Hello starmorwen
I hope these notes will be useful to you. I must admit that I did
draw a blank on de Gelder’s Tobias and Sarah, although I found notes
on his technique and use of colour that you could use in a commentary
on the painting. Unfortunately, the painting does not even appear to
be available to view anywhere on the Net.
1. Rembrandt “Christ healing the sick”
You can see this on the web site of the Bredius Museum (The Hague,
Netherlands) at http://www.museumbredius.nl/exhibitions/b074.jpg
A commentary about an exhibition featuring this work say: “Rembrandt’s
etchings were already very popular during his lifetime, and his prints
were collected even more eagerly than his oil paintings. Rembrandt
began with this technique at an early age and continued until about
1660. From that moment on until his death in 1669 we know only a
single etching, a commissioned portrait. Altogether he produced some
290 etchings. Most of the copperplates had already disappeared when he
died, but about 100 plates survived Rembrandt. These plates were
reprinted very often after his death, until they became extremely
worn. As a result the number of late prints is a multiple of the
15,000 – 20,000 copies which were printed during Rembrandt’s
lifetime.”
With respect to “Christ healing the sick”, this commentary says that
only contemporary prints on Japanese paper were known until recently.
However, the exhibition features one of only five prints surviving
today which is known to have been made by Rembrandt on paper from
western Europe. The paper bears a watermark known as “Peace Rider”,
which indicates it was produced at a time around that of the Peace of
Münster of 1648. It is suggested that the etching might have been
produced in honour of that occasion.
http://www.museumbredius.nl/exhibitions.htm
“One of the most intriguing discoveries relates to the title of the
famous “Hundred guilder print”, depicting Christ healing the sick.
Although always regarded as Rembrandt’s greatest etching, it has long
been assumed that it did not get its popular name until the 18th
century. But it has now been established that Jan Meyssens of Antwerp
wrote in a letter to the Bishop of Bruges in 1654 that the print of
Christ healing the sick “has been sold various times for 100 guilders
and more”. This shows that Rembrandt’s prints sold for incredible sums
during his own lifetime, which makes it more surprising that the
artist faced quite such disastrous financial problems in the 1650s”.
Article “Revealing another Rembrandt “ by Martin Bailey about the
exhibition “Rembrand the Printmaker” at the British Museum
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=4450
“In the case of Christ Healing the Sick,(also known as the Hundred
Guilder Print) drawings exist which show Rembrandt thinking about the
gestures of the invalids who surround Christ: they were not so much
studies which arrived at a conclusion that could be copied, as
explorations of masses of interacting figures which, on the plate,
would be drawn, differently and for the first time.” (London Review of
Books, Vol. 23 No. 5 dated 8 March 2001, Peter Campbell “At the
Hayward and the British Museum”
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v23/n05/camp01_.html
The technique used in this work is etching with drypoint and burin.
“The etching process begins as the artist uses a stylus, a metal
carving pin, to carve out his intended design on a metal plate that
has been covered with a thin layer of wax, resin and gums called a
ground. After the ground has been cleared away, the metal plate of the
bottom layer is exposed in the design that the artist has executed.
The two layers are then dipped into an acid which bites into the metal
that has been exposed. The acid thus leaves grooves in the plate that
will hold the ink when it is applied to it. Drypoint, which Rembrandt
often employed to add details to his etchings, is simply produced by
using a metal tool called a burin to scratch the intended design into
the metal plate. In this method, metal filings produced by the
scratching of the burin in the metal remain in the newly created
grooves.”
http://www.nd.edu/~observer/11092001/Scene/3.html (from The Observer
daily print and online newspaper of the University of Notre Dame,
Indiana)
2. Rembrandt “Jacob Blessing the Children of Joseph”
Oil on canvas, 175,5 x 210,5 cm, Staatliche Museen, Kassel
You can find a picture and commentary at
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/r/rembran/painting/biblic2/jacob.html
Two points from the commentary: “Rather than blessing the eldest son,
the dark Manasseh, with his right hand, Jacob gave his first blessing
to the younger, the fair-haired Ephraim. Joseph thought that his
father had made a mistake… In Rembrandt's version Jacob blesses
Ephraim but there is no sign of Joseph's questioning of his father -
indeed he steadies his father's hand and the presence of Asenath is
not mentioned in the Biblical account. She is mentioned only once in
the Bible (Genesis chapter 41, verse 45) but Rembrandt makes her a
major figure of great dignity”
You can see the painting in more detail here:
http://www.abcgallery.com/R/rembrandt/rembrandt126.html
“Thought to be a portrait history of Willem Schrijver II, Rembrandt's
patron whose situation is likened to Joseph's” From “Art Annotations”
in the Literature, Arts and Medicine Database
http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webart/van.rijn43-art-.html
The commentary also has the following: “Rembrandt's insight into
people's thoughts and feelings, and his ability to capture (and alter)
the human drama of a religious theme earned him the appellation, the
Shakespeare of painting. A master of light and shadow (chiaroscuro),
the figures shine out against the darkness, the warm reds and muted
yellow colors further add to the peaceful, respective, spiritual
harmony of the scene.”
