Herman van Swanevelt (1603 – 1655) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

painter and

etcher Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

from the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

era.

Life

Herman was born in

Woerden Woerden () is a city and a municipality in central Netherlands. Due to its central location between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, and the fact that it has rail and road connections to those cities, it is a popular town for commu ...

to a family of thriving artisans whose ancestors included the famous painter

Lucas van Leyden Lucas van Leyden (1494 – 8 August 1533), also named either Lucas Hugensz or Lucas Jacobsz, was a Dutch painter and printmaker in engraving and woodcut. Lucas van Leyden was among the first Dutch exponents of genre painting and was a very ac ...

. The identity of Swanevelt’s teacher remains a mystery. A new hypothesis suggests that he was a pupil of

Willem Buytewech Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech (1591/92 – September 23, 1624) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, draughtsman and etcher. He is one of the early specialists in the merry company type of subject in Dutch genre painting. His contemporaries named hi ...

. He painted his first signed and dated works in 1623 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 1629 he moved 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 ...

, where he painted many landscapes, and introduced a new type of idyllic landscape with sunlit 'contrejours' reflecting the times of day. Swanevelt became a member of the

Bentvueghels The Bentvueghels (Dutch for "Birds of a Feather") were a society of mostly Dutch and Flemish artists active in Rome from about 1620 to 1720. They are also known as the Schildersbent ("painters' clique"). Activities The members, which included ...

; his alias was " heremiet", while he preferred to work alone. Created and developed by

Paul Bril Paul Bril (1554 – 7 October 1626) was a Flemish painter and printmaker principally known for his landscapes.Nicola Courtright. "Paul Bril." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 26 September 2016 He spent most of h ...

and

Cornelis van Poelenburch Cornelis van Poelenburgh or Cornelis van Poelenburch (1594 – 12 August 1667),Cornelis van Poelenburch
...

from 1600 onward, the genre of the “Italianate landscape” entered its classical phase in the 1630s with the advent of Swanevelt and his friends and contemporaries

Pieter van Laer Pieter Bodding van Laer (christened 14 December 1599, Haarlem – 1641 or later) was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He was active in Rome for over a decade and was known for genre scenes, animal paintings and landscapes placed in the environs ...

and

Claude Lorrain Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in It ...

. His paintings became very popular and the

Barberini The House of Barberini are a family of the Italian nobility that rose to prominence in 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII. Their urban palace ...

family, Pope

Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII ( la, Urbanus VIII; it, Urbano VIII; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death in July 1644. As po ...

and the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

offered him commissions, like in the monastery of

Monte Cassino Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first h ...

. Along with Lorrain and others, he also painted landscapes for

Philip IV of Spain Philip IV ( es, Felipe, pt, Filipe; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered f ...

's new

Buen Retiro Palace Buen Retiro Palace (Spanish: ''Palacio del Buen Retiro'') in Madrid was a large palace complex designed by the architect Alonso Carbonell (c. 1590–1660) and built on the orders of Philip IV of Spain as a secondary residence and place of recrea ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. In 1641 he returned to Paris, where he remained except for occasional visits to his birthplace

. He became a member of the

Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (; en, "Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture") was founded in 1648 in Paris, France. It was the premier art institution of France during the latter part of the Ancien Régime until it was abol ...

in 1651. He assisted in the decoration of the

Hôtel Lambert The Hôtel Lambert () is a ''hôtel particulier,'' a grand mansion townhouse, on the Quai Anjou on the eastern tip of the Île Saint-Louis, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. In the 19th century, the name ''Hôtel Lambert'' also came to designate ...

and made numerous drawings and etchings. His patrons in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

were

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

and King

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

. Swanevelt lived in

Rue du Temple ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of '' Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its bl ...

when he died.

Art

During the beginning of the 1630s his development runs parallel to Claude's, and in some ways even anticipates it. During the thirties Swanevelt refined his idyllic landscape style. Swanevelt was an important link between the first generation of Dutch italianate painters, such as

Cornelis van Poelenburch Cornelis van Poelenburgh or Cornelis van Poelenburch (1594 – 12 August 1667),Cornelis van Poelenburch
...

and

Bartholomeus Breenbergh Bartholomeus Breenbergh (before 13 November 1598 – after 3 October 1657) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of Italian and Italianate landscapes, in Rome (1619-1630) and Amsterdam (1630-1657). Biography Little is known of his early life. In his ...

, and those of the second generation who imitated his monumental compositions and his treatment of southern sunlight. In the last decade of his life when Swanevelt made a few trips to Woerden, he also painted Dutch scenery, but with the typical southern sunlight.

Works

For a long time the only murals attributed to Swanevelt were the two lunettes in the sacristy of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, of which only one survived. Art historian Susan Russell proposed that a frieze with seven scenes from the life of the Old Testament's Joseph in the east wing of

Palazzo Pamphilj :''See also Palazzo Doria Pamphilj Palazzo Pamphilj, also spelled Palazzo Pamphili, is a palace facing onto the Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy. It was built between 1644 and 1650. Since 1920, the palace has housed the Brazilian Embassy in Italy. I ...

Piazza Navona Piazza Navona () is a public open space in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in the 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans went there to watch the '' agones' ...

was also painted by him. One of Swanevelt's etchings, "The Birth of Adonis," (1654) resides in the Utah Museum of Fine Art's permanent collection.

Gallery

File:Van Swanevelt, Herman - The Arch of Constantine, Rome - Google Art Project.jpg, The

Arch of Constantine The Arch of Constantine ( it, Arco di Costantino) is a triumphal arch in Rome dedicated to the emperor Constantine the Great. The arch was commissioned by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvi ...

, Rome File:Van Swanevelt, Herman - Italian Landscape with Bridge - Google Art Project.jpg, An Italian Landscape with a Bridge File:SwaneveltCampoVaccinoForumFitz2.jpg, The Campo Vaccino File:Herman van Swanevelt - Huntsman at Rest - WGA21992.jpg, A Huntsman at Rest File:Van Swanevelt, Herman - An Italian Landscape - Google Art Project.jpg, An Italian Landscape

Notes

External links

*
Works at WGA

The Cleveland Museum with drawings

The Rijksmuseum on Swanevelt with examples of etchings

Website from the Getty Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swanevelt, Herman Van Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters 1603 births 1655 deaths People from Woerden Dutch printmakers Members of the Bentvueghels