Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch: ''Gerrit van Honthorst''; 4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656) was a

Dutch Golden Age painter Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republi ...

who became known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the nickname ''Gherardo delle Notti'' ("Gerard of the Nights"). Early in his career he visited Rome, where he had great success painting in a style influenced by Caravaggio. Following his return to the Netherlands he became a leading portrait painter.

Early life

Gerard van Honthorst - Granida and Daifilo - Google Art Project

Gerard van Honthorst - The procuress - Google Art Project

Van Honthorst was born in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, the son of a decorative painter, and trained under his father, and then under

Abraham Bloemaert Abraham Bloemaert (25 December 1566 – 27 January 1651) was a Dutch painter and printmaker in etching and engraving. He was initially working in the style of the " Haarlem Mannerists", but in the 16th century altered his style in line with the ...

.Brown (1997), p.62

Italy

Having completed his education, Honthorst went to Italy, where he is first recorded in 1616. He was one of the artists from Utrecht who went to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

at around this time, all of whom were to be deeply influenced by the recent art they encountered there. They were named the Utrecht ''caravaggisti''. The other three were Dirk van Baburen, Hendrick ter Bruggen and

Jan van Bijlert Jan Hermansz van Bijlert (1597 or 1598 – November 1671) was a Dutch Golden Age painter from Utrecht, one of the Utrecht Caravaggisti whose style was influenced by Caravaggio. He spent some four years in Italy and was one of the founders of the ...

. In Rome he lodged at the palace of

Vincenzo Giustiniani Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani (13 September 1564 – 27 December 1637) was an aristocratic Italian banker, art collector and intellectual of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, known today largely for the Giustiniani art collection, assembled ...

, where he painted '' Christ Before the High Priest'', now in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

. Giustiniani had an important art collection, and Honthorst was especially influenced by the contemporary artists, including Caravaggio,

Bartolomeo Manfredi Bartolomeo Manfredi (baptised 25 August 1582 – 12 December 1622) was an Italian painter, a leading member of the Caravaggisti (followers of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio) of the early 17th century. Life Manfredi was born in Ostiano, nea ...

and the

Carracci The Carracci were a family of Italian artists. Notable members include: * Agostino Carracci (1557–1602), Italian painter and printmaker * Annibale Carracci (1560–1609), Italian Baroque painter and brother of Agostino Carracci * Ludovico Carracc ...

. He was particularly known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes. Cardinal

Scipione Borghese Scipione Borghese (; 1 September 1577 – 2 October 1633) was an Italian Cardinal, art collector and patron of the arts. A member of the Borghese family, he was the patron of the painter Caravaggio and the artist Bernini. His legacy is the establ ...

became another important patron, securing important commissions for him at '' San Silvestro Della Mariro'',

Montecompatri Monte Compatri () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italian region Latium, located about southeast of Rome on the Alban Hills. It is one of the Castelli Romani. History Monte Compatri has been identified with ...

, and at '' Santa Maria della Vittoria'' in Rome. He also worked for

Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo II de' Medici (12 May 1590 – 28 February 1621) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1609 until his death. He was the elder son of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Christina of Lorraine. For the majority of his twelve-y ...

Return to Utrecht

Honthorst returned to Utrecht in 1620, and went on to build a considerable reputation both in the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

and abroad. In 1623, the year of his marriage, he was president of the Guild of St. Luke in Utrecht. He soon became so fashionable that Sir Dudley Carleton, then English envoy at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, recommended his works to the

Earl of Arundel Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and is used (along with the Earl of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title. The ...

and Lord Dorchester. In 1626 Honthorst hosted a dinner for Rubens, and painted him as the honest man sought for and found by

Diogenes Diogenes ( ; grc, Διογένης, Diogénēs ), also known as Diogenes the Cynic (, ) or Diogenes of Sinope, was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynicism (philosophy). He was born in Sinope, an Ionian colony on the Black Sea ...

Royal patronage

Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia, sister of

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after hi ...

and Electress Palatine, then in exile in the Netherlands, commissioned Honthorst as a painter and employed him as a drawing-master for her children. Through her he became known to Charles, who invited him to England in 1628. There he painted several portraits, and a vast allegory, now at

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

, of Charles and his queen as Diana and

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

in the clouds receiving the

Duke of Buckingham Duke of Buckingham held with Duke of Chandos, referring to Buckingham, is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There have also been earls and marquesses of Buckingham. ...

as Mercury and guardian of the King of Bohemia's children. He painted a more intimate group portrait of ''The Four Eldest Children of the King of Bohemia'', (also at Hampton Court) in which the two eldest are depicted as Diana and Apollo. After his return to Utrecht, Honthorst retained the patronage of the English monarch, painting for him, in 1631, a large picture of the king and queen of Bohemia and all their children. At around the same time he painted some pictures illustrating the

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...

for Lord Dorchester, and some showing incidents of Danish history for

Christian IV of Denmark Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian mon ...

