Dutch painting has made a great cultural contribution to the world. The liberation from the rule of Spain and the Catholic Church gave life to new styles of fine art. Artists were inspired by real life — landscapes, still lifes, collections of botanical illustrations, and detailed geographical and astronomical maps appeared. The paintings of the Dutch masters were a great success all over the world, and the 17th century was called the Golden Age of Dutch painting.
The secular portrait became the first genre of Dutch Golden Age realism in fine arts. Portraits featured men, women, and children; there were individual, pair and group portraits that had complex compositions. Dutch artists sought to render details, interiors and facial features with pinpoint accuracy.
The pair portraits of Johann and Daniel van Gheel by Cornelis van der Voort are typical examples of Dutch art. They entered the Ulyanovsk Art Museum in 1929. Previously, the portraits were in the collection of Semyon Semyonovich Abamelek-Lazarev in the Pushkin House of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Three-quarter length portraits were a popular type among the Dutch masters. This type provided an opportunity to show the rich, fashionable costume of the hero and demonstrate the skill of conveying the texture of velvet, leather, felt, and lace. The coat of arms in the upper corner of each picture was a technique that was characteristic for the Dutch painting of the 16th and 17th centuries — it a way to emphasize the model’s noble origin.
The portraits of the van Gheel brothers were commissioned as pair ones, so the similarities and differences were deliberate. The colors of the paintings are consonant, based on a combination of strict black and brown hues with some areas of white. The men’s poses mirror each other. It is interesting to look for differences in the gestures and gazes of the siblings, who, despite their very similar appearance, had completely different temperaments.
Cornelis van der Voort’s achievements in the art of portrait painting strongly influenced the next generation of portrait painters, including Rembrandt’s early work. By the way, in Amsterdam, Rembrandt used to live in the house that he had bought from van der Voort. Today the building houses the Rembrandt House Museum.
The secular portrait became the first genre of Dutch Golden Age realism in fine arts. Portraits featured men, women, and children; there were individual, pair and group portraits that had complex compositions. Dutch artists sought to render details, interiors and facial features with pinpoint accuracy.
The pair portraits of Johann and Daniel van Gheel by Cornelis van der Voort are typical examples of Dutch art. They entered the Ulyanovsk Art Museum in 1929. Previously, the portraits were in the collection of Semyon Semyonovich Abamelek-Lazarev in the Pushkin House of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Three-quarter length portraits were a popular type among the Dutch masters. This type provided an opportunity to show the rich, fashionable costume of the hero and demonstrate the skill of conveying the texture of velvet, leather, felt, and lace. The coat of arms in the upper corner of each picture was a technique that was characteristic for the Dutch painting of the 16th and 17th centuries — it a way to emphasize the model’s noble origin.
The portraits of the van Gheel brothers were commissioned as pair ones, so the similarities and differences were deliberate. The colors of the paintings are consonant, based on a combination of strict black and brown hues with some areas of white. The men’s poses mirror each other. It is interesting to look for differences in the gestures and gazes of the siblings, who, despite their very similar appearance, had completely different temperaments.
Cornelis van der Voort’s achievements in the art of portrait painting strongly influenced the next generation of portrait painters, including Rembrandt’s early work. By the way, in Amsterdam, Rembrandt used to live in the house that he had bought from van der Voort. Today the building houses the Rembrandt House Museum.
