Philips Wouwerman

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Self-portrait by Philips Wouwerman
Equestrian battle in front of a burning mill

Philips Wouwerman (baptized 24. May 1619 in Haarlem , buried 23. May 1668 in Haarlem in the Nieuwe Kerk) was a Dutch painter of the Baroque .

life and work

Philips was the eldest son of the history painter Pauwels (Paulus) Joostens Wouwerman. His two brothers Pieter (1623–1682) and Jan (Johannes) (1629–1666) also practiced the painting trade, with Jan mainly painting landscapes . Around 1638/39 Philips Wouwerman allegedly spent a few weeks in Hamburg. Here he married Annetje Pietersz. van Broeckhof.

The Haarlem painter Philips Wouwerman was one of the most diverse and productive painters of the Golden Age of Dutch painting. His paintings were already in great demand throughout Europe during his lifetime, but especially in the 18th century. Extensive collections of Wouwerman paintings from the former princely art collections still testify to this today. B. in the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg or in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden .

Little is known about Philips Wouwerman's training: According to Cornelis de Bie, he was apprenticed to Frans Hals (1580 / 85–1666), but his style of painting left no traces in his work. With the exception of a short stay in Hamburg, Wouwerman does not seem to have traveled abroad either. He lived in Haarlem until his death in 1668, where he became a member of the St. Luke's Guild in 1640 and took on several administrative tasks in this institution. He married Anna Pietersz early on. van Broeckhoff (d. 1670), with whom he had ten children, seven of whom survived and in 1670 - after his mother's death - inherited his not inconsiderable inheritance. As a respected member of the Haarlem Society, the artist was also active as a real estate dealer. Most of the documented mentions of his person in the Haarlem archives refer to this activity.

Landscape with a duck hunter

Embedded in the artistic environment and in the diverse painting traditions of his hometown Haarlem , Philips Wouwerman began his artistic career in 1639 with simple scenes in the tradition of the bamboccianti of Pieter van Laer (1592/99 - after 1642). In his battle pictures, Wouwerman gratefully took up van Laer's suggestions, especially in depictions of equestrian combat. With his Italianizing soldiers' pieces, Wouwerman became the dominant battle painter of the second half of the 17th century. In the course of his almost thirty years of creative work, he developed an individual style early on with an extraordinarily broad thematic spectrum, ranging from genre and landscape scenes to military and religious subjects . Even today he is rightly valued as one of the best horse painters, whose detailed and vivid reproduction of horses of all breeds quickly became legendary.

But about this should not be forgotten his achievements in the field of landscape and genre painting. His finely painted works with their delicate, restrained colors , their richness of detail, often combined with representational wit, are true treasures that were sought after and highly paid for by collectors throughout Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although Philips Wouwerman has been somewhat forgotten since then, his technically and thematically outstanding works are still in great demand on the art market today.

The number of Wouwerman's authentic works is estimated at around 570 today, about half of which are in public and private collections. Many of the paintings formerly attributed to him are now attributed to his numerous successors and copyists. Jan van Huchtenburgh (1647–1738), the brothers Jans Frans (1683–1750) and Joseph van Bredael (1688–1739), and Carel van Falens (1683–1733) are among the most important artists who worked in Wouwerman's style . Often his two younger brothers Pieter and Jan Wouwerman are also named as imitators of their more important brother. The oeuvre of Pieter Wouwerman (1623–1682) does indeed clearly show his influence, especially in thematic terms, while stylistically a distinct handwriting can be observed. Jan Wouwerman (1629–1666), on the other hand, was an independent landscape painter in both stylistic and thematic terms.

Philips Wouwerman dedicated a first monographic exhibition to the museum landscape Hessen Kassel at Schloss Wilhelmshöhe and the Mauritshuis, The Hague, in 2009/2010.

Works (excerpt)

Winter Landscape with a Boardwalk , 1660, Gemäldegalerie (Berlin)

literature

  • Philips Wouwerman 1619-1668 . Exhibition catalog: Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel. Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen Mauritshuis, The Hague. Hirmer Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-7774-2251-0 .
  • Birgit Schumacher: Philips Wouwerman. The Horse Painter of the Golden Age. Catalog raisonné of the paintings. Davaco Publishers, Doornspijk 2006, ISBN 90-70288-67-2 .
  • Frederik J. Duparc: Philips Wouwerman, 1619-1668. In: Oud Holland. Vol. 107, No. 3, 1993, pp. 257-286, doi : 10.1163 / 187501793X00018 .
  • Birgit Schumacher: Studies on the work and effect of Philips Wouwermans. Phil. Diss., Munich 1989.
  • Hermann Arthur Lier :  Wouwermann, Philipp . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 44, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, pp. 218-220.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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. 148.

Web links

Commons : Philips Wouwerman  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Wouwerman, Philips
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch Baroque painter
DATE OF BIRTH baptized May 24, 1619
PLACE OF BIRTH Haarlem
DATE OF DEATH buried May 23, 1668
Place of death Haarlem in the Nieuwe Kerk