. He also painted a portrait of the king's daughter Countess Leonora while she was in the Hague. His popularity in the Netherlands was such that he opened a second studio in the Hague, where he painted portraits of members of the court, and taught drawing. These large studios, where the work included making replicas of Honthorst's royal portraits, employed a large number of pupils and assistants; according to one pupil,

Joachim von Sandrart Joachim von Sandrart (12 May 1606 – 14 October 1688) was a German Baroque art-historian and painter, active in Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age. He is most significant for his collection of biographies of Dutch and German artists the '' T ...

, describing his experiences in the mid-1620s, Honthorst would have about 24 students at any one time, each paying 100 guilders a year for their education. His brother Willem van Honthorst (1594–1666) was also a portrait painter. Many of Willem's paintings were previously misattributed to Gerrit due to the similarity of their signatures. Willem was a pupil of Abraham Bloemaert, and was also taught by his own elder brother. In 1646 he went to Berlin, where he became court painter to Louise-Henriette, wife of the elector Frederick II of Brandenburg. He returned to Utrecht in 1664.

Nickname

Honthorst is often referred to as "Gherardo delle notti" ("Gerrit of the Nights") by modern Italians. However, the nickname does not actually appear in any known Italian sources dating before Honthorst's death. Surviving Italian documents from before 1656 refer to the artist as either "Gherardo Fiammingo" ("Gerrit the Fleming") or "Gherardo Hollandese" ("Gerrit the Dutchman"), emphasizing his foreignness rather than his trademark skill at rendering nocturnal lighting. It was only in the 18th century that the nickname "Gherardo delle notti" came into widespread use.

Legacy

Honthorst was a prolific artist. His most attractive pieces are those in which he cultivates the style of Caravaggio, often tavern scenes with musicians, gamblers and people eating. He had great skill at ''

chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

'', often painting scenes illuminated by a single candle. Some of his pieces were portraits of the Duke of Buckingham and his family (Hampton Court), the King and Queen of Bohemia (Hanover and Combe Abbey),

Marie de Medici Marie de' Medici (french: link=no, Marie de Médicis, it, link=no, Maria de' Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV of France of the House of Bourbon, and Regent of the Kingdom ...

(Amsterdam Stadthuis), 1628, the ''Stadtholders and their Wives'' (Amsterdam and The Hague), Charles Louis and Rupert, Charles I's nephews (

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, St Petersburg, Combe Abbey and Willin), and

Baron Craven Earl of Craven, in the County of York, is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1664 in favour of th ...

( National Portrait Gallery, London). His early style can be seen in the ''Lute-player'' (1614) in the Louvre, the ''Martyrdom of St John'' in Santa Maria della Scala at Rome, or the ''

Liberation of Peter The liberation of the apostle Peter is an event described in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 12 in which the apostle Peter is rescued from prison by an angel. Although described in a short textual passage, the tale has given rise to theologica ...

'' in the Berlin Museum. His 1620 ''The Adoration of the Shepherds'' in the

Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...

was destroyed in the Via dei Georgofili Massacre of 1993. Honthorst's 1623 ''The Concert'' was purchased for an undisclosed sum by the National Gallery of Art in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, from a private collection in France in November 2013. The painting had not been on view since 1795. The ''The Concert'' went on display for the first time in 218 years in a special installation at the National Gallery of Art's West Building on 23 November 2013. It remained there for six months before going on permanent display in the museum's Dutch and Flemish galleries.Boyle, Katherine. "National Gallery Acquires 'The Concert' by Dutch Golden Age Painter Honthorst." ''Washington Post.'' November 22, 2013.
Accessed 2013-11-22.

Gallery

File:St. Peter by Honthorst.JPG, ''St. Peter Being Freed from Prison'', 1616-1618,

Berlin State Museums The Berlin State Museums (german: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) are a group of institutions in Berlin, Germany, comprising seventeen museums in five clusters, several research institutes, libraries, and supporting facilities. They are overseen ...

