Around the years 1630s, the artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) asked his pupil Abraham Van Diepenbeeck (1596-1675) to travel to Paris and accomplish a set of drawn copies after frescos made a...Show moreAround the years 1630s, the artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) asked his pupil Abraham Van Diepenbeeck (1596-1675) to travel to Paris and accomplish a set of drawn copies after frescos made a century before by the Mannerist artist Francesco Primaticcio and his assistant Niccolò dell'Abbate in different Parisian châteaus. In the year 2020, a hitherto unpublished group of 17 drawings and counterproofs by Van Diepenbeeck from this commission arose in the collections of the Rubenianum in Antwerp. This thesis explores the enterprise, with special attention to this set of 17 drawings and counterproofs. Moreover, it analyses the use that Rubens made of these drawn copies, back in his Antwerp workshop, as fundamental sources of inspiration for his future artworks.Show less
Copying other artists' paintings was an essential practice in the nineteenth century and has a rich culture. For art students, copying and that way learning from the old masters was seen as a vital...Show moreCopying other artists' paintings was an essential practice in the nineteenth century and has a rich culture. For art students, copying and that way learning from the old masters was seen as a vital element of their education. Also for artists it was essential to control the techniques of great artists to develop their inventiveness. The Sistine Madonna altarpiece by Raphael (1483-1520) was famous among students and artists who wanted to copy Raphael’s painting skills, sell a copy on the art market, or keep it in their possession. This painting also caught the attention of Paul Tétar van Elven (1823-1896), a Dutch artist who made nine painted (partial) copies of the Sistine Madonna next to some drawings. However, some of Tétar's copies are not faithfully copied, but instead, he has managed to add his own touches. This research investigates the copying culture and creative freedom of copyists in the nineteenth century, treating the copies of the Sistine Madonna by Paul Tétar van Elven after Raphael as a case study. The research question of this thesis therefore addresses the context in which the nineteenth-century Dutch artist Paul Tétar van Elven added his own touches to his (partial) copies of the Sistine Madonna after Raphael.Show less
This thesis explores the work of Francis Cleyn (1582–1658) as a designer of book illustrations through an analysis of the stylistic influences on, visual models and motifs used in, and contemporary...Show moreThis thesis explores the work of Francis Cleyn (1582–1658) as a designer of book illustrations through an analysis of the stylistic influences on, visual models and motifs used in, and contemporary political resonances contained in, three designs for the Aeneid for the full-length book illustrations in John Ogilby’s English translation of The Works of Publius Virgilius Maro Translated, adorn’d with Sculpture, and illustrated with Annotations (1654). This was the first complete English translation of Virgil and the first luxury illustrated book produced in Britain. The designs analysed are The Sack of Troy: Pyrrhus killing Priam (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), Dido and Aeneas sheltering in a cave from Fama (Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut), and The Funeral of Misenus (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford). Through a detailed discussion of Cleyn’s oeuvre, the book publishing world of the seventeenth century, the political world of the British Civil Wars (1642–1651), the Interregnum (1649–1660), and the Restoration (1660), and the textual contents with which the designs form a synchronic relationship, the author arrives at a fresh understanding of the artistic and political significance of the designs, of an artist whose work as a designer of book illustrations – indeed as the leading designer of book illustrations in Britain at that time - remains unduly neglected and often misunderstood in the art-historical literature.Show less
Henriëtta Geertruij Knip (1783-1842) who descended from a humble background and lived in a time of great political upheaval and limited possibilities for women to establish a professional career as...Show moreHenriëtta Geertruij Knip (1783-1842) who descended from a humble background and lived in a time of great political upheaval and limited possibilities for women to establish a professional career as a painter, managed to do just that. She was part of the Knip family, a dynasty of painters that started of with her father Nicolaas Frederik Knip (1741-1808). She was not the first in the tradition of women painters in the Netherlands. The seventeenth and eighteenth century had offered chances, provided that there was an artistic or educated background. This was still the same at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Only through schooling by her father and thanks to the favourable connection with Gerard van Spaendonck (1756-1839) could a professional career as a painter be possible for a woman like Henriëtta Geertruij Knip. Apart from proven talent, there was financial necessity to train as many family members as possible, in case support was needed. This was the reason the Knip relatives worked together. It was possible for Henriëtta Geertruij Knip to travel to Paris by herself because two of her brothers were already there and she could stay in Maison Buffon under the supervision of Gerard van Spaendonck. She was probably financially supported by her older brother Josephus Augustus Knip (1777-1847), who was also a painter. Although Van Spaendonck had several women pupils, Henriëtta Geertruij Knip was the only one Dutch. She started out with botanical drawings and flower and fruit still lifes in water colour but after 1822 she would paint in oil paint. For this she was schooled in Paris again, this time by Jan Frans van Dael (1764-1840). She was trained in a traditional eighteenth century style but later works show elements of Romanticism when bouquets contained less different types of flowers and were placed in a more natural setting. Thirty-two works have been found that could have been made by Henriëtta Geertruij Knip but only ten are signed and dated and six are signed. If this number should prove to be true this means she produced less than one work per year during the estimated