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The Great Theatre of Dutch Painters

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The Great Theatre of Dutch Painters and Paintresses, or De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, as it was originally known in Dutch, is a series of artist biographies with engraved portraits written by the 18th-century painter Arnold Houbraken. It was published in three volumes as a sequel to Karel van Mander's own list of biographies known as the Schilder-boeck. The first volume appeared in 1718, and was followed by the second volume in 1719, the year Houbraken died. The third and last volume was published posthumously by Houbraken's wife and children in 1721. This work is considered to be a very important source of information on 17th-century artists of the Netherlands. The Schouburg is listed as one of the thousand most important works in the Canon of Dutch Literature [nl] from the Middle Ages to the present day.[1]

The Great Theatre of Dutch Painters and Paintresses
Title page of the Schouburg with a portrait of Otto van Veen
AuthorArnold Houbraken
Original titleDe groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen
LanguageDutch
SubjectArtist biographies
PublisherArnold Houbraken
Publication date
1718–1721
Publication placeNetherlands

Background and influences

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The Schouburg was not the first sequel to Karel van Mander's work. Various authors had attempted to illustrate Van Mander's work and in 1649, Jan Meyssen published Image de divers hommes in imitation of Anthony van Dyck's Iconography. Cornelis de Bie published his Het Gulden Cabinet in 1662, André Félibien published his Entretiens sur les vies et sur les ouvrages des plus excellents peintres anciens et modernes in 1666, and these were followed by Jacob von Sandrart's illustrated Teutsche Akademie in 1668. Houbraken referenced Inleyding tot de Hooge Schoole der Schilderkonst, 1678, published by his teacher Samuel van Hoogstraten for students of art. Roger de Piles published L'Abrégé de la vie des peintres in the 1690s followed by Florent le Comte with his Cabinet des singularitez in 1699. As a gifted engraver, Houbraken aimed to address what he perceived as errors and omissions in earlier works, updating biographies with engraved portraits of artists.[citation needed] All of these works were used as sources for Houbraken and he mentions them in the first chapter of his first volume.

The Schouburg was published in three volumes, the first of which was simply meant as an addendum to Karel van Mander's work, and listed about 200 artists born between 1466 (starting with Erasmus) and 1613 (ending with Jacques van Artois) that had been omitted or whose lives extended beyond Van Mander's 1604 publication date. The popularity of this volume was such that a second volume was prepared immediately, while plans were made to continue the project up to the period in which Houbraken was writing at the start of the 18th century.

While leaning heavily on the sources already mentioned, Houbraken is reported to have consulted local history books from various cities in the Netherlands.[citation needed] Other, unpublished sources for his material came from various contacts via his professional network, mostly members of the Guild of St. Luke in Holland. He listed many men who became members of the Bentvueghels group in Rome while on their Grand Tour, but he also listed most of the men in a competency list drawn up by Vincent van der Vinne before he died in 1702. Houbraken used a system in which names in uppercase denoted greater prominence, while lowercase indicated lesser recognition. The index of the first volume is believed to have been incomplete at the time of publication.[citation needed] A later edition of all three books in 1756 contains an improved index and this book is now available online in the Digital library for Dutch literature.

Characteristic features

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Notable omissions

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Several painters now considered highly significant are absent or briefly mentioned in Houbraken's work, reflecting differences in artistic priorities between his era and today; the most notorious omission is Jan Vermeer, who is mentioned once in passing. Other notorious omissions are Jan van de Cappelle, Judith Leyster, Jan Wynants, Jacobus Mancadan, and Hendrick Avercamp. While Vermeer, Ruysch, and Leyster are mentioned, they are only briefly touched upon.[2]

However, Houbraken himself died before publishing the final volume, and he repeatedly mentions the impossibility of a complete list. In his first volume he includes painters that he complained were oversights by Karel van Mander, who he regarded as his greatest example. He highly respected all artist biographers who came before him, such as Sandrart, De Bie, and De Lairesse. In fact, Houbraken's work aimed to include overlooked painters and was extensive for its time. Therefore, his omissions are equally the omissions of previous biographers, though it is Houbraken who receives all the blame. The exact state of his book at the time of his death is unknown: his son Jacob, his daughter Antonina, and his wife all helped to patch things up for publication, and it is quite possible that their own opinions slipped into the finished work.[citation needed]

Biases

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In general, Houbraken tends to follow the contemporary prejudices of the hierarchy of genres and undervalues landscapists, marine artists and painters of still life.

