_-_Autoritratto_(1659)_-_Accademia_Carrara_Bergamo.jpg)
Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (19 August 1621 – 29 September 1674[1][2]) was aDutch Golden Agepainter and a favourite student ofRembrandt.[3] He was also an etcher, an amateur poet, a collector and an adviser on art.
Gerbrand was born inAmsterdam, the son of a jeweller, aMennonite who fled after 1585 fromAntwerp to the north. In 1631 his mother died. His father's second wife was Cornelia Dedel, the daughter of a founder of theDelft chamber of theDutch East India Company.
Arnold Houbraken records Van den Eeckhout was a pupil ofRembrandt. A fellow pupil toFerdinand Bol,Nicolaes Maes andGovert Flinck, but regarded as inferior to them in skill and experience; he soon assumed Rembrandt's manner with such success that his pictures were confused with those of his master.[4]
Eeckhout does not merely copy the subjects; he also takes the shapes, the figures, theJewish dress and the pictorial effects of his master. It is difficult to form an exact judgment of Eeckhout's qualities at the outset of his career. His earliest pieces are probably those in which he more faithfully reproduced Rembrandt's peculiarities. Exclusively his is a tinge of green in shadows marring the harmony of the work, a gaudiness of jarring tints, uniform surface and a touch more quick than subtle.[4]
Eeckhout matriculated early in theGild of Amsterdam. As he grew older Eeckhout succeeded best inportraits, for example that of Isaac Commelin (formerly identified as a portrait of the historianOlfert Dapper (1669)),[5] in theStädel collection in Frankfurt. Eeckhout occasionally varied his style. He followedGerard ter Borch inGambling Soldiers, atStafford House, and aSoldiers' Merrymaking, in the collection of themarquess of Bute. Amongst the best of Eeckhout's works areChrist in the Temple (1662), atMunich, and theHaman and Mordecai of 1665, atLuton House.[4]
Eeckhout, unmarried, was also appreciated as art connoisseur, and dealing with poets and scientists. At the end of his life he was living with his sister-in-law, a widow, onHerengracht, at a very prestigious part of the canal. He died in Amsterdam.
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Eeckhout, Gerbrand van den".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 8.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
