Artwork of the day

Self Portrait, Peter Paul Rubens, 1638-1640, oil on canvas, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna 

 

434 years since Rubens' birth. He was born on 28 June 1577 and became one of the major exponents of Baroque.

Artwork of the day

Four Members of the Amsterdam Coopers Guild, Gerbrand Van de Eeckhout, 1657, oil on canvas, National Gallery London 

The final kind of Dutch portraiture to discuss (although after a long gap due to arm pains) is the group portrait. Closely connected to professional and civic identity, it was widely commissioned not by families or individuals but by guilds and other professional bodies. These paintings were usually displayed in professional board rooms and their number in the Dutch Republic is exceptionally great.

One example is the artwork examined today by Gerbrand Van de Eeckhout. Four men from the Amsterdam guild of coopers are represented, the individual characteristics of which are portrayed, while their names written in one of the documents on the table. Several parts of the painting show the professional identity of the sitters with most notable being the picture of St Matthew, patron of the guild, holding the axe symbol of his martyrdom but also of the coopers' trade. The dog in front of them is a symbol of fidelity that aims to inspire the trust of the viewer along with the calm but determined faces of the protagonists. The painting looks like a photographic snapshot as the four men seem to spontaneously interrupt their work only for a moment to look at someone who has just entered the room.

Artwork of the day

Self-portrait, Judith Leyster, 1630, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. 

Different from the previous Dutch portraits examined this week not only because it's not a wedding painting, but also because it is a self portrait. This work by Judith Leyster exhibits the way she sees herself not only as a person but also as an artist. Interestingly enough she chooses to do so by smiling to the spectator, posing relaxed in front of an equally happy painting and holding the tools of her craft. She is a genre artist and proudly exhibits so. At the same time she is an upper class lady and her clothes –which she would not wear while working- show this status along with her profession as an artist. What is remarkable about this painting –apart from the skill of Leyster- is the fact that she chose to differentiate herself from the tradition in self-portraits that dictated a more severe look from the sitter/artist.This joyfulness and informality underlines most of her work (two examples are presented below) like that of her teacher Frans Hals. 

 

The concert, Judith Leyster, 1633, oil on canvas, National Museum of Women in Arts, Washington D.C.

Two children with a cat, Judith Leyster, 1629, oil on canvas, private collection

Artwork of the day

Portrait of Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen, Frans Hals, 1622. Oil on canvas. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

 

This painting by Frans Hals is also a marriage portrait like the ones discussed yesterday. Essentially it belongs to the same tradition, the same civilisation (Dutch, 17th century) and probably served similar purposes. It is at the same time however essentially different. This is just one painting representing the happy couple showing clear signs of affection, posing relaxed against an equally happy garden landscape. This seems to be a relationship between equal partners and a happy union. The couple is presented full-length, the woman lying on her husband's arm. Behind them a vine relies on the tree, another symbol of the solidity of their union and the mutual fidelity underlying it. There is no way for us to know whether the happiness portrayed in this painting was real. Hals was undoubtedly a great master of portraiture going for innovating paintings, however documentary and literary sources show that in the 17^th century affectionate relationships were highly praised and sought for in a marriage.

Artwork(s) of the day

Portrait of a man, 1641 and Portrait of a woman, 1640, Johannes Verspronck, Rijksmuseum Twenthe Enschede

During the 17th century, the great economic and cultural growth of the Dutch Republic led to a rise in portraiture. The Dutch higher classes seemed eager to acquire portraits that would capture their image in eternity.

One particular type was the marriage portraits, consisting of two pendant paintings of the married couple. These two examples were created by the famous portraitist of the period, Johannes Verspronck. The attention to the clothes and their rich texture shows that the couple was wealthy belonging to the upper parts of society. The dark background is used to place emphasis on the clothes and the sitters themselves; their faces, their hands, their postures. Conventions on gender roles are obeyed. The man in an active stance comes forward as the powerful party, while the woman is represented more restraint and obedient clasping her hands.

The paintings would face each other. The portrait of the woman was usually placed on the right so that the man would appear as having her at his left side, another indication of the position of the wife inside the marriage.

Artwork of the day

Caravaggio, The Cardsharps, c 1595, Oil on canvas, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth

A dark world of violence, full of quarrelsome individuals and prostitutes, whose company Caravaggio enjoyed in the various taverns and in the streets of Rome, is the scenery where his paintings are often set. This world influenced Caravaggio’s art and is reflected in his work. Various people from the streets and the brothels of Rome feature in his paintings along with other characteristic pieces of roman life. This is especially true for his genre paintings, like the Cardsharps. Inside a tavern three young men –probably portrayed by Caravaggio’s acquaintances- are playing cards. One of them however is clearly being cheated by the other two. Primary sources – particularly legal documents- help us understand this scene which must have been common in the social circles of the artist.