Jan Both
Jan Both (* around 1618 in Utrecht ; † August 1652 ibid) was a Dutch landscape painter of the early 17th century . He was one of the most influential representatives of the so-called "Dutch Italian drivers" ( Dutch Italianates ), mostly young, aspiring painters from the Netherlands , who mainly went to Rome in the course of the 17th century to find evidence of classical antiquity as well also study the works of the great masters Titian , Raphael or Michelangelo . The magic of the old ruins in the hilly, sun-drenched landscape with the lush, strange vegetation exerted a special charm on them. The young northerners were particularly fascinated by the warm, golden light of the southern metropolis, so contrary to the rather gray light of home.
Life
Already during Jan's first study of painting between 1634 and 1637, probably with Gerrit van Honthorst or Abraham Bloemaert , his early development as a landscape painter became apparent, probably also under the influence of Carel de Hooch († 1638), whose realistic landscapes were an important alternative to the more traditional representations of Cornelis van Poelenburch or Bartholomeus Breenbergh and certainly left a lasting impression on the young, budding artist.
Together with his brother Andries, also a painter, but rather of peasant scenes similar to those of Adriaen Brouwer , Jan left home and stayed in Rome from 1637/38 to 1641. There he soon became a member of the so-called "Bamboccianti" (employee or successor from the circle of Pieter van Laers, called il Bamboccio ), worked closely with Claude Lorrain on two series of large-format landscape scenes (today Madrid , Prado ) and was friends with Herman , among others van Swanevelt . Jan also took over the arrangement of his landscapes in diagonal lines from them in order to achieve greater spatial depth, and united his compositions with the help of that glowing golden light that was so characteristic of his entire later oeuvre, together with a naturalistic representation of the details who clearly distinguished his pictures from those of his painter colleagues.
In 1641 Jan and Andries left Rome to return to Utrecht. However, Andries died of an accident during a stopover in Venice . Back in Utrecht, Jan Both devoted himself entirely to the realistic representation of “Italianized” landscapes, which were largely based on his Roman studies and drawings. Jan did not populate his scenes with mythological figures, as is usually the case, but with real figures such as hikers, shepherds or horsemen.
Throughout his short but significant career, Jan Both often worked with other artists. In addition to the aforementioned Claude Lorrain, these were above all Cornelis van Poelenburch, Jan Baptist Weenix , Pieter Saenredam and Nicholas Knüpfer. The choice of his subjects and the exemplary type of composition by Jan Both were admired by many contemporaries and were a main source of inspiration for the third generation of Dutch “Italian drivers”, including Willem de Heusch and Frederik de Moucheron . His drawing style was also frequently copied, especially true to the original by his student Jan Hackaert . Even those painting colleagues who could not (or did not want to) travel south often had a lasting influence on Jan Both's art. The best known is probably his effect on Aelbert Cuyp , who probably got to know Jan Both personally on his first big trip to Holland in 1642 in Utrecht. After this trip, Aelbert Cuyp's way of portraying light clearly changed from a more subdued atmosphere tending to gray to a scene in stronger colors bathed in southern golden light. With this unique symbiosis of a thoroughly Dutch landscape in a Mediterranean light, Cuyp created a completely new, long-time highly valued and often copied type of landscape painting . Jan Both's 'Italian' landscapes were also very much admired and popular in the art scene until the middle of the 19th century. In the course of the return to the original, true-to-life representation of the Dutch landscape during the late 19th and first half of the 20th century, however, they were no longer considered. It was not until the 1960s that Jan Both and his importance for Dutch landscape painting was rediscovered, among other things through a study by M. R. Waddinghams.
Works
Pictures from the time of the stay in Rome:
- Celebration in front of the Spanish Embassy in Rome . 1637. Stockholm , art collection.
- Market in Campo Vaccino after 1637. Rijksmuseum , Amsterdam .
- Morra player below the Campidoglio . after 1637. Alte Pinakothek , Munich .
Pictures after returning to the Netherlands:
- Landscape with travelers . approx. 1640/41. Mauritshuis , The Hague .
- Forest landscape with a river . after 1640. National Gallery , London .
- Rocky landscape with shepherds and mules after 1640. National Gallery, London.
- Landscape with a draftsman . around 1650. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
Works in collaboration with other painters:
- with Nicholas Knüpfer and Jan Baptist Weenix:
- Landscape with Mercury and Argos . approx. 1650-51. Alte Pinakothek , Munich.
- The Seven Works of Mercy . around 1651. Kassel , State Art Collections, Schloss Wilhelmshöhe.
- with Cornelis van Poelenburch:
- Landscape with the Judgment of Paris . circa 1651. National Gallery, London.
literature
- Wilhelm Schmidt: Both, Jan . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 194 f.
- Grove Dictionary of Art . Grove Art Online. [2] 'Jan Both'. Author: Ludovica Trezzani.
- Kindler's painting dictionary . 2003. ISBN 3-89853-922-9 . Pp. 1117-1119. Author: H. Gerson.
Web links
- Jan Both in the Web Gallery of Art
- Andries Both in the Web Gallery of Art
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Both, Jan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1618 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Utrecht |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 1652 |
| Place of death | Utrecht |