St John the Baptist with the Lamb of God

Home , Abraham Bloemaert, Bartholomeus Spranger

VP4754

ABRAHAM BLOEMAERT Gorinchem 1566 – 1651 Utrecht

Signed and dated upper right A.Bloemaert. fe: / 1619 Oil on canvas 55.7 x 46.9 cm.

PROVENANCE Possibly sale Haarlem, J.P. van Horstock, C. Henning, 26 April 1811, lot 9: ‘A. Bloemaart : St. Johannes den Dooper als Kind verbeeld’ (Lugt no 7975) Possibly sale London, Foster, 17 February 1836, lot 32: ‘Blomaert : St John and the Lamb’ (Lugt no 14217); seller: Van Campan; buyer: Sherrard Austria, private collection

LITERATURE M. Roethlisberger, M.J. Bok, Abraham Bloemaert and his sons, 2 vols., Doornspijk 1993, I, p. 225, under cat. no. 289 (the engraving by Cornelis Bloemaert after the present painting, mentioned below), as unknown, with reference to the 1811 Haarlem sale (see Provenance)

ENGRAVED Cornelis Bloemaert after Abraham Bloemaert, 14.9 x 13.1 cm., in reverse, bears inscriptions, on the banderole: ‘Ecce Agnus Dei’ (‘Behold the Lamb of God’); in the margin: ‘En ego praecursor domini, vox ipsa clamantis, / Agnum monstro Dei, tollentem criminal mundi. / Abloemaert: pinxit. C.B. sculp:’ (‘I, the forerunner of the Lord, the very voice crying out, I point out the Lamb of God which expunges the sins of the world’) Copy engraving, in reverse: 14.3 x 13 cm., published by Salomon Savery, bears inscription in the margin: ‘Wiens kleedren waren slecht en sober wert gespijst / omhelst van wie hij leert en met de vinger wijst / S. Savrij Excudit’ (‘He whose clothes were poor and sober is being nourished embraced by him whom he teaches and designates with the finger’)

Abraham Bloemaert, whose rich, successful career spans some seven decades, was born at Christmas Eve 1566.i In his 1604 Schilder-Boeck, artist biographer Karel van Mander gives a detailed description of Bloemaerts early life, which presumes he knew Bloemaert personally. Son of the Dordrecht born Catholic sculptor Cornelis Bloemaert and his wife Aeltgen Willems, the family moved from Gorinchem to ‘s-Hertogenbosch, but returned in 1571. By 1576 – Aeltgen had deceased by that time – the family lived in Utrecht. After some short-lived apprenticeships with the painters Gerrit Splinter (active 1569-1589) and Joost de Beer (d. 1599) and failed efforts to become apprenticed to the famous Anthony van Blocklandt (1533- 1583) and the unknown Rotterdam painter Hendrick Huytgenshoeck, Bloemaert went to Paris in 1581/82. He there studied with the otherwise unknown Maître Henry and Ambrosius Francken (1544/45-1618), and came into contact with the mannerist painters of the school of Fontainebleau. Around 1585 he was back in Utrecht, where his career took off. In 1591 Bloemaert moved to Amsterdam, where in 1592 he married the rich spinster Judith van Schonenburgh, twenty years his senior. Although he moved back to Utrecht in 1593, the Amsterdam period proved crucial, if only because he got acquainted with the network of the painter Cornelis Ketel (1548-1616), the printmaker Harmen Jansz Muller (c. 1540-1617) and artists from their circle. In addition, he probably spent time in nearby Haarlem, for his work betrays an intimate knowledge of the work of Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem (1562-1638), Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) and Karel van Mander (1548-1606). After Van Schonenburgh’s death in 1599, he married Gerarda de Roij in 1600. The couple had numerous children, four of whom became painters themselves. Bloemaert’s work shows a development from a stark mannerism inspired by Bartholomeus Spranger (1546-1611) and Goltzius until the turn of the century, towards a more subdued mannerism, and ultimately a mature naturalistic style in the following decades. Bloemaert, who was one of the founders of the Utrecht Guild of St Luke in 1611, played a key role in the formation of a distinct Utrecht school. His numerous pupils included his own children as well as Gerrit van Honthorst (1592-1656), Hendrick ter Brugghen (1588-1629), Cornelis van Poelenburch (1594/95-1667) and Jan van Bijlert (1597/98-1671). Some of them, especially Honthorst, in turn inspired their master after their return from Italy in making several Caravaggist works. In addition to painting, Bloemaert is known as a talented, prolific draughtsman. Many prints after his designs are known.

i For biographical references, see M.J. Bok, in: Roethlisberger/Bok 1993, I, pp. 551-587; C.J.A. Wansink, in: J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, 34 vols., New York 1996, 4, pp. 150-153.