Abraham Hondius

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Frozen Thames 1677

Abraham Danielsz. Hondius , also de Hondt or de Hont , (* around 1631 in Rotterdam , † September 1691 in London ) was a Dutch painter, etcher and draftsman.

Life

Hondius was the son of the mason Daniel Abramsz. de Hondt. Nothing is known about his apprenticeship (it was previously claimed that he was apprenticed to Cornelis Saftleven (around 1607–1681) in Rotterdam ). His earliest known work is dated 1651. He moved from Rotterdam to Amsterdam in 1659, was back in Rotterdam from 1665 to 1670 and in London from 1671, where he died. A stay in Amsterdam cannot be proven.

He is mentioned 25 times in Robert Hooke's diary from February 21, 1673 to June 25, 1679 , so he is in London. Hooke supported Christopher Wren in the rebuilding of London after the fire (1666) and also arranged orders for paintings for Hondius. In London he paints on canvas instead of wood and there are some large-format pictures with bloody animal fights (without the participation of people), which corresponded to the taste of the time in England. He also paints winter depictions of the city after the cold spells of 1676/77 and 1683 (frozen Thames, market in winter).

He is best known for animal scenes, for example hunting scenes of animals fighting each other (his last picture shows a monkey and a cat fighting over poultry) and animal studies. He also painted landscapes, historical genre scenes, and religious and mythological subjects. A single portrait of him is known from his time in Holland.

Hondius died in London in September 1691 . He was buried on September 17, 1691 in the parish of St. Bride on Fleet Street.

On April 4, 1653 he married Geertruyd van den Eyck in Rotterdam before the court in Rotterdam, with whom he had a daughter. So he does not belong to the Reformed Church, but was very likely a Catholic. This is also supported by the fact that he was a tenant in the Ossenhoofd in Rotterdam from 1665 to 1671. There was an underground Catholic church there.

  • Adoration of the Shepherds, 1663, Rijksmuseum

  • Deer Hunt, 1675, Norwich Castle

  • Monkey and Cat, 1670, Cleveland Museum of Art

  • Fight between dog and heron, 1670, National Museum Warsaw

  • Deer hunting, Rijksmuseum

  • Wild boar hunt, Sao Paulo

  • Mercury and Argos, private collection

  • Pyramus and Thisbe , Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam

literature

  • Adriaan van der Willigen, Fred G. Meijer A dictionary of Dutch and Flemish still-life painters working in oils: 1525-1725 , Leiden: Primavera 2003
  • A. Hentzen Abraham Hondius ; Yearbook of the Hamburger Kunstsammlungen, Volume 8, 1963, pp. 33–56
  • B. Rapp Abraham Hondius; een vooraanstaand dieren- en jachtschilder van de 17de eeuw , Oud-Holland, Volume 64, 1949, pp. 65–70
  • M. Peyser-Verhaar Abraham Hondius: his life and background , Oud Holland, Volume 112, 1998, pp. 151-156
  • W. Stechow, article in Thieme-Becker

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ General Artist Lexicon , de Gruyter, accessed on April 19, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Hondius, Abraham
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hondt, Abraham de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch painter, etcher and draftsman
DATE OF BIRTH around 1631
PLACE OF BIRTH Rotterdam
DATE OF DEATH September 1691
Place of death London