ART “4”
“2”-DAY 16 March
v.8.10 |
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Born on 16 (22?) March 1822: Marie-Rosalie
Bonheur, nicknamed “Rosa Mazeltov” (because
she was Jewish), French Realist
painter and sculptor, specialized in Animals,
who died on 25 May 1899. She made a large number of pictures, studies, drawings,
and etchings. — She received her training from her father, Raymond Bonheur [–1849], an artist and ardent Saint-Simonian who encouraged her artistic career and independence. Precocious and talented, she began making copies in the Louvre at the age of 14 and first exhibited at the Salon in 1841. Her sympathetic portrayal of animals was influenced by prevailing trends in natural history (e.g. Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire) and her deep affinity for animals, especially horses. Bonheur’s art, as part of the Realist current that emerged in the 1840s, was grounded in direct observation of nature and meticulous draftsmanship. She kept a small menagerie, frequented slaughterhouses and dissected animals to gain anatomical knowledge. Although painting was her primary medium, she also sculpted, or modeled, studies of animals, several of which were exhibited at the Salons, including a bronze Study for a Bull (1843) and Sheep (bronze). In 1845 she attracted favorable notice at the Salon from Théophile Doré. In 1848 she received a lucrative commission from the State for Ploughing in the Nivernais (1849), which, when exhibited the next year, brought her further critical and popular acclaim. Typical of the Realist interest in rural society manifested in the contemporary works of Gustave Courbet [10 Jun 1819 – 31 Dec 1877] and Jean-François Millet [04 Oct 1814 – 20 Jan 1875], Ploughing was inspired by the rustic novel La Mare au diable (1846) of George Sand. Bonheur exhibited regularly at the Salon until 1855. Her paintings sold well and were especially popular in Great Britain and the US. — Rosa Bonheur was born in Bordeaux. She was the eldest of four children, all of whom were artists: Auguste Bonheur [1824-1884] painted animals and landscape; Juliette Bonheur [1830-1891] was honorably mentioned at the exhibition of 1855; Isidore Bonheur [1827–] was a sculptor of animals. At an early age Rosa was taught to draw by her father, and he, perceiving her very remarkable talent, permitted her to abandon the business of dressmaking, to which, much against her will, she had been put, in order to devote herself wholly to art. From 1840 to 1845 she exhibited at the salon, and five times received a prize; in 1848 a medal was awarded to her. Her fame dates more especially from the exhibition of 1855; from that time Rosa Bonheur's works were much sought after in England, where collectors and public galleries competed eagerly for them. What is chiefly remarkable and admirable in her work is that, like her contemporary, Jacques Raymond Brascassat [1804-1867], she represents animals as they really are, as she saw them in the countryside. Her gift of accurate observation was, however, allied to a certain dryness of style in painting; she often failed to give a perfect sense of atmosphere. On the other hand, the anatomy of her animals is always faultlessly true. There is nothing feminine in her handling; her treatment is always manly and firm. Of her many works we may note the following: Ploughing in the Nivernais (1848), The Horse Fair (1853), of which she made a copy; and Hay Harvest in Auvergne (1855). After 1867 Rosa Bonheur exhibited but once in the salon, in 1899, a few weeks before her death. She lived quietly at her country house at By, near Fontainebleau, where for some years she had held tuition-free drawing classes. — Her students included Anna Elizabeth Klumpke and Marie Cazin. — {Par bonheur j'ai trouvé des images par Bonheur.} — LINKS — Royalty at Home (1885, 39x56cm; 755x1100pix, 622kb _ ZOOM to 1676x2429pix, 2805kb) _ A lion and lioness lying down in a desert landscape. — Palette (1885, mostly oval, palette-shaped, placed diagonally in a rectangle 48x44cm; 879x918pix, 613kb _ ZOOM to 1850x1939pix, 2599kb) _ the original is painted on an actual painter's palette, with the various colors of paint dried up on it, and, to show that it is not just an abandoned palette, a small sketch of a lying deer in the middle. {Have lazy painters ever imitated this, minus the deer?} — Lion (dans les Montagnes de l'Atlas?) (1880, 39x48cm) — Retour de la Moisson (25x70cm) — Muletiers Traversant les Pyrénées — Un Couple de Chevreuils dans la Forêt de Fontainebleau (1893, 37x46cm) — Doe And Fawn in a Thicket (1868, 65x58cm) — A Horse and Donkey in a Hilly Landscape (55x65cm) — Le Labourage Nivernais: le Sombrage (76x150cm) — (A woman in oriental or ancient Roman Dress?) image was formerly labeled Madame René Canuel — Le Sevrage des Veaux (1879, 65x81cm; 398x500pix, 74kb) — La Foire aux Chevaux (1855, 245x507cm, 237x500pix, 45kb) — Two Horses at a Door (19x10cm; 475x800pix, 54kb) —(060311) |
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Born on 16 March 1771: baron Antoine-Jean
Gros, French Neoclassical
/ Romantic
painter, who commited suicide on 26 June 1835.