fourty-four years of her working life. This would mean that the money she generated from teaching made up the larger part of her income. However, it is more likely the location of many works is unknown or that works got lost. When looked at the careers of fellow women pupils of Gerard van Spaendonck and Jan Frans van Dael it is clear that these women took their painting very seriously and made it into their formal careers even though some may not have depended on the income. This having been her example it is no surprise that Henriëtta Geertruij Knip took part in the very first Tentoonstelling van Levende Meesters that was held in 1808 in the Netherlands. She was the only woman who did so together with her then sister-in-law Pauline Knip-Rifer de Courcelles (1781-1851). Henriëtta Geertruij Knip took part ten times and always together with relatives, like her older brother Josephus Augustus Knip, nephew Augustus Knip (1819-1859/1861) and/or her niece Henriëtte Ronner-Knip (1821-1909). Until 1821 she took part with water colours and from 1830 onwards she presented herself with oil paintings. Most of the times she participated with less works than her relatives and works were not always for sale. Nevertheless she presented herself as a professional painter with a steady work flow. Although Henriëtta Geertruij Knip had many pupils, the name of only one is still known, Elisabeth Johanna Stapert (1816-1887). The reason could be that she had a career as well. She also generated an income through teaching and taking part in exhibitions but got married later in life, although she did not stop working. Other women artists who came after Henriëtta Geertruij Knip like her niece Henriëtte Ronner-Knip, Sientje Mesdag-van Houten (1834-1909) and Thérèse Schwartze (1851-1918) all had more opportunities to present themselves in art societies like Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam and Pulchri Studio in The Hague. These had not been there during Henriëtta Geertruij Knip’s days. By 1871 and 1872 it would even have been possible to receive vocational training at the art academies of Amsterdam or The Hague. All aforementioned women were still trained by their fathers or other painters. The fact that they had successful careers in different genres than flower still lifes with many memberships in art societies and husbands that supported them, does show that opportunities had expanded as the nineteenth century progressed. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the nineteenth century Henriëtta Geertruij Knip seized opportunities like training in Paris, taking part in the Tentoonstellingen van Levende Meesters. She was sensitive to new developments in art, participated in the Knip family and was well able to earn her own income and present herself as a professional artist.Show less
This thesis aims to shed a new light on Torrentius’s Still Life with Roemer, Sheet Music, Flagon, Jug, Pipes, and Bridle (1614) and Watercolour with Star, Sky, Water, and Geometrical Figures (1615)...Show moreThis thesis aims to shed a new light on Torrentius’s Still Life with Roemer, Sheet Music, Flagon, Jug, Pipes, and Bridle (1614) and Watercolour with Star, Sky, Water, and Geometrical Figures (1615) via an integral and multidisciplinary approach. By incorporating elements from music, rhetoric, poetry, and Antiquity, as well as by incorporating all details from these two works, new views have been put forward concerning their interpretation.Show less
This thesis is a new and distinctive contribution to the knowledge on Geertgen tot Sint Jans and Cornelis Willemsz. Through a recently digitalized source, the Liber Memoriarum, new light is thrown...Show moreThis thesis is a new and distinctive contribution to the knowledge on Geertgen tot Sint Jans and Cornelis Willemsz. Through a recently digitalized source, the Liber Memoriarum, new light is thrown on the two painters and the convent they are buried in. A thorough analysis of the Liber Memoriarum reveals how the painters were connected to the convent. This is accompanied by a critically commented overview of the archival recordings related to the two painters. Furthermore, in the Liber Memoriarum is recorded that Cornelis Willemsz. is buried in the Haarlem convent. This has great implications for our understanding of this artist and his attributed oeuvre. Based on the new information the attributed oeuvre of Cornelis Willemsz. is revised. Additionally, an archival entry is used to date the year Cornelis Willemsz. moved into the convent of the Haarlem Johannites.Show less
The Chapel of the Cardinal of Portugal is located in the basilica of San Miniato al Monte in Florence and it was built during the late fifteenth century with many fascinating ornamental factors. In...Show moreThe Chapel of the Cardinal of Portugal is located in the basilica of San Miniato al Monte in Florence and it was built during the late fifteenth century with many fascinating ornamental factors. In this thesis, the author focuses on the ceiling design created by Luca della Robbia and especially pays attention to the cube pattern being used as ornament, trying to figure out the possible function of the application of this pattern including its representational meaning and its psychological function to the viewers.Both the tradition art-historian approaches like historical and anthropological approaches and the new psychological approach have been applied in this research.The author firstly discusses the possible origins of the cube pattern and the colour combination of this pattern, and it turns out that the cube pattern is a traditional ornament being always applied to the floor design instead of ceiling design, which made the case in the Cardinal's Chapel a quite special one. Next, the author discusses the function of the ceiling and dome designs in religious buildings in general to reach a conclusion of the question what the patrons and the designer expected the ceiling and the cube pattern to function.Then, the author applies the present psychological approaches to figure out the visual effects created by the cube pattern to the viewers and how viewers could react to such design.In the end, the conclusion could be reached that the cube pattern can definitely attract the viewers attention which gives more chance for the viewers to spend more time observing the ceiling design and finally to understand the motif of the ceiling design,but if it plays an intermediary role for the main motif still remains controversial.Show less
