Jan
Davidszoon de Heem
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jan Davidsz de Heem (or Johannes de; c. Apr 17, 1606, Utrecht –
before Apr 26, 1684, Antwerp) was a still life painter who was
active in Utrecht and Antwerp. He is a major representative of that
genre in both Dutch and Flemish Baroque painting.
De Heem was
one of the greatest painters of still life in the Netherlands,
combining a brilliance and harmony of colour along with an accurate
rendering of objects: flowers, in all their variety; European and
tropical fruits; lobsters and oysters; butterflies and moths; stone
and metal; snails and sea shells. Some of his works are displays of
abundance; others, only a festoon or a nosegay. Often he would
convey a moral or illustrate a motto: a snake lying coiled under
grass; a skull on plants in bloom. Gold and silver cups or tankards
are suggestive of the vanity of earthly possessions. Salvation is
seen allegorically as a chalice amid blossoms, and death as a
crucifix in a wreath. Sometimes de Heem painted, alone or with
others, Madonnas or portraits in garlands of fruit or flowers. His
signature varied: his initials (J. De Heem f. or J. De Geem f.) , or
Johannes (IOANNES DE HEEM F.), or his father's name adjoined to his
own (J. D. De Geem f., J. D. De Heem f.). Occasionally he provided a
date (such as A. i65i), especially with his best work.
De Heem was born in
Utrecht as Johannes van Antwerpen. He studied first underhis father
David de Heem the Elder (1570-1631), then under Balthasar van der
Ast. He lived in Leiden from about 1625 to 1629, where he studied in
1629 under David Bailly (1584- c. 1657). He entered the painters'
guild of Antwerp in 1635 or 1636 and became a burgher of that city
in 1637. However he was often absent, as attested by the duties he
had to pay for this. He remained in Antwerp until 1667, when he
moved back to Utrecht, where records trace his presence from 1668 to
1671. He left Utrecht in 1671 when French troops were approaching
the city. It is not known when he finally returned to Antwerp, but
his death is recorded in the guild books of that place. A very early
picture, dated 1628, in the gallery of Gotha, bears the signature of
Johannes in full and shows de Heem familiar with the technique of
the young Aelbert Cuyp. In later years he gained the vigour of his
own originality.
His remarkable
talent had gained him a considerable reputation. He could hardly
satisfy the demand. His sons worked together with him in his
workshop on the commissions for new paintings. he retouched their
work and put his signature on the paintings. Of the one hundred or
more of his pictures seen in European galleries, scarcely eighteen
are dated. The earliest, after the one in Gotha, is a chased tankard
with a bottle, a silver cup and a lemon on a marble table, dated
1640, in the museum of Amsterdam. A similar work of 1645, with the
addition of fruit, flowers and a distant landscape, is at Longford
Castle. A chalice in a wreath, with a radiant bouquet among wheat
sheaves, grapes and flowers, is a masterpiece of 1648 in the
Belvedere of Vienna. A wreath around a life-sized Madonna, dated
1650, in the museum of Berlin, shows that de Heem could paint
brightly and harmoniously on a large scale.
In the Alte
Pinakothek at Munich is a celebrated work of 1653 in which creepers
mingle beautifully with gourds, blackberries, orange, myrtle and
peach, and further enlivened with butterflies, moths and beetles. A
landscape with a blooming rose tree, a jug of strawberries, a
selection of fruit, and a marble bust of Pan, dated 1655, is in the
Hermitage at St Petersburg. A medallion wreathed with fruit and
flowers, an allegory of abundance, is in the gallery of Brussels,
inscribed with de Heem's monogram, the date of 1668, and the name of
an obscure artist called Lambrechts. All these pieces show de Heem
in full possession of his abilities. A simple still life of pewter
goblets can be seen in the Barber Institute in Birmingham UK.