— He studied under Jacques-Louis
David. — Gros was trained by his father, a miniaturist and then by Jacques-Louis David. Although he revered David and became one of his favorite students, Gros had a passionate nature and he was drawn more to the color and vibrancy of Rubens and the great Venetian painters than to the Neoclassical purity of his master. In 1793 Gros went to Italy, where he met Napoléon and was appointed his official battle painter. He followed Napoléon on his campaigns, and his huge paintings such as The Battle of Eylau (1808) are among the most stirring images of the Napoléonic era. Compared to the contemporary war scenes of Goya, they are glamorous lies, but they are painted with such dramatic skill and panache that they cannot but be admired on their own terms. When David went into exile after the fall of Napoléon, Gros took over his studio, and tried to work in a more consciously Neoclassical style. He never again approached the quality of his Napoléonic pictures, however (although he painted excellent portraits), and haunted by a sense of failure he drowned himself in the Seine at Meudon. Gros is regarded as one of the leading figures in the development of Romanticism; the color and drama of his work influenced Géricault, Delacroix, and his student Richard Parkes Bonington [1802-1828] among others. His other students included George Peter Alexander Healy, Charles Muller, Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury, Joseph-Louis-Hippolyte Bellangé, Thomas Couture, Paul Hippolyte Delaroche, George P.A. Healy, Antoine-Louis Barye, Carl Joseph Begas [1794-1854], Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet, Jean-Désiré-Gustave Courbet [1819-1877], Joseph-Désiré Court, François Diday, Jean-François-Théodore Gechter, Jean-Antoine-Théodore Gudin, Nicolas-Auguste Hesse, Paul Huet, Pierre-Jules Jollivet, Eugène-Louis Lami, Jean-Charles Langlois, Charles Martinet, Louis Martinet, Louis Mazer, Carl Peter Mazer, Antonin-Marie Moine, Henry Bonaventure Monnier, Johann David Passavant, Charles Philipon, Denis-Auguste-Marie Raffet, Louis Léopold Robert, Camille-Joseph-Etienne Roqueplan, Philippe Rousseau, Philippe Schnetz, Jean Victor Schnetz, Émile Signol, François Simonau. — Antoine-Jean Gros à l'Âge de Vingt Ans (1891, 59x48cm; 465x380pix, 16kb), attributed to François Gérard. — LINKS — Napoléon Bonaparte on Arcole Bridge on 17 November 1796 (1797;_ ZOOMable) _ Napoléon Bonaparte on Arcole Bridge (Gros' copy of the 1797 painting) _ Generals Bonaparte and Augereau took the bridge at Arcola, a town in Italy, on 15 November 1796 and defeated the Austrian army two days later. — Napoléon on the Battlefield of Eylau on 09 February 1807 (1808; _ ZOOMable) _ detail — Bonaparte Visiting the Pesthouse in Jaffa, 11 March 1799 (1804, 714x1000pix, 420kb _ ZOOMable to 1972x2763pix, 1721kb) — Madame Bruyère (1000x834pix, 315kb _ ZOOMable) — Mademoiselle Récamier (1000x834pix, 315kb _ ZOOMable) — Madame Récamier _ Juliette Récamier [1777-1849] was one of the foremost society beauties of the period. She was the daughter of a banker from Lyon. In 1793 she had married a 43-year-old banker, a business acquaintance of her father. _ compare Jacques-Louis David's Madame Récamier (ZOOMable) François Gérard's Juliette Récamier, (1805, 225x148cm; 722x483pix, 20kb) René Magritte's Perspective I: David's Madame Recamier (1951, 60x80cm; 483x640pix, 49kb)] — The Battle of Abukir (1806, 578x968cm) — Christine Boyer (1800, 214x134cm) — Madame Pasteur (1796, 86x67cm) —(060316) |
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Born on 16 (14?) March 1665: Giuseppe-Maria
Crespi “lo Spagnuolo”, Bolognese painter, draftsman,
and printmaker who died on 16 July 1747. — Not to be confused with
his relative Daniele
Crespi [1597 – 19 Jul 1630], nor with Giovanni
