Gerard van Honthorst | |
|---|---|
 Portrait inHet Gulden Cabinet, 1662 | |
| Born | (1592-11-04)4 November 1592 |
| Died | 27 April 1656(1656-04-27) (aged 63) Utrecht, Dutch Republic |
| Education | Abraham Bloemaert |
| Known for | Painting |
| Notable work | The Matchmaker |
| Movement | Utrecht Caravaggism Classicism |
| Patron | Vincenzo Giustiniani |
Gerard "Gerrit"van Honthorst (4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656)[1] was aDutch Golden Age painter who became known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the Italian nicknameGherardo delle Notti ("Gerard of the Nights").[1] Early in his career he visitedRome, where he had great success painting in a style influenced byCaravaggio. Following his return to the Netherlands he became a leading portrait painter. Van Honthorst's contemporaries includedUtrecht paintersHendrick ter Brugghen andDirck van Baburen.[2]
Van Honthorst was born inUtrecht, the son of a decorative painter, and trained under his father, and then underAbraham Bloemaert.[3]
Having completed his education, Honthorst went toItaly, where he is first recorded in 1616.[3] He was one of the artists from Utrecht who went toRome at around this time, all of whom were to be deeply influenced by the recent art they encountered there. They were namedthe Utrechtcaravaggisti. The other three wereDirk van Baburen,Hendrick ter Bruggen andJan van Bijlert.[4] In Rome he lodged at thepalace ofVincenzo Giustiniani, where he paintedChrist Before the High Priest, now inLondon'sNational Gallery.[3] Giustiniani had an important art collection, and Honthorst was especially influenced by the contemporary artists, includingCaravaggio,Bartolomeo Manfredi and theCarracci. He was particularly known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes.[1] CardinalScipione Borghese became another important patron, securing important commissions for him atSan Silvestro Della Mariro,Montecompatri, and atSanta Maria della Vittoria, Rome. He also worked forCosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.[1]
Honthorst returned to Utrecht in 1620, and went on to build a considerable reputation both in theDutch Republic and abroad.[3] In 1623, the year of his marriage, he was president of theGuild of St. Luke in Utrecht. He soon became so fashionable that SirDudley Carleton, then English envoy atThe Hague, recommended his works toThomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel. In 1626 Honthorst hosted a dinner forPeter Paul Rubens, and painted him as the honest man sought for and found byDiogenes.[5]
QueenElizabeth of Bohemia, sister ofCharles I of England and Electress Palatine, then in exile in the Netherlands, commissioned Honthorst as a painter and employed him as a drawing-master for her children.[when?] Through her he became known to Charles, who invited him to England in 1628. There he painted several portraits, and a vast allegory, now atHampton Court Palace, of Charles and his queenHenrietta Maria asDiana andApollo in the clouds receiving theDuke of Buckingham asMercury and guardian of the King of Bohemia's children. He painted a more intimate group portrait ofThe Four Eldest Children of the King of Bohemia, (also at Hampton Court) in which the two eldest are depicted as Diana and Apollo.[5]
After his return to Utrecht, Honthorst retained the patronage of the English monarch, painting for him, in 1631, a large picture of the king and queen of Bohemia and all their children.[5] At around the same time he painted some pictures illustrating theOdyssey for Lord Dorchester, and some showing incidents of Danish history forChristian IV of Denmark. He also painted a portrait of the King's daughterLeonora Christina Ulfeldt while she was in The Hague.
His popularity in the Netherlands was such that he opened a second studio in The Hague, where he painted portraits of members of the court, and taught drawing.[3] These large studios, where the work included making replicas of Honthorst's royal portraits, employed a large number of pupils and assistants;[3] according to one pupil,Joachim von Sandrart, describing his experiences in the mid-1620s, Honthorst would have about 24 students at any one time, each paying 100 guilders a year for their education.[6]
His brotherWillem van Honthorst (1594–1666) was also a portrait painter. Many of Willem's paintings were previously misattributed to Gerrit due to the similarity of their signatures. Willem was a pupil ofAbraham Bloemaert, and was also taught by his own elder brother. In 1646 he went to Berlin, where he became court painter toLouise-Henriette, wife of the ElectorFrederick William of Brandenburg. He returned to Utrecht in 1664.[7]
Honthorst is often referred to as "Gherardo delle notti" ("Gerrit of the Nights") by modern Italians.[8] However, the nickname does not actually appear in any known Italian sources dating before Honthorst's death. Surviving Italian documents from before 1656 refer to the artist as either "Gherardo Fiammingo" ("Gerrit the Fleming") or "Gherardo Hollandese" ("Gerrit the Dutchman"), emphasizing his foreignness rather than his trademark skill at rendering nocturnal lighting. It was only in the 18th century that the nickname "Gherardo delle notti" came into widespread use.[9]
Honthorst was a prolific artist. His most attractive pieces are those in which he cultivates the style of Caravaggio, often tavern scenes with musicians, gamblers and people eating. He had great skill atchiaroscuro, often painting scenes illuminated by a single candle.[5]
Some of his pieces were portraits of the Duke of Buckingham and his family (Hampton Court), the King and Queen of Bohemia (Hanover andCombe Abbey),Marie de' Medici (Amsterdam Stadthuis), 1628, theStadtholders and their Wives (Amsterdam and The Hague), Charles Louis and Rupert, Charles I's nephews (Louvre, St Petersburg, Combe Abbey and Willin), andBaron Craven (National Portrait Gallery, London). His early style can be seen in theLute-player (1614) in the Louvre, theMartyrdom of St John inSanta Maria della Scala at Rome, or theLiberation of Peter in theGemäldegalerie, Berlin.[5]
His 1620The Adoration of the Shepherds in theUffizi was destroyed in theVia dei Georgofili Massacre of 1993.[10]
Honthorst's 1623The Concert was purchased for an undisclosed sum by theNational Gallery of Art inWashington, D.C., from a private collection in France in November 2013. The painting had not been on view since 1795. The 1.23-by-2.06-metre (4.0 by 6.8 ft)The Concert went on display for the first time in 218 years in a special installation at the National Gallery of Art's West Building on 23 November 2013. It remained there for six months before going on permanent display in the museum's Dutch and Flemish galleries.[11]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Honthorst, Gerard van".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 663–664.
