Lambert Doomer
(1622 - 1700) |
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Rural Landscapes, Portraiture Art Work
| Name: |
Lambert Doomer |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Amsterdam |
| Nationality: |
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| Birth: |
1622 |
| Death: |
1700 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Rural Landscapes, Portraiture |
| Medium: |
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| Method: |
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| Style: |
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| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Draughtsman
Painter
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Biography
| Today Doomer is best known as a landscape daughtsman, particularly for views of the Rhine and other topographical scenes he made during his various travels. These large, accurate depictions in watercolor and pen and ink, with their precise inscriptions identifying the spot, rank Doomer among the major interpreters of Dutch landscape. His painting was a secondary occupation; he seems to have painted more to please himself, and though he produced a respectable body of paintings, his drawings are considered far more original. Dates in his life are scarce. The son of a frame and cabinetmaker who had Rembrandt* as a client, Lambert Doomer became Rembrandt's pupil between 1640 and 1644. He was probably in Rembrandt's studio by 1640, the year Rembrandt painted the portraits of Doomer's parents (now in the Metropolitan and the Hermitage, respectively). Various trips are discussed by scholars. In 1645 and 1646 he traveled to France and visted his brothers in Nantes. On his return with Willem Schellinks, he traveled in the Loire valley. Between 1656 and 1669 he traveled up the Rhine to Augsburg and Switzerland. From 1669 to 1693/5 he was back and forth between Alkmaar and Amsterdam. He produced many subjects including portraits, animal pieces, landscapes, and histories. Scholars have so far failed to establish any stylistic development. Doomer's histories begin to appear after 1654. The earliest known example, Moses Stepping on Pharaoh's Crown (Los Angeles, University of Southern California), indicates his response to Aert de Gelder* (to whom the work has sometimes been attributed). Doomer's principal history work, Hannah Bringing Samuel to Eli (signed and dated 1668, Musee des Beaux-Arts d'Orleans), is in reality a group portrait in biblical guise. As a history painter, Doomer chose unusual moments whose spontaneous and sometimes trivial timing lends them great immediacy. This approach lifts Doomer's paintings out of the idealized and unapproachable realm of many history paintings. Occasionally he seems to have painted images that could be called landscape still lifes, like his depiction of Thistle, Pumpkin, and Goat (signed and dated 1675, Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst), in which the subject may have a moral or theological overtone. His earliest animal picture is the Horse and Stableboy in a Barn (The Hague, Museum Bredius). He painted relatively few landscapes. Most of them are topographical, based on drawings he made earlier. His drawings, which include many charming observations of everyday life, are largely concentrated in the Kupferstichkabinett, Munich; the Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam; and the Institut Neerlandais, Lugt Collection, Paris. ADDITIONAL WORKS: Alkmaar, SM, The Women Regents of the Proveniershuis in Alkmaar, s.; Regents of the Proveniershuis in Alkmaar, s. Amsterdam, R, Inn near Nantes, s. Berlin, Staatliche Schlosser und Garten, Reflective Youth Sitting by a Table with a Book. Burlington, Robert Hull Fleming Museum, Young Couple with a Globe (1684?), s. Chats worth House, Devonshire Collection, Baertge Martens (artist's mother), s.; Harmen Doomer (artist's father), s. Copenhagen, SMK, The Thistlebush (1675), s. Dorset, Lord Digby, Interior with Merry Peasants (1681), s. The Hague, MB, Horse and Boy in Stall. Lyon, MBA, Seated Shepherd. M&con, Musee Municipal des Ursulines, Landscape with Ruin and Donkey Driver. Oldenburg, LKK, Shepherd and Shepherdess; Shepherd Pair under Trees. Paris, ML, The Pont- Neufin Angers, s. Strasbourg, MBA, The Herd (1660 or 1666), s. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Haak 1984; Robinson, W. 1982; Schatborn 1981; Schulz 1972; Schulz 1974; Schulz, "Lambert Doomer," 1978; Sumowski, Rembrandt- Schuler, Sutton 1984, DOU, Gerrit (Gerard) (Leiden 1613-1675), Dutch. The leading Fineschilder (fine painter) from Leiden, Dou was the son and possible pupil of the glass painter-engraver Douwe Jansz of Leiden; later he was the pupil of the copper engraver Bartholomeus Dolendo around 1622/3; between 1625 and 1627 he was a member of the glazers' guild. In 1628 he became Rembrandt's* pupil, and he remained in his studio until Rembrandt left for Amsterdam in 1631/2, the year in which Dou set up his own shop. He became a founding member of the Leiden painters' guild in 1648 and lived in Leiden until his death in 1675. Dou's earliest paintings date from the end of the 1620s, and they follow Rembrandt's manner so closely that they help us to understand Rembrandt's work at the time. Unlike his master, however, Dou stayed away from multifigured compositions, preferring few or single figures depicted full or half-length, without the powerful psychological dramas found in Rembrandt. Dou also painted numerous portraits of Rembrandt's mother. Dou's figures were set in rooms appointed with various still-life objects which enrich the story's meaning, while costumes and other embellishments underscore each character's role. The paintings from the late 1620s are notable for their skillful composition as well as their additive construction and cool coloring, using lilacs, blues, and grays. Notable examples of his early works include The Prophetess Anna (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), Spinner at Supper (signed, Schwerin, Staatliches Museum). Dou developed characteristic subject types, and variants are found throughout his career - for example; the artist in his studio, women performing domestic chores, servant girls, girls with candles, and schoolmasters. In fact, Dou is considered important for the development of such bourgeois themes in painting and was among the first to tackle subjects such as candlelit scenes as well as portrayals of school and domestic chores. Many of these images are thought to contain double entendres that today are imperfectly understood. In the first half of the 1630s Dou developed his truly independent style. His approach became more highly refined and searched for even greater perfection. He established himself as the leading Fineschilder of Leiden, using a manner of painting which most scholars credit him with initiating. Certainly a whole school of painters emulated him. |
Samples of Work
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