Battista Crespi “il Cerano” [1557 – 23 Oct 1632] — Giuseppe Maria Crespi was the most original Bolognese artist of his time, producing religious, mythological and genre works, these last being particularly innovative. Of his four sons, Antonio Crespi [1712–1781] and Luigi Crespi assisted their father in his later years and adopted his style. Luigi was also a writer, producing, among other works, a collection of biographies of his father and various contemporary Bolognese artists. Giuseppe Maria Crespi's religious and mythological works are distinguished by a free brushstroke and a painterly manner. He also painted spirited genre scenes, which by their quality, content and quantity distinguish him as one of the first Italian painters of high standing to devote serious attention to the depiction of contemporary life. Such paintings as Woman Laundering (1705) or Woman Washing Dishes (1725) offer straightforward glimpses of domestic chores in images that are startlingly novel for the period and look forward to the art of Jean-Siméon Chardin, Jean-François Millet, and Honoré Daumier. — Crespi reacted against the high-Baroque academic tradition on which he was trained by Carlo Cignani and Domenico Maria Canuti, specializing in genre subjects, with violent chiaroscuro effects of brilliant color against dark backgrounds. They are in the tradition of the everyday-life paintings of the Carracci, but go far beyond them in their sense of unvarnished reality (The Hamlet). He also painted religious paintings in his naturalistic style, such as the Saint Giovanni Nepomuceno Confessing to the Queen of Bohemia (1743). He was an outstanding teacher, numbering Giovanni Battista Piazzetta and Pietro Longhi among his students, and he exercised a great influence on Venetian 18th century painting. He can be considered the only real genius of the late Bolognese school. — The students of Crespi included Pietro Maria Guarienti, Pietro Longhi III, Lodovico Mattioli. — LINKS — Self-Portrait (1700, 60x50cm) _ Formerly the painting was believed to be the self-portrait of Domenico Feti. X-ray investigations revealed a female head on the left side of the painting. — Cardinal Prospero Lambertini (1740, 80 x 58 cm) _ Prospero Lambertini (1675-1758), was pope from 1740 to 1758 as Benedict XIV. He became cardinal in 1728, and archbishop of Bologna between 1731 and 1740. — The Flea (1709, 28x24cm) _ This is one of Crespi's best-know paintings. Through the oiled paper in the window frame, a milky light falls into the humble servant's room. Clothing is scattered untidily on the floor and thrown over a roughly made bench. A few household objects and some washing on a bar hang against the bare brick wall, whose only remaining decoration consists of a few personal items. The pretty woman who lives in this room, a maid or servant girl, is sitting on the edge of the bed, dressed only in a shift. As she concentrates on her search for a flea that has probably hidden on her breast, she reveals her round knees, her plump arms and her well formed shoulder. The complete intimacy of this scene and the still-life of the utensils anticipates a theme that was to become typical of late 18th century taste: innocence glimpsed unawares. AIthough there are a number of allegorical reflections — the little dog at the end of the bed, the roses in the vase next to the cosmetic jar they nevertheless do not seriously mean to identify this girl with Venus. The "keyhole perspective" also leaves it up to the spectator to choose his or her own interpretation of the scene. — Hecuba Blinding Polymnestor (173x184cm) _ Giuseppe Maria Crespi, also surnamed lo Spagnolo, was heir to various artistic traditions. Trained in his youth in the rich Bolognese heritage of the Carracci as well as the Venetian school, he later drew artistic inspiration from north of the Alps, in particular in his commissions in Florence for Prince Ferdinand of Tuscany. Crespi's oeuvre plays on several registers. He is known on the one hand for his folk-style genre scenes, the intimacy of which frequently carries over into his religious works, full of tenderness and domestic details. At the same time, when depicting religious, antique or mythological themes, he is not afraid to produce works of a much more monumental and dramatic character, at times even with a decidedly