Willem Kalf
(1619 - 1693) |
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Interiors, Still Lifes Art Work
| Name: |
Willem Kalf |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Rotterdam |
| Nationality: |
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| Birth: |
1619 |
| Death: |
1693 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Interiors, Still Lifes |
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| Method: |
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| Style: |
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| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painting
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Biography
| Today acknowledged as the greatest interpreter of pronk (ostentatious) still life of seventeenth-century Holland, Kalf was also one of the few still-life painters recognized as a great master in his own day. Although he painted several kinds of subjects, including humble kitchen interiors, Kalfs fame rests on his pronk still lifes, particularly those produced in his mature phase, which began around the time of his arrival in Amsterdam in 1653. Despite their ostentatious subject matter (elaborately wrought nautilus cups, blue and white Chinese porcelain, oriental carpets, decorative Venetian glassware fill these compositions), the paintings nevertheless express a calm, a mystery, and a dignity that transcends the materiality the objects represent. The poetic quality of Kalfs works touched a particularly responsive chord among the Romantics – Goethe, in particular, wrote an insightful observation on a still life by Kalf now in the Wallraf-Richanz-Museum, Cologne. Born in Rotterdam in 1619, Kalf was the son of a cloth merchant. His teacher is not known. Houbraken* calls him a pupil of Hendrik Gerritsz Pot in Haarlem. The fact that Kalf produced both kitchen (and occasionally stable) scenes as well as still lifes has resulted in the suggestion that Francois Ryckhals was his master. Other facts of Kalfs life are better known. He lived in Paris between 1642 and 1646. In 1644 a document records him in Rotterdam, suggesting that Kalf did make visits home. After 1646 he is back in Rotterdam. In 1651 he married the diamond engraver, calligrapher, poet, and composer Cornelia Pluvier in Hoorn. Their wedding was celebrated by the famous poet Joost van den Vondel and by Sir Constantijn Huygens, reflecting Kalfs prominent position in cultural circles. Houbraken describes him as friendly, entertaining, and well read. After 1653 Kalf moved to Amsterdam and remained active there until his death in 1693. His most productive years span the decade between 1653 and 1663. Some scholars speculate that he stopped painting completely after about 1680, devoting himself instead to art dealing and appraising. It has been suggested that Kalf may have owned the costly objects repeated in several of his pictures. It is equally likely that he simply followed the standard practice of composing different pictures from the same stock drawings. At least one work ascribed to Kalf portrays an ornamental ewer based on an engraving after Polidoro da Caravaggio. Although fewer than twenty percent of Kalfs pictures bear legible dates, his career is generally divided into two distinct phases, his Parisian period and his Amsterdam period. While in Paris, he produced a number of peasant interiors, mainly kitchens, showing vegetables heaped in the foreground, pieces of crockery, and cooking utensils. Three examples of this type are dated 1652,1663, and 1670, indicating that he continued this subject after inaugurating his more ornate still lifcs. His Parisian still Iifes are crowded with precious objects, which glitter and reflect light from their highly polished surfaces. Kalfs largest and most ambitious still life (with Armor; Le Mans, Musee de Tess6) was formerly ascribed to Kalfs Parisian period, but is now thought to date around 1650, a transitional phase in his work. During his Amsterdam period, Kalfs still Iifes became more restrained, calmer, more tranquil and poetic in feeling. The earlier