File:Gherardo delle Notti o Gheritt van Hontorst - Adorazione del Bambino - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Adoration of the Child'', 1620 Gerard van Honthorst - Adoration of the Shepherds - WGA11657.jpg, '' Adoration of the Shepherds'' 1622, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum File:Gerard van Honthorst - Christ before the High Priest - WGA11650.jpg, ''Christ before the High Priest'', c. 1617, National Gallery, London File:The Mocking of Christ LACMA.jpg, ''Mocking of Christ'' by Gerard van Honthorst Image:Le Reniement de saint Pierre.jpg, ''The Denial of

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

'', c. 1620 File:Gerard van Honthorst - King David Playing the Harp - Google Art Project.jpg, ''King David Playing the Harp'' File:Gerrit van Honthorst - De vrolijke speelman.jpg, ''The Happy Fiddler'', 1623

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Ste ...

File:Gerard van Honthorst - Lute Player - WGA11666.jpg, ''Lute Player'', 1624 File:Gerard van Honthorst - The Happy Violinist with a Glass of Wine - WGA11668.jpg, ''The Happy Violinist with a Glass of Wine'' File:Gerard van Honthorst - lviv gallery.jpg, ''Woman with guitar'' 1631,

Lviv National Art Gallery Borys Voznytsky Lviv National Art Gallery ( uk, Львівська Національна Галерея Мистецтв імені Бориса Возницького) is the largest art museum in Ukraine, with over 62,000 artworks in its colle ...

File:Gerard van Honthorst - Woman Playing the Guitar - WGA11669.jpg, ''Woman Playing the Guitar'' File:Gerard van Honthorst - lviv gallery2.jpg, ''Man with

viola da gamba The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch ...

'' File:Honthorst, Gerard van - Merry Company - 1623.jpg, ''Merry Company'' File:Merry Musician with Violin under His Left Arm.jpg, ''Merry Musician with Violin under His Left Arm'' File:Honthorst solon and croesus.jpg, ''Solon and Croesus'' File:Portret van Willem II (1626-50), prins van Oranje, en zijn echtgenote Maria Stuart (1631-60) Rijksmuseum SK-A-871.jpeg, ''Portrait of William II'' (1626–50), prins of Oranje, and Maria Stuart (1631–60) File:The Steadfast Philosopher, by Gerard van Hondhorst.jpg, ''The Steadfast Philosopher'', 1623 Private collection File:Honthorst Young woman medaillon.jpg, '' Smiling Girl, a Courtesan, Holding an Obscene Image'', 1625 Image:Frederik Hendrik (1584-1647), prins van Oranje (Atelier of Gerard van Honthorst, 1650).jpg, ''

Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange Frederick Henry ( nl, Frederik Hendrik; 29 January 1584 – 14 March 1647) was the sovereign prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 1625 until his death in 1647. In the last ...

'', 1650 File:The soldier and the girl, by Gerard van Honthorst.jpg, ''The soldier and the girl'' Image:Amalia van Solms (Gerard van Honthorst, 1650).jpg, Pendant portrait of

Amalia van Solms-Braunfels Amalia may refer to: People *Amalia (given name), feminine given name (includes a list of people so named) *Princess Amalia (disambiguation), several princesses with this name Films and television series * ''Amalia'' (1914 film), the first ...

File:Gerard van Honthorst - Margareta Maria de Roodere and Her Parents - WGA11679.jpg, ''Margareta Maria de Roodere and Her Parents'' (c. 1652)

Centraal Museum The Centraal Museum is the main museum in Utrecht, Netherlands, founded in 1838. The museum has a wide-ranging collection, mainly of works produced locally. The collection of the paintings by the Northern Mannerist Joachim Wtewael is by a lon ...

File:Allegory of Painting.JPG, ''Allegory of Painting'' (1648)

Crocker Art Museum The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the Western United States, located in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1885, the museum holds one of the premier collections of Californian art. The collection includes American works dating f ...

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

References

Sources

* * * Filippo Baldinucci's Artists in biographies by Filippo Baldinucci, 1610–1670, p. 19
Internet Archive

External links

*
Gerrit-van-honthorst.org
Works by Gerrit van Honthorst

at WGA

Works and literature
at PubHist
''Vermeer and The Delft School''
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Gerard van Honthorst
''Dutch and Flemish paintings from the Hermitage''
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Gerard van Honthorst (cat. no. 12) {{DEFAULTSORT:Honthorst, Gerard Van 1592 births 1656 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Dutch genre painters Dutch portrait painters Artists from Utrecht Painters from Utrecht Sibling artists Caravaggisti