The Houbraken family appeared to manifest certain other prejudices or biases. These may be categorised, broadly, as:

  • Family dynasties: All painters who made up a family dynasty received extra space in the book. More space was given to the founder of the dynasty than to any other member (note that Houbraken considered himself the founder of his own family dynasty). An example is that though Rachel Ruysch was the most famous painter of her family, Houbraken devotes more space to her grandfather Pieter Post and his brother Frans. Similarly, though Wouter Crabeth II was the most famous painter of the family, Houbraken devotes more space to his illustrious heritage in Gouda, the glass painters Dirk and Wouter.
  • Engravers: Houbraken had a business of his own in biographical engravings, and his large family probably all helped in the business, with his son and daughter helping with the oval portraits. Houbraken frequently used reprints to document art provenance, reflecting their significance during his time. He highly respected good engravings. Therefore Houbraken showed a preference for artists skilled in drafting and engraving, reflecting his own professional background, such as Rembrandt and the Visschers. He includes also notes about various publishers and engravers, who did not paint at all.
  • Rome: Houbraken had great respect for all artists who took the trouble and overcame many hardships to travel to Rome. He went to great pains to add entries for the entire list of painters mentioned in a poem about the Bentvueghels.
  • Flattery: As a Mennonite, despite his Mennonite background, Houbraken emphasized the practical importance of flattering patrons in his books, and a recurring theme is when an artist fell onto bad times because he failed to flatter his patron. This type of artist is admired by Houbraken as a sort of "martyr to the artist's cause". Examples of flatterers that Houbraken deprecates are Anthony van Dyck and Sir Peter Lely followers; some omissions in Houbraken's work, such as Adriaen Hanneman Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck and Thomas de Keyser, reflect his selective focus on particular artists and genres. Similarly, though architecture was considered one of the highest genres, the popular "family portrait with a view of the house or garden" was omitted as a genre entirely from Houbraken's praise, since this just showed off the wealth of the sitters.[opinion] Thus landscape portraitists were often omitted or deprecated, such as Hendrik van Steenwijk II and his wife.
  • Religion: While Houbraken did include artists of all religions in his book, his coreligionist Mennonites are over-represented, while Catholics are under-represented. These include the De Grebbers, the De Brays, the Ruisdael family, Jan Vermeer, Adriaen Coorte, Adriaen Hanneman, Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck, Hendrick Dubbels, Pieter Anthonisz. van Groenewegen, and Meindert Hobbema. (Houbraken includes an account of the Mennonite martyr Jan Woutersz van Cuyck).

Schilderessen

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Translated, the title of the book is Theatre of Painters and Paintresses, indicating that Houbraken wrote about women painters or schilderessen. However, the list of women he included in the book is really quite short. Though Houbraken included brief biographies of some women painters, only a select few were named in detail.

Of these, he included illustrations of only three women: Schurman, Merian, and Koerten-Blok. Houbraken also mentioned two women poets; Gesina Brit and Catharina Questiers.

Contents

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Volume I

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The engraved portraits included as illustrations in Volume I are below, followed by the artists listed in order of appearance in the text. The first illustration is of Houbraken himself.

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    V1 Titlepage with Otto van Veen
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    Portrait of Arnold Houbraken, by his son Jacob
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    V1 plate A, p 16 Desid. Erasmus. Dav. Joris. Johan Snellings.
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    V1 plate B, p 26 Dirk Crabet. Wouter Crabet.
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    V1 plate C, p 44 Abr. Bloemaart. Ad. Elshaimer. Ad. van Oort.
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    V1 plate D, p 62 P.P. Rubbens. Hendr. van Balen. Roel. Savry.
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    V1 plate E, p 84 Fr. Snyders. Jan Breugel. Korn. Schut.
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    V1 plate F, p 90 Fr. Hals. Wensl. Koebergen. Luc. van Uden. Wybr. de Geest.
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    V1 plate G, p 128 Korn. Poelenburg. Dan. Segers. J. Torentius. P. Valk.
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    V1 plate H, p 154 Jaques Jordaans. Jan van Goijen.
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    V1 plate I, p 164 L. Bramer. Dirk. v. Hoogstraten. Salom. de Bray.
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    V1 plate K, p 183 Ant. van Dyk. Jan de Heem.
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    V1 plate L, p 225 Phil. Champanje. P.J.v. Asch. Jan v. Bronkhorst.
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    V1 plate M, p 272 Ann. Maria Schuurmans. Jak. Bakker. Rembrant.
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    V1 plate N, p 294 Jan Lievens. Palamedes. Erasm. Quellinus.
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    V1 plate O, p 326 Adr. Brouwer. Jurj. Ovens. Korn. Bega.
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    V1 plate P, p 342 Herm. Zachtleven. Korn. Zachtleven. Dav. Teniers.
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    V1 plate Q, p 348 Adriaan van Ostade.
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    V1 plate R, p 358 Ott. Marcelis. Piet. v. Laar. Nikol. de Helt Stokade

  Media related to Schouburg I at Wikimedia Commons

Volume II

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The engraved portraits included as illustrations in Volume II are below, followed by the artists listed in order of appearance in the text.

