Gerrit van Honthorst
Gerrit van Honthorst (born November 4, 1592 in Utrecht , † April 27, 1656 there ) was a Dutch painter . He was one of the followers of Caravaggio and is referred to as one of the Utrecht Caravaggists . Gerrit van Honthorst had several pseudonyms : Gherardo della Notte, Gerard van Honthorst, Gherardo Fiammingo or Gerardo van Hermansz .
Life
Honthorst was a pupil of Abraham Bloemaert , but completed his training in Rome, where he studied Caravaggio's works in particular (between 1610 and 1620) . He worked for important clients such as Cardinal Scipione Borghese and the banker Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani , a collector of Caravaggio's works. He met Guido Reni and worked with him.
He came back to Utrecht around 1620 and married his cousin. In 1622 he joined the Utrecht painters' guild. Afterwards, after further stays in Italy and England, he entered the service of the Oranierhof and took on numerous portrait commissions for the exiled Bohemian royal couple Elisabeth Stuart and Friedrich V of the Palatinate , whose children he also gave lessons. He bought a big house and opened a studio ; Peter Paul Rubens visited him. In 1628 he stayed in London with his pupil Joachim von Sandrart . He worked for Charles I (England) and painted an allegorical picture with portraits of the royal family.
In 1637 he joined the painters' guild of the Hague , where he worked until 1652. The Princes of Orange, Friedrich Heinrich and Wilhelm II , appointed him court painter and gave him numerous commissions. Because of all the work, he opened a second studio in The Hague.
The influences of Abraham Bloemaert and Caravaggio mix in his works . Mostly he used night lighting by candlelight or lamplight, which is why he was nicknamed "Gherardo della Notte" by the Italians. Such pictures tend to have a somewhat heavy yellow color in the light and not very transparent shadows. His portraits are excellent, with a clear, expelled treatment, simple and natural conception.
He left numerous works of which
- The Release of Peter ,
- Esau sells his birthright,
- The puff game (Berlin Museum),
- The Denial of Petri (Vienna, Liechtenstein Gallery),
- The dentist (Dresden gallery),
- The concert (Paris, Louvre),
- The happy musician (Amsterdam, Reichsmuseum),
- The prodigal son (Alte Pinakothek, Munich),
- Ceres looking for Proserpina (Munich, Pinakothek) and
- The incredulous Thomas
are to be emphasized.
Honthorst's grave is in the Katharinenkirche in Utrecht .
Important works
- Adoration of the Shepherds , 1620, oil on canvas, 339 × 199 cm. Florence , Galleria degli Uffizi .
- Adoration of the Shepherds , 1622, oil on canvas, 150 × 191 cm. Cologne , Wallraf-Richartz-Museum .
- Apollo and Diana , 1628, oil on canvas, 357 × 640 cm. London , Hampton Court Palace .
- Entombment of Christ , 1632, oil on canvas, St. Michael Aachen . Handed down as a chalk drawing by Heinrich Franz Carl Billotte .
- Lamentation of Christ , 1633, canvas, 338 × 231 cm. Ghent , St. Bavo
- Christ in Gethsemane , oil on canvas, 113 × 110 cm. Saint Petersburg , Hermitage .
- Christ before Caiaphas , oil on canvas, 272 × 183 cm. London, National Gallery .
- Portrait of Elector Friedrich V of the Palatinate , around 1620, 44 × 38 cm, Vienna , Heeresgeschichtliches Museum .
- Portrait of Elector Friedrich V of the Palatinate as King of Bohemia , around 1620, 202 × 143.5 cm, London , Government Art Collection of the United Kingdom , Inv. 1263.
His brother Willem van Honthorst (* 1604 in Utrecht; † 1666 there) was also a history and portrait painter. He stayed at the Berlin court from 1650 to 1664. The portraits of him in the galleries of Berlin, Amsterdam and Schwerin are similar to those of Gerrit, but are somewhat smoother and more blended in their execution.
literature
- Joseph Eduard Wessely : Honthorst, Gerhard . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, p. 94 f.
- H. Braun: Gerard and Willem van Honthorst . 1966
Web links
- Literature by and about Gerrit van Honthorst in the catalog of the German National Library
- Search for Gerrit van Honthorst in the German Digital Library
- Search for Gerrit van Honthorst in the SPK digital portal of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
- Rijksmuseum biography
- Gerrit van Honthorst. In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Accessed February 26, 2018 (English).
- Biography with all of Honthorst's works
- Works by Gerrit van Honthorst at Zeno.org .
Individual evidence
- ^ Taco Dibbits: Prologue: Caravaggio, the Utrecht Caravaggists and the young Rembrandt . In: Exhibition catalog Rembrandt and Caravaggio . Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, February 24 to June 18, 2006, p. 36.
- ↑ At least until 1916, at the latest after 1945, the Honthorst painting is no longer the altarpiece in St. Michael Aachen.
- ↑ Klaus Bußmann , Heinz Schilling : 1648 - War and Peace in Europe. Catalog volume and two text volumes, Münster 1998 [Documentation of the Council of Europe exhibition on the 350th anniversary of the Peace of Westphalia in Münster and Osnabrück.] Münster / Osnabrück 1998, ISBN 3-88789-127-9 , p. 147
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Honthorst, Gerrit van |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gherardo della Notte; Gherardo Fiammingo; Honthorst, Gerrit Hermansz. van; Honthorst, Gerard Hermansz. van; Gherardo delle Notti; Fiammingo; Gerardo Fiammingo |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 4, 1592 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Utrecht |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 27, 1656 |
| Place of death | Utrecht |