A review of a book by Michael Zell “Reframing Rembrandt: Jews and the
Christian Image in Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam” (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2002. 283 pp.; 114 b/w ills. $55.00
(cloth) (0520227417)) has the following comment about the painting:
“Rejecting Reiner Haussherr’s conclusion that the picture harmonizes
with exclusively Jewish interpretations of the biblical story, Zell
argues that Rembrandt imparted a Christological meaning to the
scene... he identifies Ephraim… as an allusion to Jesus and the
mystery of the Incarnation because of the boy’s Christ-like
attributes. Zell goes on to argue that Rembrandt’s rendition is
consonant with the thinking both of John Calvin, whose exegesis on the
biblical event proclaims that Jesus was mystically present at Jacob’s
blessing, and various philosemitic theologians active in the artist’s
time. For Protestant associates of Menasseh ben Israel… conversant
with an old Jewish belief that a messiah would originate from the
house of Joseph, Ephraim was imbued with great symbolic significance,
the agent through which the Jews might be restored to God’s favor and
embrace the Christian Messiah. These findings persuade Zell that
philosemitic theology lies at the core of Rembrandt’s picture, and
that the artist’s unknown patron may have been a Protestant in the
philosemitic circle.”
Nb Menasseh ben Israel was a Sephardic rabbi and publisher who
attempted to bridge the gap between Jews and Christians. He was
Rembrandt’s neighbour and commissioned a series of etchings from him
to to illustrate a book of messianic prophecy.
3. Rembrandt “Samson and Delilah”
You can view it here:
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/rembrandt/1628.html#samson
The commentary to this picture discusses the relationship between this
painting and one by Jan Lievens (1607-1674).
Here is what is said: “A crucial work from 1628 is Rembrandt's Samson
and Delilah in Berlin. This is his only painting with an extant
signature and date from this year. The work is crucial evidence for
evaluating the dynamic relation between Rembrandt and Lievens, who
made two versions of the same theme, the earliest case of an explicit
competition between the two artists… His painting was eventually
purchased through the mediation of Constantijn Huygens for the gallery
of the Prince of Orange, stadhouder or provisional head of state of
the Dutch Republic. Lievens went on to paint another version of the
theme emulating Rembrandt's approach, inaugurating a series of
Rembrandtesque paintings later provided with forged signatures and
dates and attributed to Rembrandt down to the present day.”
Lieven’s two versions are a large painting with half-length figures
and a small monochrome oil sketch with full-length figures. “The small
sketch was originally attributed to Rembrandt and the face of the
Philistine soldier behind identified as his self-portrait, but Kurt
Bauch re-atttributed the work to Lievens, corresponding to a "sketch
of Samson" listed in the inventory of his estate. According to Bauch,
Lievens attempted to surpass Rembrandt's composition, but ultimately
"simplified, coarsened and externalized" this in his own sketch as
"grotesque and almost comic."”
There has been controversy as to whether the sketch by Lievens came
first or was based on Rembrandt’s painting.
You can read a detailed discussion in the commentary at the above URL
and in its continuation at:
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/rembrandt/1628a.html
You can see the final picture by Lievens by going to the site of the
Rijksmuseum http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/ Select “English” then
“Collection” then “1250 Major Exhibits” then “Artists” then “L” then
“Lievens” Click on the second thumbnail from the right to view.