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    V2 plate A, p 1 Gerard Dou. Bartolom, vander Helst.
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    V2 plate B, p 19 Govert Flink. Pieter Lely. Philip Koning.
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    V2 plate C, p 79 Jan Bapt. Weeninx. David Beck. Sim. Pet. Tilmans. Hendr. Zorg.
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    V2 plate D, p 96 Aldert van Everdingen. Adam Pynaker.
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    V2 plate E, p 101 Gerbr. vanden Eekhout. Wallerant Vaillant. Jaques Vaillant.
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    V2 plate F, p 127 Paulus Potter. Jakob vander Does.
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    V2 plate G, p 170 Johann. Lingelbag. Samuel van Hoogstraten. Jan van Hoogstraten.
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    V2 plate H, p 179 Hendr. Verschuring. Willem Kalf.
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    V2 plate I, p 245 Ludolf Bakhuizen. Vincent vander Vinne.
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    V2 plate K, p 277 Johan Hendrik Roos. Juriaan van Streek.

  Media related to Schouburg II at Wikimedia Commons

Volume III

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The engraved portraits included as illustrations in Volume III are below, followed by the artists listed in order of appearance in the text.

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    V3 plate A, p 6 Frans van Mieris. Jan Steen.
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    V3 plate B, p 40 Gerard ter Burg. Gabriel Mitzu. Karel de JardynGillis de Hondekoeter.
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    V3 plate C, p 64 Jan Asselyn. Heyman Dullaart. Jan van Pée. Melch. de Hondekoeter
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    V3 plate D, p 96 Abraham Genoels. Adr. van den Velde.
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    V3 plate E, p 110 Gerard de Laires. Bartolet.
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    V3 plate F, p 164 Jakob Torenvliet. Mich.van Musscher.
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    V3 plate G, p 176 Godefridus Schalken. Philip Tideman.
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    V3 plate H, p 212 Joan de Biskop. Johannes Voorhout,
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    V3 plate I, p 220 Maria Sybille Merian. David vander Plaas.
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    V3 plate K, p 234 Godfried Kneller. Gerard Hoet.
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    V3 plate L, p 248 Mathys Wulfraat. Augustinus ter Westen.
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    V3 plate M, p 282 Johannes Verkolje. Abraham Hondius.
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    V3 plate N, p 294 Johanna Koerten.
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    V3 plate O, p 388 Adriaan vander Werf.
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    V3 plate P, p 189 Casparus Netscher. Job Berckheiden. Gerrit Berckhnden.

  Media related to Schouburg III at Wikimedia Commons

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Schouburg I, Schouburg II and Schouburg III.

Notes

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  1. ^ The name appears in the entry as "GELSDORF" but refers to George Geldorp. Houbraken calls him an "Engelsman" ('Englishman') who "made many pourtretts in England" and reports that Joachim von Sandrart considered Geldorp a poor draughtsman, who used guides drawn by others as the basis for some figures in his paintings:[3]

    Sandrart, meld ook in dien tyd van eenen Engelsman GELSDORF genaamt, die veel pourtretten in Engeland heeft gemaakt. Dog hy kon niet teekenen, waarom hy ook genootzaakt was door iemant anders den omtrek van 't wezen op papier te laten teekenen, 't geen hy dan met een naalt doorgeprikt, op zyn paneel doorsponste. Diergelyke soort ontmoet ons nu en dan al meer. Dog wy hebben onze pen niet voor krukken en breekebeenen versneden.

    — "Gelsdorf", Groote Schouburgh Part II, p. 88
    George, born and trained in Cologne, was the son of Flemish portraitist Gortzius Geldorp; he moved to London from Antwerp in 1623, holding positions at court.

References

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  1. ^ "Beschikbare titels - periode 1550-1700 - basisbibliotheek" [Available titles - period 1550-1700 - basic (essential) library]. De Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren DBNL | The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (in Dutch). KB Nationale Bibliotheek van Nederland.
  2. ^ Cornelis, Bart (1998). "Arnold Houbraken's Groote Schouburgh and the Canon of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting". Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art. 26 (3): 145–161. doi:10.2307/3780895. ISSN 0037-5411. JSTOR 3780895.
  3. ^ Arnold Houbraken (1719). "Gelsdorf". De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (in Dutch). Vol. Part Two. p. 88 – via DBNL.
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