tragic slant, as is the case here. The theme is probably taken from Hecuba, a tragedy by the antique Greek author Euripides. During the Trojan war Hecuba had sent her youngest son, together with a large fortune, to safety with Polymnestor, her son-in-law and King of Thrace. Polymnestor, however, abused Hecuba's trust in a dreadful manner, murdering and bespoiling the defenceless child he was supposed to protect. Crespi's painting depicts Hecuba's revenge for this foul deed. To the left Polymnestor is held fast by a Trojan woman. To the right Hecuba rushes up to him and puts out her son-in-law's eyes. The painter has masterfully succeeded in converting the dramatic release of the mother's wrath on the murderer of her descendant into a powerful picture that leaves a lasting impression. The pictures rise up out of the dark background in a very mellow and nervous style of painting, a combination that had earlier proven its expressive accuracy in the late works of Titian and Caravaggio. Polymnestor, flailing helplessly in the air, has no recourse against Hecuba, who in her fluttering garments wreaks out just punishment with the elegance and precision of an angel of wrath, whilst her companion resolutely turns her head away from the dreadful judgement. By depicting Hecuba entirely from behind, in foreground, the painter also enables the viewer to identify to a certain degree with the mother as the executor of a just punishment. |
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Born on 16 March 1667: Antoine
Rivalz, French painter who died on 07 September 1735. —
[Did Rivalz have rivals?] — En 1726, Antoine Rivalz fonde une véritable école de dessin, indépendante de celle de Paris, qui deviendra en 1750 l'Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture de Toulouse, la seule en province à bénéficier du soutien royal. Jean-François Lassave, Jacques Gamelin, Jean-Baptiste Despax, Pierre Subleyras, artistes toulousains de renom, fréquentent l'Académie et prolongent l'inclination classicisante de leur maître. — LINKS — Autoportrait devant l'esquisse de la chute des anges rebelles (1726, 83x64cm) — Jean-Pierre Rivalz (124x99cm) Après avoir suscité de multiples interrogations sur l'identité de l'artiste qui l'a réalisé, ce portrait a finalement été attribué par en 1956 à Antoine, qui l'a vraisemblablement peint sur une ébauche de son père. Jean-Pierre Rivalz, peintre et architecte de la ville de Toulouse, est ici représenté dans cette double fonction, à mi-corps devant une table de travail encombrée de livres et de pinceaux, consultant le traité de Vitruve, et tournant le dos à son tableau figurant l'Annonciation. Antoine, de retour d'Italie, aurait recomposé le trop paisible portrait de son père, réalisé dans sa jeunesse, sur un mode plus tumultueux et passionné : l'habit comporte des plis nombreux, la pile de livres s'écroule, la main froisse avec nervosité des pages où se reflète abondamment la lumière. Dans cette toile, toute droite est bannie, alors que les courbes sont soulignées, donnant une touche baroque à ce portrait, qui a amené à considérer pendant longtemps cette toile comme un autoportrait de Jean-Pierre Rivalz. — La Présidente de Riquet en Diane Chasseresse (123x101cm) _ L'iconographie de cette oeuvre, qui paraît décalée par rapport aux thèmes habituellement traités par Rivalz, se justifie par la personnalité de son commanditaire. Agé de 65 ans, Jean- Matthias de Riquet, l'époux du modèle, semble avoir imposé le caractère mythologique de ce portrait. Le nu héroïque sert de prétexte, à travers le genou et le sein découverts, à un érotisme tout à fait exceptionnel dans le climat social de Toulouse. Par un style vigoureux, Rivalz rompt avec l'élégante mièvrerie des portraits mythologiques qui caractérisaient le siècle précédent, et exclut notamment tout sourire de ce visage. — Enlèvement des Sabines (120x171cm) _ After a stay in Rome, Rivalz became the painter of the city of Toulouse. _ Iam res Romana adeo erat ualida ut cuilibet finitimarum civitatum bello par esset; sed penuria mulierum hominis