4. Gerard Huuckgeest "Tomb of William the Silent in Nieuwckek”
I have found the name of the artist as Houckgeest, with the first name
as Gerard or Gerrit (which is a common Dutch name). The name of the
church would be Nieuwe Kerk (New Church)
There is a short biography, which also features this painting, at:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~kalden/dart/d-a-houckg.htm
Among the points it makes is that he specialised in architectural
paintings, especially of church interiors. “He was the great innovator
in the Delft art scene. His new diagonal viewpoints sparked new
activity among Delft artists”
I have also found a reference to another painting by Houckgeest of the
same tomb http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ah172/architectural/tomb.htm
Houckgeest was a student of BASSEN, Bartholomeus van (b. ca. 1590, Den
Haag, d. 1652, Den Haag). You might therefore like to look at
Bassen’s painting “The Tomb of William the Silent in an Imaginary
Church” which you can find together with commentary at
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/b/bassen/1william.html (it is a bit
slow to load).
The style of painting church interiors was developed by three painters
from Delft: Gerard Houckgeest together with Emanuel de Witte and
Hendrick van Vliet “Houckgeest seems to have been the innovator in
this group of artists but De Witte, the greatest painter of the three,
softened the harsh linearity of Houckgeest's style. De Witte, unlike
Houckgeest and Van Vliet, was a sensitive colourist, offsetting the
severe black and white of the church interiors with patches of bright
reds, yellows and greens”
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/w/witte/protesta.html
“William the Silent… was killed in Delft in 1584, and in the following
decades his son and successor, Prince Maurits, moved the court to The
Hague, three miles away. Not a great distance perhaps — by the 1660's
the two cities were connected by canal barges that left twice an hour
in both directions — but enough to place Delft on the margins of court
patronage and taste, which favored artists influenced by Caravaggio.
These events freed some of Delft's artists to investigate the ways
light played upon the world around them, putting their own spin on
ideas and conventions that were then in the air. … Gerard Houckgeest
turned from grandiose evocations of imaginary Italianate architecture
to measured renderings of the whitewashed interiors of the Old Church
in Delft, setting a new standard for architectural perspective that de
Hooch and Vermeer later applied to their domestic scenes.” (New York
Times, March 8, 2001 article about the exhibition “'Vermeer and the
Delft School': Magic Turns Light Into Life by Roberta Smith
http://www.etceteraweb.com/Art/Delft-School.pdf )
Another review of this exhibition speaks of this painting: “paintings
of perspective, particularly the more advanced two-point perspective
(showed stunningly in Gerard Houckgeest's ‘Interior of Nieuwe Kirk
with Tomb of William the Silent’ 1650, which enables you to swirl
beneath the towering vaults of the church - a very rare sensation for
an artist to be able to create).”
http://www.artsworld.com/art-architecture/reviews/vermeer-and-the-delft-school.html
5. Aert de Gelder-"Blessing of Tobias and Sarah"
Aert de Gelder ((1645-1727) studied with Hoogstraten and then “became
one of Rembrandt's last pupils in Amsterdam. He was not only one of
the most talented of Rembrandt's pupils, but also one of his most
devoted followers, for he was the only Dutch artist to continue
working in his style into the 18th century. His religious paintings,
in particular, with their imaginative boldness and preference for
oriental types, are very much in the master's spirit, although de
Gelder often used colors--such as lilac and lemon yellow--that were
untypical of Rembrandt, and his palette was in general lighter.”
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gelder/
“Arent (or Aert) de Gelder was raised in a well-to-do family. In his
native Dordrecht he was first apprenticed to Samuel van Hoogstraten, a
pupil of Rembrandt's. He completed his training in Amsterdam under
Rembrandt himself. Then he returned to Dordrecht. De Gelder continued
to work in the style of his master: he painted with broad
brushstrokes, scored the paint and employed the same light-dark
contrasts. De Gelder mainly painted biblical subjects and portraits.
He was not concerned when Rembrandt's style became unfashionable, as
he was not dependent on painting for his income and could afford to
continue painting as he wished.” From the Rijskmuseum, use the search
feature to search on Gelder. http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/
“de Gelder retained Rembrandt's naturalness, sympathy, and human
warmth… To vary textures, de Gelder applied paint with his thumb,
fingers, and palette knife. He also scraped and scratched into the wet
paint with the butt end of his brush, a technique he probably learned
from Rembrandt…
While de Gelder's contemporaries recognized him as Rembrandt's best
pupil and closest follower, they also considered him an eccentric
living in the past, using broken dabs of color when smooth surfaces
and elegance were the chief aims of Rococo art. De Gelder's fame was
local and had little influence on the course of Dutch painting.”
