ABRAHAM BLOEMAERT

Gorinchem ca. 1597 — 1671 Utrecht

Group of Figures, probably for a "St. John Preaching"

black chalk underdrawing, pen & dark brown ink, brush & brown wash & white gouache heightening. 3 1/2 x 5" (152 x118 mm). numbered in an old hand on the verso: N 1465. watermark: the letters M and D, with the M superimposed, small & well within the shain lines.

provenance:
Christopher Bishop, CT who acquired the drawing via a small auction house in New England, probably from a private collector in the region.

Bloemaert produced a number of paintings on the subject of the Predication of Saint John over a period of about ten years. One, of ca. 1620, just outside Munich in the Aschaffenburg Staatsgalerie,1 seems most reliant on the group of figures in this drawing, though they are less closely grouped. It has been suggested that the present drawing dates from the 1620's or early 1630's, during the peak of Bloemaert's career. The drawing may have remained in the studio of Bloemart for some time and to have been used as a source for a number of his works, with the artist sometimes simply reversing the figures. A black chalk drawing in the Hermitage of the same, seated woman as in our drawing though with some differences, including that she holds a baby, was studied for the just mentioned painting. The shepherd leaning on his staff appears in reverse in a later engraving. His drawings were highly valued by Bloemaert as well as being highly coveted by his students and later collectors. This one, with its chiaroscuro high finish, appealing subject, and relation to other works, is particularly attractive.
As a young artist, Bloemaert absorbed the Mannerist style of the School of Fontainebleau, which stayed with him for life. Except for a short period in Amsterdam, he lived in Utrecht, becoming so important that Peter Paul Rubens visited him in 1627. He was one of Utrecht's principal painters in the first half of the 17th century, highly regarded during his lifetime for his paintings and drawings. In the 1620's, Bloemaert's pupil Gerrit van Honthorst imported Caravaggio's ideas to Utrecht from Italy. Bloemaert developed a decorative synthesis of Caravaggio's contrasting light effects and Mannerism's bright, acid colors. Always open to fresh ideas, Bloemaert depicted mythological and religious subjects completely new to Dutch art, designed tapestries, stained-glass windows, and made over 1,500 drawings. In 1611 he co-founded Utrecht's Guild of Saint Luke. Widely influential through his engravings, Bloemaert also taught a generation of Utrecht's best artists, including Ter Brugghen, Honthorst, and van Bijlert, as well as the landscapists Cuyp, Weenix, Both, and Poelenburgh. 2
1

Marcel Roethlisberger, Abraham Bloemaert and His Sons , Doornspijk, 1993, cat. 281, fig. 414.

2

These biographical paragraphs are quoted from the Getty's web-site.