aetatem duratura magnitudo erat, quippe quibus nec domi spes prolis nec cum finitimis conubia essent. Tum ex consilio patrum Romulus legatos circa vicinas gentes misit qui societatem conubiumque novo populo peterent: urbes quoque, ut cetera, ex infimo nasci; dein, quas sua virtus ac di iuvent, magnas opes sibi magnumque nomen facere; satis scire, origini Romanae et deos adfuisse et non defuturam virtutem; proinde ne gravarentur homines cum hominibus sanguinem ac genus miscere. Nusquam benigne legatio audita est: adeo simul spernebant, simul tantam in medio crescentem molem sibi ac posteris suis metuebant. Ac plerisque rogitantibus dimissi ecquod feminis quoque asylum aperuissent; id enim demum compar conubium fore. Aegre id Romana pubes passa et haud dubie ad vim spectare res coepit. Cui tempus locumque aptum ut daret Romulus aegritudinem animi dissimulans ludos ex industria parat Neptuno equestri sollemnes; Consualia vocat. Indici deinde finitimis spectaculum iubet; quantoque apparatu tum sciebant aut poterant, concelebrant ut rem claram exspectatamque facerent. Multi mortales conuenere, studio etiam videndae novae urbis, maxime proximi quique, Caeninenses, Crustumini, Antemnates; iam Sabinorum omnis multitudo cum liberis ac coniugibus venit. Inuitati hospitaliter per domos cum situm moeniaque et frequentem tectis urbem vidissent, mirantur tam breui rem Romanam crevisse. Vbi spectaculi tempus venit deditaeque eo mentes cum oculis erant, tum ex composito orta vis signoque dato iuventus Romana ad rapiendas virgines discurrit. Magna pars forte in quem quaeque inciderat raptae: quasdam forma excellentes, primoribus patrum destinatas, ex plebe homines quibus datum negotium erat domos deferebant. Vnam longe ante alias specie ac pulchritudine insignem a globo Thalassi cuiusdam raptam ferunt multisque sciscitantibus cuinam eam ferrent, identidem ne quis violaret Thalassio ferri clamitatum; inde nuptialem hanc vocem factam. Turbato per metum ludicro maesti parentes virginum profugiunt, incusantes violati hospitii foedus deumque invocantes cuius ad sollemne ludosque per fas ac fidem decepti venissent. Nec raptis aut spes de se melior aut indignatio est minor. Sed ipse Romulus circumibat docebatque patrum id superbia factum qui conubium finitimis negassent; illas tamen in matrimonio, in societate fortunarum omnium civitatisque et quo nihil carius humano generi sit liberum fore; mollirent modo iras et, quibus fors corpora dedisset, darent animos; saepe ex iniuria postmodum gratiam ortam; eoque melioribus usuras viris quod adnisurus pro se quisque sit ut, cum suam vicem functus officio sit, parentium etiam patriaeque expleat desiderium. Accedebant blanditiae virorum, factum purgantium cupiditate atque amore, quae maxime ad muliebre ingenium efficaces preces sunt. TITI LIVI AB VRBE CONDITA LIBER I, IX (English translation at Livy's The History of Rome) — L'Annonciation (70x57cm) |
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>Born on 16 March 1748 (1750?): Isaak
Ouwater, Amsterdam Dutch painter who was buried on 04 March
1793. — He worked in the tradition of the topographical town portrait, which originated in the northern Netherlands in the late 17th century, and he was greatly inspired by the work of Jan van der Heyden. Although he lived in Amsterdam for the greater part of his life, Ouwater travelled all over the country, making sketches that he used as a basis for his oil paintings. His itinerary can be traced from his dated works. In 1782 he stayed in Haarlem, where his paintings included the Grote Markt; that same year he painted the Buitenhof in The Hague, and in 1784 he apparently worked in Hoorn, where he produced sketches for two topographical pictures. He also made sketches of street scenes for later paintings, in Utrecht, Edam, and Delft. Among the scenes he painted in his native Amsterdam are the View of the Mint Tower (1778; sold London, Sotheby’s, 11 June 1975) and the Westerkerk (1788). His townscapes are characterized by his fresh colors and the meticulous and lucid rendering of his subject, drenched