Jan Theuniszoon Blanckerhoff

This painting, ordered in 1663 by the Gecommitteerden Raden van Westfriesland at Blanckerhoff, shows a rarely preserved baroque frame from this period.

This painting shows the ligated signature BH on the floating plank in the lower left corner .

An example of a composition ( vedute ) in Blanckerhoff's work

Jan Theuniszoon Blanckerhoff (born January 10, 1628 in Alkmaar , † 1669 Amsterdam ), also known as Jan Maat , was a Dutch marine painter .

biography

While the exact date of his birth is known through the biographer Houbraken, the date of his death remains unknown. However, the Westerkerk's book of the dead tells that he was buried on October 2nd in the community cemetery.

In 1640 he was registered as an apprentice in the Luke Guild of Alkmaar. His master was the master Arent Teerling, called the Cinceer. Houbraken names other teachers of Blanckerhoff, Pieter Schaeyenborgh, Caesar van Everdingen and Gerrit de Jong. Six paintings by Blanckerhoff were found in the estate of Caesar von Everdingen. As a self-employed master, he was accepted into the Luke Guild of Alkmaar on October 18, 1649.

Then he went on an educational trip to Italy. There he was included in the Schildersbent with the name Jan Maat . This name is later found in official documents in the Netherlands. According to Houbraken, he is said to have been to Italy two or three times at different times.

On April 5, 1659 he married the Amsterdam native Catharina Aerts van Wijk in Amsterdam. Since all subsequent documents were also issued in Amsterdam, he must have been based in Amsterdam since his return from Italy. His children, born in 1660, 1663 and 1665, were baptized in the Mozes en Aäronkerk . He probably belongs to the Catholic community. During the Second Sea War against England in 1665 and 1666 he drove with the Dutch fleet in an official position for on-site sketches. According to Houbraken, he is said to have sailed on Candia in 1669 with the Count of Waldeck's fleet against the Turks .

That the marine painter Aernout Smit, born in 1640 or 41 , is said to have been an apprentice to Blankerhoff, is only known through the biographer Houbraken.

The work

Much of his work is suspected to be behind better known and more expensive names. Many paintings are attributed to Ludolf Bakhuizen in particular . This is also due to the fact that Blanckerhoff created his own compositions and motifs and also produced maritime storm pieces and shipwrecks. Houbraken particularly praised the Italianized views of the booth and port motifs and rated them as the best works by Blanckerhoff. But especially storm pieces and shipwrecks are more likely to be assumed to be Bakhuizen. In addition there is the signature of Blanckerhoff, who among other things used IB and BH (as a ligature ) and rarely the full name. The well-known LB Bakhuizens can easily be read from this. Bakhuizen also quoted motifs from Blanckerhoff and Blanckerhoff again adopted the motifs from the more successful Bakhuizen in his older work.

In addition to Bakhuizen, works by Blankerhoff have also been attributed to Hendrik Dubbels and his apprentice Aernout Smit . The problem here is that both artists also copied works by Blankerhoff.

literature

• Laurens J. Bol: Dutch marine painting of the 17th century . Wuerzburg 1973.
• Jeroen Giltaij, Jan Kelch (ed.): Lords of the seas, masters of art. The Dutch seascape in the 17th century . Berlin, Rotterdam 1996, ISBN 90-6918-174-6 .
• Gerlinde de Beer: His life and work Ludolf Backhuysen (1630-1708) . Zwolle 2002. ISBN 90-400-9502-7 .

Web links

Commons : Jan Theunisz. Blanckerhoff  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Entry Blankerhoff, Jan Theunisz. in the artist database of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie
• Entry by Arnold Houbraken: De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen The Hague 1753 ; Digitization, Digital Library for the Netherlands (dbnl)