swanevelt's friendships included Michelangelo Cerquozzi and Pieter van Laer. His patrons included most of the aristocratic families of Rome. Swanevelt must have lived in Italy until around 1641, after which his French connections induced him to settle in Paris. In 1644 we know he lived in Paris and was appointed peintre ordinaire du Roi. The year 1651 saw him inducted into the French Royal Academy. He also traveled to Woerden on occasion, though Paris is considered his residence. Earlier sources speculate that Swanevelt may have died in Woerden, but most contemporary scholars affirm that he died in Paris. Swanevelt's earliest dated painting is a landscape from 1630 (The Hague, Museum Bredius). He executed commissions for many of the leading Roman patrons of his day. In 1632 the Vatican paid Swanevelt for the paintings he executed for the Vatican Loggia and at Monte Cassino. In 1639/40 he was involved in the commission (shared with Jan Both, Claude, Poussin, and Gaspard Dughet) for the twenty-two landscapes to decorate the Buen Retiro Palace. Swanevelt executed four landscapes with anchorite saints for that cycle. The duke of Mod en a commissioned a pair of landscapes (one from Swanevelt and one from Salvator Rosa*) in 1640. His most ambitious patron was Cardinal Antonio Barberini, who acquired a series of thirty pictures from Swanevelt by 1644, Consisting primarily of mythological scenes, eight are still preserved in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome. Swanevelt's Parisian years were equally successful. He shared the decoration of the Cabinet de 1'Amour of the Hfitel Lambert with Jan Asselijn, Pierre Patel, and Giovanni Francesco Romanelli in 1645-46. Paintings done in Paris are dated 1644, 1645, 1646, and 1649. We know he occasionally visited Woerden, having been recorded there in 1643 and again in 1649. He also had clients elsewhere in Holland. In 1650 Baron van Wyttenhorst received a picture from him; the baron bought a second one the following year. Swanevelt's Italianatc landscapes are considered among his most notable works - particularly his landscapes that indicated a connection with Claude. This connection is now generally regarded as reciprocal rather than one-sided - and Swanevelt's Jacob Taking Leave of His Family of 1630 anticipates Claude, while his Campo Vaccino (dated 1631, Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum) may have influenced Claude's version of 1636 now in the Louvre. In the later 1630s, however, Swanevelt adopted a style that is considered "Claudian" and more dependent on the master. Regardless, Swanevelt helped popularize the classical landscape in the North. In his travels to his birthplace he also painted realistic scenery, despite his general leanings toward idealized landscape. Swanevelt tended to organize those landscapes according to a wellestablished formula. A large rock or tree would create a framing device and the foreground; the middleground would be occupied by a single (often double-trunked) tree; the mountainous campagna made up the distance. Different staffage would lend diverse narrative elements, the subjects of which remain to be correctly identified. Swanevelt's oeuvre is still being reconstructed, as works formerly ascribed to other artists such as Claude are being re-attributed to him. Swanevelt's drawings, like many of the other Italianates, are an important aspect of his work. He also forms an important link between the first and second generation of Italianate painters. |
Samples of Work
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