in bright daylight and seen from the viewpoint of the small figures that animate his compositions. — Isaak Ouwater Jr. was baptized at the Amstelkerk in Amsterdam on 31 July 1748 (1750?). From 1852 till 1854 he lived in The Hague. Isaak's father, Isaak Sr., was a painter of landscapes and still lifes. Isaak Jr. lived and worked mainly in Amsterdam. In 1772 he married Anna Louisa Charlotte Dorensia and they had six children. Isaak was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. Isaak Ouwater Jr. probably was taught initially by his father. Soon, he specialized in topographically accurate cityscapes. The only likely teacher of this genre was Jan Ekels I [1724-1781], but there is no evidence that Ouwater studied under him. The genre of topographical cityscapes began to flourish in the second half of the seventeenth century, with artists such as Job and Gerrit Berkheyde. Jan van der Heyden [1627-1712] took the genre to great heights. In the eighteenth century topographical drawing, such as the watercolors of Jan de Beyer, ousted topographical painting. While most of Ouwater's contemporaries, like Reinier Vinkeles, Jacob Cats and H.P. Schouten imitated De Beyer, Jan Ekels I and Ouwater continued to a high standard the tradition of the painted cityscape. The genre came to fruition at the moment when wealthy town-dwellers became proud of the cities they had created in the seventeenth century. Following the 1648 Peace of Munster, Holland was at the zenith of her power, able to look back on what she had achieved after years of struggle against the Habsburg hegemony. By the time Ouwater had started to paint his views of Amsterdam, Holland's position in Europe had been reduced to a modest one, but pride in the past remained. — De 18de-eeuwse schilder Isaak Ouwater maakte vooral stadsgezichten. Dit topografische genre vond zijn oorsprong in Nederlandse schilderkunst uit de 17de eeuw. Vooral het werk van de laat-17de-eeuwse schilder Jan van der Heyden vormde voor Ouwater een belangrijke inspiratiebron. Zijn hele leven woonde en werkte Ouwater in Amsterdam, maar hij maakte verschillende reizen door Holland. De schetsen, die hij tijdens deze tochten maakte, vormden de basis voor stadsportretten van Haarlem, Den Haag, Hoorn en andere steden. De meestal klein afgebeelde figuren verlevendigen het werk van Ouwater. — LINKS — The Lottery Office (1779, 39x34cm; 970x859pix, 185kb _ ZOOM to 1600x1403pix, 402kb) _ detail (1100x786pix, 195kb) _ Ouwater was the best follower of Jan van der Heyden. He concentrated on cityscapes. Although Ouwater's paintings can be a little dry and airless, and, when compared to to van der Heyden's, appear timid, he always displays a fine sense of design as is evident in his Lottery Office. Here his debt to van der Heyden's manner also is unmistakable; in it his minute handling is best enjoyed with a magnifying glass. But his close, frontal view of the street scene is original. The painting is an exact rendering of the façades of three houses in the Kalverstraat in Amsterdam which have an antiquarian interest that enhances the painting's historical value. The lottery office that the crowd is trying to enter was first inhabited by Clement de Jonghe, who posed for Rembrandt and was a publisher of Rembrandt's etchings. The house on the right was once occupied by Jacob van Ruisdael, the one on the left by Aert van der Neer. — A crowd has gathered outside a bookshop and lottery agency in Amsterdam's Kalverstraat. It is 25 October 1779, and the sale of lottery tickets for the 66th General Lottery has begun. Men, bent on obtaining a ticket, push and shove around the entrance. The eighteenth-century architectural painter, Isaak Ouwater, has depicted the event in great detail. However, Ouwater has filled in much of the picture with windows and the red bricks of the houses - a highly unusual composition. Ouwater was commissioned to paint this work by Jan de Groot, the owner of the bookshop and lottery agency. A large crowd has gathered at the entrance. Everyone is pushing and shoving, trying to get in