The flying start of Herman Saftleven's painting career his early Utrecht years (1633-1643)
The early career of Herman Saftleven (1609-1685) is characterised by a rapid succession of styles and genres. In his native city of Rotterdam he painted landscapes in the vein of Jan van Goyen. After moving to Utrecht in 1632 (or early 1633), Saftleven devoted himself to Italianate landscape paintin...
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| Veröffentlicht in: | Oud-Holland |
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| Format: | UnknownFormat |
| Sprache: | eng |
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2022
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Tag hinzufügen | Zusammenfassung: | The early career of Herman Saftleven (1609-1685) is characterised by a rapid succession of styles and genres. In his native city of Rotterdam he painted landscapes in the vein of Jan van Goyen. After moving to Utrecht in 1632 (or early 1633), Saftleven devoted himself to Italianate landscape painting, drawing inspiration from works by colleagues who had returned from Italy, such as Cornelis van Poelenburch. Together with his brother Cornelis Saftleven, Franchoys Ryckhals and David Teniers II, he stood at the cradle of an entirely different genre: the peasant interior with crockery and vegetables, often supplemented with people and animals. In Utrecht, Herman Saftleven quickly got to know the right people, who helped him to move up the social ladder. He married Anna van Vliet, daughter of Levina van Westhuysen and master painter Dirck van Vliet, in 1633. From Anna’s guardian – the influential Utrecht magistrate Godard van Reede – the Saftleven brothers received a crucial commission to produce a portrait of the magistrate’s family. On a large canvas, dated 1634, Cornelis painted the portraits and Herman took care of the Italianate vista. Herman’s second important commission was to create the painting Silvio and Dorinda, which he realised together with Hendrick Bloemaert in 1635. The Stadholder couple Frederik Hendrik and Amalia van Solms had ordered it as part of a decoration programme for a room in Honselersdijk Castle, south of The Hague. Herman was again responsible for the landscape, while Bloemaert executed the figures. These two commissions gave Herman the flying start he needed to make a living from painting. In 1639 Godard van Reede sold a house to Herman and Anna in Achter Sint Pieter in Utrecht. The couple had likely rented it from him in the previous years. They would go on to live there for the rest of their lives. As members of the Remonstrant Church they belonged to a small, but influential religious minority. In the early 1640s, Saftleven produced several paintings with biblical scenes, including Christ predicts the destruction of Jerusalem, in which he incorporated a part of Utrecht’s Dom Church. By freely ‘quoting’ architectural elements from his surroundings, Saftleven deliberately placed himself in a tradition established and carried on by several Utrecht artists. |
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| Beschreibung: | Illustrationen |
| ISSN: | 0030-672X |