Govert Flinck | |
|---|---|
 Self-portrait, circa 1640, Oil on panel,66 × 51.4 cm,Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow,Scotland | |
| Born | (1615-01-25)25 January 1615 |
| Died | 2 February 1660(1660-02-02) (aged 45) |
| Education | Rembrandt van Rijn |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Dutch Golden Age Baroque |
Govert (orGovaert)Teuniszoon Flinck (25 January 1615 – 2 February 1660) was a Dutchpainter of theDutch Golden Age.
Born atKleve, capital of theDuchy of Cleves, which was occupied at the time by the United Provinces, he was apprenticed by his father to a silkmercer, but having secretly acquired a passion foretching and drawing, was sent toLeeuwarden, where he boarded in the house ofLambert Jacobszoon, aMennonite, better known as an itinerant preacher than as a painter.[1]
Here Flinck was joined byJacob Backer, and the companionship of a youth determined like himself to be an artist only confirmed his passion for painting. Amongst the neighbours of Jacobszon at Leeuwarden were the sons and relations ofRombertus van Uylenburgh, whose daughterSaskia marriedRembrandt in 1634. Other members of the same family lived inAmsterdam, cultivating the arts either professionally or as amateurs. The pupils of Lambert probably gained some knowledge of Rembrandt by intercourse with the Ulenburgs. CertainlyJoachim von Sandrart, who visited Holland in 1637, found Flinck acknowledged as one of Rembrandt's best pupils, and living habitually in the house of the dealerHendrick van Uylenburgh at Amsterdam.[1]
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. It was after his time with Rembrandt that he took up the material ofblue paper for drawings with his colleagues Jacob Backer and Jacob van Loo.[2] With aspirations as ahistory painter, however, he looked to the swelling forms and grand action ofPeter Paul Rubens, which led to many commissions for official and diplomatic painting. Flinck's relations with Cleves became in time very important. He was introduced to the court of theGreat Elector,Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg, who possessed the Duchy and who married in 1646Louisa of Orange. He obtained the patronage ofJohn Maurice of Nassau, who was madeStadtholder of Cleves in 1649.[1]
In 1652 a citizen of Amsterdam, Flinck married in 1656 an heiress, Sophie van der Houven, daughter of a director of theDutch East India Company. Flinck was already well known in the patrician circles over which the brothersCornelis andAndries de Graeff[3] and the aldermanJan Six presided; he was on terms of intimacy with the poetJoost van den Vondel and the treasurer Johannes Uitenbogaard. In his house, adorned with casts after the Antique, costumes, and a noble collection of prints, he often received the stadtholder John Maurice, whose portrait is still preserved in the work of the learnedCaspar Barlaeus. Flinck died in Amsterdam on 2 February 1660 at the age of 45.[4]
The earliest of Flinck's authentic pieces is aportrait of a lady, dated 1636, in theHerzog Anton Ulrich Museum. His first subject picture is theBlessing of Jacob (1638), in theRijksmuseum Amsterdam. Both are thoroughly Rembrandtesque in effect as well as in vigour of touch and warmth of flesh tints. The fourcivic guards of 1642, andthe twelve musketeers with their president in an arm-chair (1648); in theStadhuis, Amsterdam, are fine specimens of composed portrait groups. But the best of Flinck's productions in this style is thepeace of Münster in the Rijksmuseum, a canvas with 19 life-size figures full of animation in the faces, "radiant with Rembrandtesque colour," and admirably distributed. Flinck here painted his own likeness to the left in a doorway. Themannered period of Flinck is amply illustrated in theMarcus Curius Dentatus refuses the gifts of the Samnites, andSolomon receiving Wisdom, in thePalace on the Dam at Amsterdam. Here it is that Flinck shows most defects, being faulty in arrangement, gaudy in tint, flat and shallow in execution, that looks as if it had been smeared with violet powder androuge.[5]
The chronology of Flinck's works, so far as they are seen in public galleries, comprises, in addition to the foregoing, theGrey Beard of 1639 atDresden,A Young Archer from 1640 in theWallace Collection, theGirl of 1641 at theLouvre, a portrait group of a male and female (1646) inRotterdam, and a lady (1651) inBerlin.[5]
In November 1659 theburgomaster of Amsterdam contracted with Flinck for 12 canvases to represent four heroic figures ofDavid andSamson andManius Curius Dentatus andHoratius Cocles, and scenes from theBatavians andRomans. Flinck was unable to finish more than the sketches.[5] After his deathRembrandt was asked to fill one of the commissions, and produced his last great history picture,The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis, which the authorities rejected.[6]
In the same year he received a flattering acknowledgment from the town council of Cleves and the completion of a picture of Solomon which was a counterpart of the composition at Amsterdam. This and other pictures and portraits, such as those of Friedrich Wilhelm andJohn Maurice, and theallegory ofLouisa of Orange attended by Victory and Fame and other figures at the cradle of the first-born son of the elector, have disappeared.[citation needed] Of several pictures which were painted for the Great Elector, none are preserved except theExpulsion ofHagar in the Berlin museum.[5]
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Media related toGovert Flinck at Wikimedia Commons
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Flinck, Govert".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 519–520.
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