Willem van Herp

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Willem van Herp (Antwerp, c. 1614–1677) was a Flemish Baroque painter specializing in small cabinet paintings of "low-life" genre scenes and religious paintings.[1]

[edit] Life and works

Willem van was long thought to have been a student of Peter Paul Rubens,[2] and although he was not a student he did borrow many of that master's motifs and touched up copies after that painter for the art dealer Matthijs Musson.[3][1] He is listed as an independent master in the Guild of St. Luke beginning in 1637.[1]

Genre scenes, such as A Poor Company at Table in a Rustic Kitchen (Le Petit Chaudron) held by the National Trust at Tyntesfield,[2] and oil on copper religious paintings, such as Daniel in the Lions Den (c. 1650, Los Angeles County Museum of Art),[3] are typical of his work. In the former, the figures demonstrate a small-scale use of Rubensean figures in an interior reminiscent of contemporary works by David Teniers the Younger.[2] The latter is more representative of the small religious scenes on copper that make up most of his oeuvre, with a highly polished finish and borrowings from Rubens—in this case from the Daniel in the Lion's Den in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.[3]

Although only moderately successful in Antwerp, as suggested by the infrequent occurrence of his paintings in local inventories,[2] many of his small works were probably intended as export items destined to Spain.[1] Most of these were on copper, a material for painting that was highly prized both for durability and its glossy finish in Spain.[3] Van Herp's works, in particular, were also influential in spreading copper painting in Mexico by way of trade from Spain to Latin America, and reflect a taste for small paintings reminiscent of Rubens's style abroad.[3] He also became well-known in England through engravings after his works.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Hans Vlieghe, "Herp, Willem [Guillaume] van, I" Grove Art Online, Oxford University Press, [accessed November 21, 2007].
  2. ^ a b c d Gregory Martin, "An Early Work by Willem van Herp," in Volker Manuth and Axel Rüger, Collected Opinions Essays on Netherlandish Art in Honour of Alfred Bader, London: Paul Holberton Pub, 2004; pp. 106–113.
  3. ^ a b c d e Phoenix Art Museum, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and Mauritshuis (Hague, Netherlands), Copper As Canvas Two Centuries of Masterpiece Paintings on Copper, 1575-1775, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999; pp. 206–208.
  4. ^ J. de Maere, Jennifer A. Martin, and Marie Wabbes. Illustrated Dictionary of 17th Century Flemish Painters. Brussels: Renaissance du livre, 1994; p. 210.

[edit] External links