energetic, burgeoning, diagonal compositions were abandoned in favor of a more sparing use of objects tightly and stably arranged, bathed in deep shadow and touched here and there by a mysterious light. His palette, with its emphasis on primary colors economically applied, lends an additional aura of restraint to his works. The bold intensity of his earlier works is supplanted by a hushed, meditative stillness. Precious metal objects are abandoned in favor of Dutch pieces made of silver (some produced by the Vianen family), occasional antiques, Chinese and Dutch porcelain, as well as Dutch and Venetian glass. In at least two instances, he recorded famous shell collections. Kalf had numerous followers including Jurriaen van Streek (1632-87), Barent van der Meer (1659-92 or later), and Willem van Aelst* (1625/6-83 or later). Only the painter Jean Baptiste Chardin carried Kalfs achievements further. ADDITIONAL WORKS: Aachen, SLM, Woman at a Well. Amiens, MP, Still Life with Chinese Vase. Amsterdam, R, Stilt Life; (lent by The Hague, DVR), Still Life. Berlin, SMG, Peasant Interior, Still Life with Chinese Porcelain (1662); Still Life with Glass Ewer, Still Life with Pilgrim Bottle and Shell (1643); Still Life with Chinese Bowl. Bremen, KB, Still Life with Goblets (1659). Cleveland, CMA, Still Life with Sumptuous Glassware (1663). Cologne, WRM, Still Life (1643), s.; Still Life with Costly Vessels (1643), s. Copenhagen, SMK, Still Life (1678), s. Detroit, DIA, Kitchen Still Life; Pronk Still Life. Dresden, SGAM, Kitchen Still Life, s. Gothenburg, Konstmuseum, Peasant Interior. Groningen, GM, Still Life. The Hague, DVR, Still Life. M, Still Life with a Drinking Cup; Still Life with Shells and Coral; Still Life with Shells. MB, Shed Interior. Heino, KHN, Interior of a Bam; Still Life with a Nautilus Shell Cup and Coral; Wall Near an Old Farm. Indianapolis, IMA, Still Life with Blue Jar (1669), s. Le Mans, MT, Still Life with Armor and Sumptuous Metal Pieces (formerly 1643, now thought to be ca. 1650), s.; Stilt Life with Nautilus Shell and Drinking Flask (1643), s. London, NG, Still Life with Drinking Horn of the St. Sebastian Guild, s. Lugano, TBC, Still Life with Nautilus Cup. Mallbu, JPGM, Still Life with Ewer, Vessels, and Pomegranate. Munich, AP, Still Life with Delft Ewer (1653). New York, MMA, Interior of a Kitchen (1659), &.; Still Life (1659), s. Philadelphia, PMA, Banquet Piece. Portland, Portland Art Museum, Still Life with Porcelain Bowl. Rotterdam, MBVB, Interior of a Bam; Interior of a Farm; Still Life with a Ming Bowl. Stichting Willem van der Vorm, Interior of a Bam; Still Life with Fruit and Glasses. St Louis, SLAM, Kitchen Still Life. Springfield (MA), Museum of Fine Arts, Still Life, s. Warwick Castle, Still Life with Ornate Flasks (1644), s. Washington (DC), NGA, Pronk Still Life. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bergstrom, Dutch Still-Life Painting, 1956; Grisebach 1974; Haaic 1984; Houbraken 1718-21; Mai 1990; Segal, S. 1988; Warner 1975. KESSEL, Jan van, the Elder (Antwerp 1626-1679), Bemish. A follower of Jan Brueghel the Elder,* Jan van Kessel studied with his uncle, Jan Brueghel the Younger,' and Simon de Vos. He became master in the Antwerp Guild in 1645 and gained a captaincy in the Civic Guard. He married F. van Apshoven's daughter. His small works depicting insects, shells, and fish in minute detail are the most prized. Kessel also copied works by Jan Davidsz de Heem* and Daniel Seghers. During his lifetime, Kessel's works fetched high prices and a number were exported lo Vienna, and elsewhere. His sons Ferdinand and Jan both became painters. Kessel collaborated at times with other painters, notably Erasmus Quellinus II (Quellin), who painted figures for him, and David Teniers the Younger.* Kessel's meticulously rendered and lively portrayals of animals (otters, fish, crocodiles, and penguins, for example) were in great demand and he repeated similar images of his animals set in nature, often with an allegorical meaning. |
Samples of Work
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