first. Above the doorway is a sign announcing the sale of tickets: 'Collection here for the General Lottery'. The General Lottery was the forerunner of Holland's later National Lottery. People are beginning to gather. They watch, amused by the excited, clamoring punters. On either side of the bookshop is a boarding house. On the left De Graaf van Holland and on the right 'T Hof van Holland. The guests have opened the windows to watch the commotion. On the left, two men have even come out of their boarding house. A green crown as been placed on a stick, with a fish suspended in the crown. This means that there is herring on sale in the town. On the right of the foreground, behind the dog, an orphan boy, recognisable by his red and black coat, rushes towards the scene. Ouwater painted precisely what he saw. Even the pediment over of the bookshop door. The Latin text reads: 'As long as grindstone continues to be turned for writers, it is good for literature'. The red letters in the text can also be read as Roman numerals: '1728'. This was the year in which a bookshop was established in this building. Indeed, the façade was probably also renovated at this time. On a wooden relief above the door is a portrait of Hugo de Groot. This woodcarving has also been preserved and hangs in the same gallery as this painting by Ouwater. In 1779, the book dealer and art collector Jan de Groot commissioned Ouwater to paint a picture of his house, because Ouwater was a master at painting buildings. Apart from this picture, Ouwater also made a number of drawings of the house on paper. These may have been preliminary studies for the painting. One example, a watercolor shows some of the persons who are also in the painting. The excited crowd, which enlivens this painting, is missing from that piece. — De Nieuwe Kerk en de achterkant van het stadhuis te Amsterdam (1782, 59x73pix; 1299x1600pix, 260kb) _ Isaak Ouwater has here painted a well-known part of Amsterdam which remains largely the same today. It on Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal just behind Dam Square. On the right is the back of the stately town hall, now the Royal Palace. On the left is the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church). In the distance is the tower of the Oude Kerk (Old Church). Ouwater has painted the scene with great precision, depicting every stone and groove in the buildings. You can even count the cobbled stones in the street. Only a third of the back of the town hall has been depicted. This part lies in shadow, making it a single large, dark surface. This is an unusual view of the town hall which was usually presented in all its glory from the front. It was built in the middle of the seventeenth century. The size of the building and the large number of expensive decorations were intended to emphasise Amsterdam's position as the most powerful city in the world. In the eighteenth century this was no longer the case. To the right of the New Church is a glimpse of Old Church. This was given a beautiful new spire with a new set of bells in 1565. Plans were made to give the New Church an even larger spire than the Old Church, although this never happened. Financial problems called a halt to building work in 1652. In 1785, part of the foundation for the spire was demolished. A painting by Hendrik van der Burgh reveals the effect the spire would have had on Amsterdam's skyline. The Royal Palace, formerly the town hall, still dominates Amsterdam's Dam Square [photo; 740x469pix, 77kb]. — A View in Amsterdam (1778, 53x63cm; 337x400pix, 26kb) _ Dutch topographical painting of the latter half of the eighteenth century is characterized by its scrupulous attention to detail and precise observation of nature and does not strictly imitate earlier painting. A striking feature of these eighteenth-century views is a predominant lack of activity: the light falls clearly on open squares and canals, a few people are about who seem to stand still and have nothing to do. The effect is rather that of the intimate Dutch interior, but here the