http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/bio/a291-1.html
I’m afraid I have not been able to find anything specifically about
the Blessing of Tobias and Sarah nor anywhere where you could view the
picture online. I have searched on Google, Teoma and AlltheWeb, using
both variations of his first name: Aert and Arent. Here are lists of
his paintings available on the Net:
http://www.nhptv.org/kn/vs/artlabgelder.htm,
http://www.abcgallery.com/R/rembrandt/gelder.html and an even larger
selection at a site that sells prints to order
http://www.kunstkopie-server.de/galerie/en/pages/frame.php?reload=1042327391
Many web pages about this artist seem to concentrate on the disk-like
“UFO” that appears as a source of light streaming over the head of
Jesus in the painting “The baptism of Christ”
I have also consulted my copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica, and
found nothing there about the painting of Tobias and Sarah.
6. Govaert Flink “Isaac blessing Jacob”
You can view the picture here:
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/f/flinck/ (click on the first
thumbnail)
From the 1911 Britannica:
“having secretly acquired a passion for drawing, was sent to
Leuwarden, where he boarded in the house of Lambert Jacobszon, a
Mennonite, better known as an itinerant preacher than as a painter…
Amongst the neighbours of Jacobszon at Leuwarden were the sons and
relations of Rombert Ulenburg, whose daughter Saske married Rembrandt
in 1634. Other members of the same family lived at Amsterdam,
cultivating the arts either professionally or as amateurs. The pupils
of Lambert probably gained some knowledge of Rembrandt’ by intercourse
with the Ulenburgs…. For many years Flinck laboured on the lines of
Rembrandt, following that master’s style in all the works which he
executed between 1636 and 1648; then he fell into peculiar mannerisms
by imitating the swelling forms and grand action of Rubens’s
creations. Finally he sailed with unfortunate complacency into the
Dead Sea of official and diplomatic painting.”
http://1.1911encyclopedia.org/F/FL/FLINCK_GOVERT.htm
“In 1633, armed with practical and technical skills, Flinck moved to
Amsterdam, studying with Rembrandt van Rijn until 1636. He became so
absorbed in Rembrandt's approach that some of Flinck's paintings from
the 1630s have been confused with those of Rembrandt.
Like many other Dutch painters during the 1640s and 1650s, Flinck
began making his portraits more elegant and brightening his palette
under the spell of Flemish artists such as Anthony van Dyck.”
http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/bio/a289-1.html
The commentary to this painting at the Rijsmuseum says: “Govert Flinck
was a pupil of Rembrandt until 1636. He painted this canvas shortly
after leaving, in 1638. It clearly reveals the influence of the
artist's teacher." To access the page on this site, go to
http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/ Select “English” then “Collection” then
“1250 Major Exhibits” then “Artists” then “F” then “Flinck”.
Flinck “was influenced by his master's style. However, like other
pupils, he was unable to follow him, he took only the motives, types
of composition or the arrangement of colours. In general, he borrowed
these quite eclectically. The Isaac Blessing Jacob is a typical
example of Flinck's works in this period.”
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/art42day/art1202.shtml
7. Meindert Hobbema “Travelers”
You can view the picture here:
http://www.artunframed.com/images/artmis14/hobbema77.jpg
“A friend and pupil of Jacob van Ruisdael, Hobbema and his teacher
often made sketching trips together into the countryside near
Amsterdam, later using their drawings as studies for paintings. On
occasion the same scene would appear in works by both artists, for the
old mill in this painting is also found in a painting by Ruisdael in
Amsterdam. Even though the scenes might be similar, the paintings
would differ greatly in style, for Hobbema approached landscape more
as a reporter, and Ruisdael more as a poet.”
“he was the friend and only documented pupil of Jacob van Ruisdael.
Some of his pictures are very like Ruisdael's, but his range was more
limited and he lacked the latter's power to capture the majesty of
nature. He painted a narrow range of favorite subjects--particularly
water-mills and trees around a pool--over and over again. In 1668 he
became a wine gauger with the Amsterdam customs and excise, and
thereafter seems to have painted only in his spare time.”
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hobbema/
8. Hobbema The Alley at Middelharnis
You can view it here with commentary:
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/h/hobbema/alley.html
“The Alley at Middelharnis. It does not take away from the glory of
this picture that there are precedents in Dutch landscape painting
that date back for the first decades of the century for the conception
of a strongly foreshortened road lined with trees in a wide flat
landscape.
