Cornelis Gijsbrechts

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Self-portrait in detail of a still life in trompe l'oeil
Gijsbrechts: Still life with self-portrait

Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts (also Gysbrechts ; * before 1657 , † after 1675 ) was a Flemish painter of still lifes and trompe-l'œils .

Life

There is little reliable data about Gijsbrecht's life, neither his year of birth nor the place of birth are known. The first painting he dated is from 1659. Between 1659 and 1660 he worked in Antwerp , where he was a member of the Sodaliteit Society of the bejaerde jongmans and the Antwerp St. Luke Guild. In 1664 he was in Regensburg, around 1667 he was probably in Hamburg.

His most fruitful time as a painter fell during the short period of his stay at the court of the Danish kings Frederik III. and Christian V between 1668 and 1672, from which most of his now known artistic work comes. In 1672 he moved to Stockholm, in 1675 he stayed in Breslau . From this point on his track is lost, the date and place of death are not known.

Create

As a painter, Gijsbrechts had specialized in the trompe-l'œil, which was extremely popular in the 17th century , and brought it to perfection in this genre. His motifs are, for example, the pegboards with all kinds of documents, newspaper sheets or everyday objects, breakfast still life, vanitas still life, cabinet cupboards with all kinds of rarities and valuable handicraft objects or rare shells and minerals , which were popular at the time . Especially for the art-loving King Frederik III. a number of these Kunstkammer inventories emerged . For the king's successor, Christian V, who was less interested in art than hunting, Gijsbrechts painted various hunting still lifes and two pictures with items of equipment for hunting and falconry.

One of the means he likes to use to deceive the viewer are curtains with which some of his pictures are partially covered. Here Gijsbrechts plays with the 17th century procedure of protecting valuable pictures with a curtain. Perhaps he also wanted to allude to the story of the painter Zeuxis , who was able to deceive the birds through his art of painting, but was himself deceived by the painted curtain of his rival Parrhasius.

A particularly bizarre example of his trompe l'oeil painting is a 2.25 m high and at its widest point 1.23 m wide picture easel with still life fruit . It has the shape of an easel cut out of wood with three pictures leaning against it and all sorts of things attached. On the easel is a still life of fruit with an unfolded letter hanging over the upper edge. In front of this picture he painted various painting utensils, including a painting stick that originally protruded far into the room and a hook from which the palette dangles. In front of the picture is a small oval picture with the portrait of his patron Christian V. Next to the portrait is a piece of paper with the signature of the painter. There is another picture on the floor, leaning against a leg of the pallet. You can only see the back of this picture.

Back of a painting (1670)

He painted the motif on the back of a framed painting one more time. On the recto side of the picture you can see a frame (each painted), another frame with which the canvas was stretched, nails that fix the stretching frame and a small piece of paper with an inventory number. The picture itself is unframed, its back is the usual back of an oil painting: Gijsbrecht's picture is the only picture in the world with two backs.

Some of the objects Gijsbrechts precisely depicted in his still lifes can still be viewed in Danish museums today. His pictures are a valuable source for historians because of his precise recording of everyday objects, handicrafts, musical instruments, scientific instruments, weapons or other hunting equipment of his time.

Works

Quodlibet (1675)

literature

  • The Eye Deceived. Painted Illusions by Cornelius Gijsbrechts . Exhibition catalog; Mauritshuis The Hague 2005.
  • Hans-Joachim Raupp (ed.): Still life and animal pieces. Dutch painting of the 17th century from the SØR Rusche collection. LIT Verlag, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-8258-2239-7 , pp. 130ff. ( online at Google Books )

Web links

Commons : Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Gijsbrechts, Cornelis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gijsbrechts, Cornelis Norbertus (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch painter
DATE OF BIRTH before 1657
DATE OF DEATH after 1675