Jacob Jucasz Ochtervelt
(1634 - 1682) |
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Genre Narratives, Portraiture Art Work
| Name: |
Jacob Jucasz Ochtervelt |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Rotterdam |
| Nationality: |
Dutch |
| Birth: |
1634 |
| Death: |
1682 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Genre Narratives, Portraiture |
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| Style: |
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| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painter
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Biography
| Ochtervelt is usually given brief mention in surveys of Dutch art as a talented minor master who specialized in "company" scenes or domestic genre subjects featuring elegant ladies in interiors, sometimes accompanied by servants or dealing with a vendor at the door. Ochtervelt's work stands out for his skill at rendering figures, textures of clothing, and details. Like Vermeer and de Hooch, whom he admired, Ochtervelt casts a spell on the viewer. Despite their sometimes obvious sources, Ochtervelt's works compel; they are "slow" pictures, meant for prolonged contemplation. Born in Rotterdam, Ochtervelt (according to Houbraken*) studied with Claes Berchem* in Haarlem while de Hooch was there. The dates for Ochtervelt's studies are unknown, but we know he was back in Rotterdam by 1655, the year of his marriage. He is documented fourteen times in Rotterdam between 1661 and 1672, but his entry into the Rotterdam guild is not recorded. He is noted in guild records among the nominees for hoofdman (leader) in 1667, a post he lost to Cornells Saftleven. He is last noted in Rotterdam as a witness to a baptism in 1672. Amsterdam tax records for 1674 mention him as a property owner, and in that year he painted the Four Governors of the Leper House of Amsterdam. By 1679 Ochtervelt and his wife rented a house on the Kaisersgracht, and in 1681 they moved to the Schapenmarkt. He died in 1682. Ochtervelt's development remains somewhat difficult to establish. His earliest dated work, a Hunting Party Scene (dated 1652), shows the influence of Berchem. By the 1660s he had developed his interest in figures, the primary focus of his paintings, and he placed them in situations involving gaming, playing music, dealing with vendors at doorways, and the like. A master at subordinating numerous details to a design or situation of apparent simplicity, Ochtervelt developed a favorite device of setting a key figure (often a woman) against a dark shape or a background form (like a map) - both to set her off and to establish a principal focus against which a secondary scene is played (often in the more obscure shadows of the background). His figures grew increasingly elegant in the 1660s, showing Ochtervelt's interest not only in de Hooch (from whom he learned spatial construction) but Ter Borch,* Frans van Mieris,* and in some instances, Vermeer. Vermeer's influence is most evident in some works dated in the 1670s, including the Music Lesson (signed and dated 1671, Art Institute of Chicago), which is clearly based on a Vermeer composition. The picture places the principal area of light in the background, not the foreground of the painting - a lighting device he must also have learned from Vermeer. Ochtervelt is given credit for a number of contributions to the development of Dutch genre painting. His experimentation with increasingly refined ladies defined a new ideal for the appearance of the aristocracy (note, for example, the daintily exquisite lady in the Music-Making Company, Kassel, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen). Nine of his paintings (such as his Grape Seller, signed and dated 1669, St. Petersburg, Hermitage) depict variations of rooms with doors opening outside - these "entrance hall scenes" are an innovation in genre subjects for which Ochtervelt deserves credit. Twelve portraits are also known, of which seven are signed and dated; many of these pictures are family portraits set in domestic interiors. In all, some one hundred works have survived. |
Samples of Work
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