Hobbema altered earlier schemes by centralizing the whole composition,
focusing interest on the middle and far distance as well as the
immediate foreground with its uncultivated grove on one side and an
orderly arrangement of saplings on the other, and by the unprecedented
height of the lopped, thin trees which carry interest to the towering
sky… topographically accurate view of the village of Middelharnis on
the island of Over Flakee (Province of South Holland) in the mouth of
the Maas; the view of the village from the Steene Weg (formerly
Boomgaardweg) looks much the same today.”
“Hobbema was little appreciated in his day but he is now recognized as
the last of the great 17th-century Dutch masters of landscape. He
painted most of his surviving work before 1668, when he took a
clerical position with the city; thereafter he produced very few
paintings. While lacking Ruisdael’s scope and imagination, Hobbema
equals him in draftsmanship, bold execution, and color. His works are
full of life and luminosity and loving observation of nature. He
painted chiefly woodland scenes, country villages, water mills, and
other rustic subjects, his great mastery of detail never detracting
from the general effect of his large and vigorous compositions.” From
the Columbia Encyclopedia http://www.bartleby.com/65/ho/Hobbema.html
The 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica has an extensive
article on Hobbema, which you can read at:
http://84.1911encyclopedia.org/H/HO/HOBBEMA_MEYNDERT.htm
Here are some extracts:
“Nothing is more disappointing than to find that in Hobbema’s case
chronology and signed pictures substantially contradict each other.
According to the latter his practice lasted from 1650 to 1689;
according to the former his birth occurred in 1638, his death as late
as 1709.”
“A Wooded Stream, “honestly bears the date of 1650, or “ The Cottages
under Trees “ of the Ford collection the date of 1652, the painter of
these canvases cannot be Hobbema, whose birth took place in 1638,
unless indeed we admit that Hobbema painted some of his finest works
at the age of twelve or fourteen.”
It appears that initially Hobbema’s work was passed off as being by
Ruisdael, and then, when Hobbema became more famous, the opposite
would happen.
“Rembrandt, Hals, Jacob Ruysdael, and Hobbema were in one respect
alike. They all died in misery, insufficiently rewarded perhaps for
their toil, imprudent perhaps in the use of the means derived from
their labours. Posterity has recognized that Hobbema and Ruysdael
together represent the final development of landscape art in Holland.
Their style is so related that we cannot suppose the first to have
been unconnected with the second.”
“Though his landscapes are severely and moderately toned, generally in
an olive key, and often attuned to a puritanical grey or russet, they
surprise us, not only by the variety of their leafage, but by the
finish of their detail as well as the boldness of their touch. With
astonishing subtlety light is shown penetrating cloud, and’
illuminating, sometimes transiently, sometimes steadily, different
portions of the ground, shining through leaves upon other leaves, and
multiplying in an endless way the transparency of the picture. If the
chance be given him he mirrors all these things in the still pool near
a cottage, the reaches of a sluggish river, or the swirl of the stream
that feeds a busy mill.”
9. Pieter Jansz Saenredam-"View of the Old Town Hall, Amsterdam"
You can see the painting at http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/s/saenreda/
Click on the second one from the bottom. Note that many of the other
paintings by this artist are of church interiors, which brings in
possibilities of comparison with Houckgeest and de Witte.
According to the Rijksmuseum (access as described above, searching on
artists under S) “The houses and the tower were all part of
Amsterdam's town hall on Dam Square until 1652. It looks rather
decrepit, despite the attractive pink and yellow colour. In 1641 the
Haarlem painter Pieter Saenredam made a sketch of the old town hall.
Not until 1657 did he develop the drawing into this painting, which
was then bought by the burgomasters of Amsterdam”
From the notes to another of his pictures: “Saenredam's working method
generally consisted of three stages. First he made a preliminary
freehand drawing at the site. The freehand study was then used for a
more exact construction drawing made in the studio with the aid of
measured ground plans and elevations; sometimes he subtly manipulated
the dimensions of a building and its elements to heighten pictorial
effects. Finished drawings were kept on file as part of the stock to
which he turned when he was ready for the final stage: an oil painting
on panel. The main outlines of his architectural paintings are
frequently transferred by tracing from his construction drawings.”
