Nicolaes Pietersz. Berchem

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Nicolaes Pietersz. Berchem (born October 1, 1620 in Haarlem , † February 18, 1683 in Amsterdam ) was a Dutch painter , draftsman and graphic artist .

Berchem's curriculum vitae can only be sketched in gaps, as no or only insufficient sources are available over various periods of time. His first teacher was his father, the Haarlem still life painter Pieter Claesz . He was probably trained by Jan van Goyen , Jan Wils , Pieter de Grebber and Nicolaes Moeyaert . In 1642 he joined the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke .

Italian evening landscape

Berchem worked as a teacher himself, so Jacob Ochtervelt and Pieter de Hooch studied with him after 1646.

He presumably stayed in Italy for a while, which has not yet been substantiated by documents, but what his landscapes themselves indicate. Possible periods are 1642 to 1643 or 1653 to 1655. His pictures, created from 1655 onwards, differ with their light treatment and their southern atmosphere from earlier ones that were created under the impression of contemporary Dutch landscape painting . In 1677 Berchem settled in Amsterdam, where he died in 1683. His grave is in the Westerkerk in Amsterdam.

Berchem is one of the main representatives of Dutch landscape painting of the 17th century. The - probable - stay in Italy was formative for his painting style. Since then, his drawings and paintings have shown Arcadian landscapes, of which there are innumerable variations and in which a very differentiated and masterful treatment of light is striking. He is also likely to have taken inspiration from the Bamboccianti who worked in Rome and painted crude genre scenes. He was a master of figure and animal painting. Berchem was commissioned by painting colleagues such as Jacob van Ruisdael or Meindest Hobbema to make people and animals in their pictures.

Berchem was an extraordinarily prolific artist. In addition to the Italianizing landscapes, he painted fantastic harbor scenes, winter landscapes, genre pictures, hunting scenes as well as religious, mythological and allegorical pictures. He left an extensive body of work, including paintings, hand drawings and around 60 etchings .

Works

Harbor scene, Wallace Collection, London
  • Allegory of Amsterdam , oil on canvas, 175 × 148 cm, Historical Museum, Amsterdam
  • Landscape near Tivoli , oil on left, 105.5 × 94 cm, Fondation Custodia, Paris
  • Landscape with Bentheim Castle , 1656, oil on canvas, 138 × 103 cm, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
  • Landscape with Shepherds Resting , 1646, oil on panel, 46.8 × 56 cm, Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest
  • Italian Landscape with Ruins and Figures , 1655, Windsor Castle
  • Three Herd , 1656, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
  • The old port of Genoa , 84 × 105 cm, Wallace Collection, London
  • Animalia , around 1645/1650, etchings

literature

  • Hermann Hagels, The paintings of the Dutch painters Jacob van Ruisdael and Nicolaas van Berchem from Bentheim Castle in relation to the nature of the Bentheimer Land, in: Yearbook of the Heimatverein der Grafschaft Bentheim 1968 (= Das Bentheimer Land vol. 62), Nordhorn 1967, p. 41–52, especially p. 50.
  • WAP Hoeben: Art. Berchem, Nicolaes (Claes Pietersz.) In: Saur's General Artists Dictionary. The visual artists of all times and peoples Vol. 9, Munich / Leipzig, 1994, pp. 237–238 (with catalog raisonné).
  • Cornelis Hofstede de Groot: Descriptive and critical directory of the works of the most outstanding Dutch painters of the XVII. Century . Vol. IX, Esslingen aN / Paris, 1926, p. 52.
  • Arnold Houbraken: De Groote Schouburgh of the Nederlantsche Kunstschilders en Schilderessen. Vol. II, Amsterdam 1719 (verbatim reprint Maastricht 1944), pp. 86–90.
  • Johannes Immerzeel jr., De Levens en Werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche kunstschilders, beeldhouwers, graveurs en bouwmeesters, van het begin der vijftiende eeuw tot heden. Vol. I, Amsterdam 1842, pp. 41-42.
  • Rolf Dieter Kamp, Jacob van Ruisdael: Nicolaes Berchem and Bentheim Castle. An art-historical contribution about two Dutch landscape painters of the 17th century. In: JbHVGB 1968 (= Das Bentheimer Land vol. 62), Nordhorn 1967, 53–56, p. 56.
  • Zeno Kolks: Dutch painters and draftsmen see the Grafschaft Bentheim from 17.-20. Jh. (I), In: BentJb 1995 (= Das Bentheimer Land vol. 133), Bad Bentheim 1994, pp. 49-53.
  • Zeno Kolks: Art. Berchem, Nicolaes. In: Emsländische Geschichte Vol. 7. Ed. By the Study Society for Emsländische Regionalgeschichte, Dohren, 1998, pp. 125–128.
  • Lexicon of art, architecture, fine arts, applied arts, industrial design, art theory. Vol. 1, Leipzig, 1987, p. 483.
  • E Schaar: Studies on Nicolaes Berchem. Cologne, 1958
  • Ilse von Sick: Nicolaes Berchem. A precursor to the Rococo . Berlin, 1930.
  • Exhibition catalog: Nicolaes Berchem in the light of Italy . Belser Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-7630-2487-2
  • Wilhelm Adolf Schmidt:  Berchem, Nicolaus . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, pp. 350-352.

Web links

Commons : Nicolaes Berchem  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Berchem, Nicolaes Pietersz.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berchem, Nicolaes Pieterszoon; Berchem, Claes; Berchem, Claes Pietersz.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch painter, draftsman and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1620
PLACE OF BIRTH Haarlem
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 1683
Place of death Amsterdam