Willem van Haecht - The Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest, 1628 - Self portrait

Willem van Haecht (1593 – 12 July 1637) was a Flemish painter best known for his pictures of art galleries and collections.

Life

Willem van Haecht was born in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

as the son of the

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent composi ...

Tobias Verhaecht Tobias Verhaecht (1561–1631) was a painter from Antwerp in the Duchy of Brabant who primarily painted landscapes. His style was indebted to the mannerist world landscape developed by artists like Joachim Patinir and Pieter Bruegel the Elder. H ...

. Tobias Verhaecht was a prominent painter who had been the first teacher of

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

. Willem was a pupil of his father. He worked 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 ...

from 1615 to 1619, and then travelled to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

for about seven years. Van Haecht became a master in Antwerp's guild of St. Luke in 1626 and from 1628 onwards was the

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the art collection owned by

Cornelis van der Geest Cornelis van der Geest (1555 – 10 March 1638) was a spice merchant from Antwerp, who used his wealth to support the Antwerp artists and to establish his art collection. He was also the dean of the haberdashers guild. Art collection He is best kn ...

. This collection is represented in allegorical terms in the ''Gallery of

'' (1628; Rubenshuis, Antwerp). The left side of the painting includes various portraits of contemporaneous figures, including (from the left) Infanta Isabel Clara of Spain, Archduke Albert of Austria,

, Prince Władysław Vasa of Poland (who visited van der Geest's Gallery in 1624, with black hat) and the host showing a picture, as well as many famous paintings such as '' Paracelsus'' by

Quentin Matsys Quentin Matsys ( nl, Quinten Matsijs) (1466–1530) was a Flemish painter in the Early Netherlandish tradition. He was born in Leuven. There is a tradition alleging that he was trained as an ironsmith before becoming a painter. Matsys was activ ...

. ''Alexander the Great Visiting the Studio of Apelles'' (ca. 1630, Mauritshuis) is another gallery painting by van Haecht. It has significant documentary evidence as it is believed it is an idealised image of elements drawn from Rubens' collection.Jeffrey M. Muller, ''Rubens: The Artist as Collector'' (Princeton UP, 1989), 41.

Gallery

File:Willem van Haecht - Interior of the Salon of the Archduchess Isabella of Austria, 1621.jpg, ''Interior of the Salon of the Archduchess Isabella of Austria''; 1621, oil on panel, 93 × 123 cm,

Norton Museum of Art The Norton Museum of Art is an art museum located in West Palm Beach, Florida. Its collection includes over 8,200 works, with a concentration in European, American, and Chinese art as well as in contemporary art and photography. In 2003, it overt ...

. File:Willem van Haecht - The Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest, 1628.jpg, ''The Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest''; 1628, oil on panel, 99 × 129 cm, Rubenshuis. File:Willem van Haecht - Alexander the Great visits the studio of Apelles N08610-169-lr-1.jpg, ''Alexander the Great visits the studio of Apelles''; 1628–37, oil on panel, 78 × 114 cm,

private collection A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individu ...

. File:Willem van Haecht (II) - Apelles painting Campaspe - 2.jpg, ''Apelles painting Campaspe''; , oil on panel, 105 × 149 cm,

Mauritshuis The Mauritshuis (; en, Maurice House) is an art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The museum houses the Royal Cabinet of Paintings which consists of 854 objects, mostly Dutch Golden Age paintings. The collection contains works by Johannes Vermeer ...

. File:Willem van Haecht - Collection of Cornelis de Geest wirh Paracelsus.jpg, ''Collection of Cornelis de Geest with Paracelsus''; 1630s, oil on panel, 73 × 104 cm, The Bute collection.

References

Sources

*Christine van Mulders. "Haecht, Willem van, II," ''Grove Art Online''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, November 2007 *Vlieghe, Hans (1998).
Flemish Art and Architecture, 1585–1700
'. Pelican history of art. New Haven: Yale University Press. *Alexander Marr, "Ingenuity and Discernment in ''The Cabinet of Cornelis van der Geest'' (1628)", ''Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek'', vol. 69 (2020), 106–145

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haecht, Willem van Flemish Baroque painters 1593 births 1637 deaths Painters from Antwerp