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/s/saenreda/2bavo1.html A review of a
book about his technique, which goes into some detail, is available at
http://www.mmi.unimaas.nl/people/Veltman/articles/perspectives/art43.htm
As a BTW, since Saenredam painted church interiors, I have found this
comment from a piece about de Witte’s painting of the Oude Kerk in
Amsterdam: “It is instructive to compare this with Saenredam’s
painting. De Witte’s brush is softer, broader and fuller. But this was
not merely a difference in temperament: he was following the general
movement of taste away from the draughtsman like to the painterly.
More than with Saenredam, light is here a substance that fills up
space and envelops and alters objects. Also, it is remarkable that de
Witte was not so conscientious in details”
http://www.buehrle.ch/index.asp?lang=e&id_pic=168
10. Gerrit Adriansz Berckheyde-"Town Hall Amsterdam 1672"
Berckheyde was known for his mastery of perspective.
You can see the picture here:
http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/ariadata/image/SK/ORG/SK-A-34.org.jpg
You might want to compare it with one painted in 1690
http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/collection/international/painting/b/ipa00035.html
And one in 1670 http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/fcgi-bin/db2www/descrPage.mac/descrPage?selLang=English&indexClass=PICTURE_EN&PID=GJ-958&numView=1&ID_NUM=1&thumbFile=%2Ftmplobs%2FWLF9YYHARE_40EXMX06.jpg&embViewVer=last&comeFrom=quick&sorting=no&thumbId=6&numResults=2&tmCond=Berckheyde&searchIndex=TAGFILEN&author=Berckheyde%2C%26%2332%3BGerrit%26%2332%3BAdriaensz
And one in 1668: “The demand for views of Amsterdam (but not for the
interiors of its churches), was far greater than for portrayals of
Haarlem, and Gerrit did his share to satisfy it. He never settled in
the metropolis; following studio practice of the time, he made the
easy trip from Haarlem to Amsterdam where he sketched preparatory
drawings and returned to his studio to work them up into finished
paintings. His earliest view of the new town hall on the Dam bears an
autograph inscription stating it was painted at Haarlem in 1668
(Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp). During the following
three decades Gerrit virtually made a career of depicting the town
hall, a symbol of Amsterdam's pride, prestige, and prosperity, from
various viewpoints and in different lighting conditions. He also
painted five different versions of its side and rear façade flanking a
canal that had a flower market on its bank.”
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/b/berckhey/gerrit/damsquar.html
11. Jan van der Heyden-"View of the Herengracht, Amsterdam
You can see the picture with a commentary here:
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/h/heyden/view_her.html
Some interesting points it makes:
“In 1668 he presented Amsterdam's municipal authorities with a plan to
light the entire city with glass lanterns and oil lamps he invented.
Acceptance of his plan in 1669 to install more than 2,500 of his lamps
made Amsterdam the first European city to enjoy street lighting. The
city fathers also appointed him superintendent of municipal lighting
at the handsome annual salary of 2,000 guilders per year for life. His
lamps were soon installed in Berlin, Leipzig, and other cities - they
even found their way to Japan. Those in Amsterdam continued to serve
the city until 1840. His lamps also serve art historians today; when
they appear in undated paintings by van der Heyden himself, Gerrit
Berckheyde, Jacob van Ruisdael, and others, they establish 1669 as a
terminus post quem for the work.”
“As he frequently does, van der Heyden took liberties with the site.
To emphasize the grand curve of the Herengracht he shortened the
length of the embankment, thereby eliminating some houses, and he also
exaggerated its upward sweep. By judicious selection and adjustment,
and choosing unusual points of view, he gives a remarkable feel for
the character and atmosphere of urban spaces as well as meticulous
portraits of buildings.”
You might want to compare this picture with one of the same location
by Gerrit Berckheyde
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ah172/architectural/herengracht.htm
“Jan Van der Heyden (1637-1712), called the Dutch Canaletto, is often
regarded as the first artist in Arnsterdam to paint townscapes,
although Job Berckheyde (1630-1693) and Gerrit Berckheyde (1638- 1698)
were already active in Haarlem, at that time a provincial town of
moderate size which showed a marked interest in art. The great
difference between the two Berckheydes and van der Heyden is that
towards the end of the seventeenth century the latter adopted an
entirely personal style in townscape painting.”
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/bulletin/num3/blom1.html
Here is a brief background to the Golden Age of Dutch painting
http://essentialvermeer.20m.com/the_golden_age_of_dutch_art.htm
Search strategy: I searched on key words from the titles plus the
name of the artist. I then followed through the links that came up,
which sometimes took me to other web sites. |
