Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
– c. 1577 in
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 ...
), was a Flemish Renaissance painter who was active in Italy. He is known for his portraits, history paintings and his many drawings.Hans Speckaert at the
Netherlands Institute for Art History
The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...
The artist was one of the earliest representatives of
Northern Mannerism
Northern Mannerism is the form of Mannerism found in the visual arts north of the Alps in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Styles largely derived from Italian Mannerism were found in the Netherlands and elsewhere from around the mid-century, e ...
. His fluid and elegant drawing style exerted an important influence on contemporary Northern artists.Hans Speckaert, ''The Crucifixion of Christ'' at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Life
Details about the life of the artist are scarce. According to the early Flemish painter and artist biographer
Karel van Mander
Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander I (May 1548 – 2 September 1606) was a Flemish painter, poet, art historian and art theoretician, who established himself in the Dutch Republic in the latter part of his life. He is mainly remembere ...
Speckaert was the son of an embroiderer in Brussels and a friend of the painter
Aert Mijtens
Aert Mijtens (c.1541–1602) was a Flemish Renaissance painter.
Early life
Mitjens was born in Brussels. He was the first known member of a family of painters named Mijtens or Mytens. He was the uncle of Isaac Mijtens (ca. 1602–1666), a po ...
Karel van Mander
Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander I (May 1548 – 2 September 1606) was a Flemish painter, poet, art historian and art theoretician, who established himself in the Dutch Republic in the latter part of his life. He is mainly remembere ...
', ''Het
Schilder-boeck
or is a book written by the Flemish writer and painter Karel van Mander first published in 1604 in Haarlem in the Dutch Republic, where van Mander resided. The book is written in 17th-century Dutch and its title is commonly translated into En ...
'', 1604 He may have received his training in the Brussels workshop of Pieter de Kempeneer who was known as Pedro Campaña (1503-1580).Hans Speckaert at the
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from the two most important collectors of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. It is located a ...
He travelled to Italy at an unknown date and is believed to have arrived in Rome sometime in 1566. Van Mander visited Italy during the period that Speckaert was there. In Rome, Speckaert joined a group of Northern painters working in Rome in the 16th century. He made a close study of the art of the great Italian Renaissance masters Michelangelo, Raphael, and others. A document from April 1575 reports that the artist had been paralyzed. Possibly this was the result of an accident which had occurred while he was working at an unknown church early in the year 1575, together with the artist Anthonie van Santvoort.
There was a dispute with the Painter's Guild over Hans Speckaert having worked in a church in Rome with his friend Anthonie van Santvoort without its authorization.
After a long period in Rome, Speckaert attempted to return to the Netherlands and got as far as Florence, but feeling unwell, he turned back to Rome, where he died. His death likely occurred around 1577.
Work
Hans Speckaert is known for his portraits, history paintings and his many drawings. Only four paintings have been attributed with certainty to the artist, including the portrait of the engraver
Cornelis Cort
Cornelis Cort (c. 1533 – c. 17 March 1578) was a Dutch engraver and draughtsman. He spent the last 12 years of his life in Italy, where he was known as ''Cornelio Fiammingo''.
Biography
Born in Hoorn or Edam, Cort may have been a pupil of ...
(Kunsthistorisches Museum), who was a close friend. The other known paintings include ''Moses and the Brazen Serpent'' ( Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes,
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
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 ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
).Teréz Gerszi. "Speeckaert, Jan." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 21 November 2016 He made designs for prints that were executed by Cornelis Cort en
Aegidius Sadeler
Aegidius Sadeler or Aegidius Sadeler II (1570–1629) was a Flemish engraver who was principally active at the Prague court of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor and his successors.
Life
Sadeler was born in Antwerp in the Sadeler family of print deale ...
and form the basis for further attributions. His oeuvre is not yet clearly defined, since the attribution of drawings is hampered by the fact that the artist's work was widely imitated.
His close study of the art of the Italian Renaissance masters informs the muscular, monumental figures in his work. In his ''Jaël and Sisera'' (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen) the short perspective of the deceased Sisera shows the Mannerist preoccupation with the depiction of the human body. The emphatic, somewhat theatrical, postures of Jael and her companion Barak are characteristic of his Mannerism.Boymans verwerft schilderij Hans Speckaert in the nrc newspaper The work of Jacopo Bertoja, which was close to that of
Parmigianino
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 150324 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (, , ; "the little one from Parma"), was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, B ...
, was influential on his style.Jos Koldeweij, Alexandra Hermesdorf, Paul Huvenne, ''De schilderkunst der Lage Landen: De Middeleeuwen en de zestiende eeuw'', Amsterdam University Press, 2006, p. 284
Speckaert's fluid and elegant drawing style exerted an important influence on his Northern contemporaries, as is witnessed, in particular, in the drawings of
Jan Soens
Jan Soens (; c. 1547 – c. 1611), also known as Giovanni Sons, was a Dutch painter from 's-Hertogenbosch.
Biography
According to Karel van Mander he moved to Antwerp to live with a schoolmaster named Jacob Boon, whereupon he taught himself the ...
Joseph Heintz the Elder
Joseph Heintz (or Heinz) the Elder (11 June 1564 – 15 October 1609) was a Swiss painter, draftsman and architect.
Biography
Heintz was born in Basle. He appears to have been a pupil of Hans Bock, and to have educated himself by diligent pr ...
and
Karel van Mander
Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander I (May 1548 – 2 September 1606) was a Flemish painter, poet, art historian and art theoretician, who established himself in the Dutch Republic in the latter part of his life. He is mainly remembere ...
. This was made possible because Speckaert's friend Anthonie van Santvoort, who managed his estate after his death and inherited his drawings via Cornelis Cort, who died a year after Speckaert, opened his house to artists who visited Rome so that they could study Speckaert's drawings.
Speckaert's designs were used as models for prints by
Aegidius Sadeler
Aegidius Sadeler or Aegidius Sadeler II (1570–1629) was a Flemish engraver who was principally active at the Prague court of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor and his successors.
Life
Sadeler was born in Antwerp in the Sadeler family of print deale ...
, Cornelis Cort, Pedro Perret and
Jan Harmensz. Muller
Jan Harmensz. Muller (1571–1628) was a Dutch engraver and painter.
Muller was born in Amsterdam. His father was a book printer, engraver and publisher. He learned the engraving trade while working at the family business. He traveled and l ...