well-ordered lives of the citizens move out into the street. In front of the pleasant Dutch houses there seems to hover an endless, almost unreal, quiet. These characteristics are perfectly exemplified in the work of Isaak Ouwater. This painting depicts the Westerkerk which is the largest and perhaps the most monumental of the Renaissance churches in that city. The church was built around 1620 from plans by Hendrick de Keyser, who died in 1621, and the steeple was completed in 1638 based on an altered design. In this painting the West Church is seen across the Keizersgracht and the houses beyond the church are on the Prinsengracht. The house to the right of the church was a merchant's house constructed in 1618. The impressive building on the left was a guard-house built in 1619 and was called the West-Hall. The view in Ouwater's painting is almost identical to that painted by Jan van der Heyden [1637 – 28 Mar 1712] during the previous century, View of the Westerkerk, Amsterdam (1671, 41x59cm; 768x1117pix, 108kb), with figures by Adriaen van de Velde [1635-1672]. –- Ouderkerk, near Amsterdam (1779, 56x77cm; 900x1233pix, 72kb _ .ZOOM to 1575x2158pix, 170kb) _ This is a view from the west bank of the river Amstel looking upstream towards the village. Ouderkerk is a small village a short distance south of Amsterdam, which has so far firmly resisted being absorbed into the encroaching suburbs. The bridge known as De Lange Brug lasted with alterations until 1938 (the lifting section survives in the Openluchtmuseum in Arnhem), but the inn facing it, De Oude Prins, still stands. The church beyond is seen after its rebuilding in 1774-5. The gentleman greeted by a couple in the foreground has just alighted from a horse-drawn passenger ferry, still then the principal means of transport in a land rather more water-logged than it is today; the fodder on the quay beyond is for the horse. Ouderkerk was the first stage on the busy trekvaart route from Amsterdam to Utrecht and Gouda. A drawing by Johannes or Hermanus Petrus Schouten of the same view from the same point, excluding the tea-house at the extreme left of the picture –- View of the Westerkerk (1779, 52x66cm; 908x1190pix, 97kb) seen across from the Keizersgracht, Amsterdam. The Westerkerk was the largest newly built Protestant church in Europe, the burial place of Rembrandt and Nicolaes Berchem. The tower was 85-meters tall, the highest of the city. The church was built from 1620 to 1638, to designs of Hendrick de Keyser [1565-1621]. His son Peter de Keyser finished the work, modifying the design from his father's mannerist octagonal tower to a square more in keeping with the current classical taste. To the left of the church is the Westerhal, another building in the transitional style between mannerism and classicism. Built in 1618-1619 to the designs of Hendrick Staets and Cornelis Danckertsz., it housed a meat hall on the ground floor and a civic guardhouse on the top. The building was demolished in 1857. The large double-gabled house on the right of the painting was built in 1618 in the style of Hendrick de Keyser, and demolished in 1918. In his delightful, sunny atmosphere and meticulous rendering of the brick architecture, Ouwater proves himself a worthy follower of Jan van der Heyden [05 Mar 1637– 28 Mar 1712]. In this case he was directly influenced by Jan van der Heyden, who had painted this facade of the Westerkerk twice. Both these views are now in London, one in the Wallace Collection: _ View of the Westerkerk, Amsterdam (1671, 41x59cm; 768x1117pix, 108kb), the other in the National Gallery: _ View of the Westerkerk, Amsterdam (1660, 91x114cm; 840x1070pix, 161kb), this last painting was owned by the churchmasters of the Westerkerk until 1864 and must have been seen there by Ouwater. Ouwater painted his version of the Westerkerk from the same spot as Van der Heyden. In it the church is seen more to the left, placed off-center. because it was originally the left-hand painting of a pendant pair. —(080223) |
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