MARTEN JAN BOK AND MARCEL ROETHLISBERGER

Not Adriaen Bloemaert but Abraham Blommaert (of Middelburg), Landscape Painter*

The aim of this contribution is to assembie the group oflandscape paintings which go unquestioned under the name of Adriaen Bloemaert (Utrecht 16IO/13 -1666, son of Abraham Bloemaert) and to propose that they are instead by the Middelburg painter Abraham Blommaert (c. 1626 - after 1675 ?). As yet no works have ever been ascribed to this master, who was only known from archive references. I And as far as we know only Abraham Bredius has ever suggested, in an unpublished and hitherto neglected manuscript no te, the Middelburg master as the author of these

landscapes. 2 The oeuvre consists of some sixty-five extant works, thoroughly coherent in style, plus others which are only recorded. The following dates occur: on extant works 16?1 (1651, 1661?), 1654, 1657, 1658, 1664; reported only: 1641, 1645 (these two in fact questionable), 1656, 1662. 3 The traditional attribution to Adriaen seemed to pose no problem, as the majority bear at the bottom the unusually large, calligraphic signature A. Blommaert (the Christian name invariably limited to the initial A.). The spelling Blommaert raised no doubts and was never commented up on. Though not a decisive argument in itself, its circumstancial weight contributes to invalida• te the attribution to Adriaen.4 Adriaen (from Utrecht) is the least interesting of Abraham Bloemaert's four artist sons. 5 The sole early biographic notice concerning him is that of Sandrart, 1675, who only mentions Adriaen's journey to Italy and paintings done by him in Salz• burg.6 His known production consists of a mere dozen religious paintings done in 1637/40 in Salzburg (Fig. I) 7 and in Freistadt, Upper Austria, of a few drawings and some commercial print designs. The religious paintings, rather Flemish in charac• ter, are of little more than local Austrian interest. There is no further trace of pain• tings after 1640; thus, the landscapes seemed to fall perfectly into place. Working on the catalogue of paintings by Abraham Bloemaert and his sons, it felt increasingly improbable that Adriaen's certified religious paintings should be by the same hand as the more refined landscapes. The groups reflect two personalities, too different to be compatible.8 The earliest record of a landscape presumably from this group occurs in the sale of H.Verschuuring, The Hague, Pictura, 17 September 1770, lot 37: 9 'A. Bloemaart, having been a schoolmaster in Zeeland. Mountainous landscape, with figures and animais, very lively and nicely painted, Ao 1662, panel, 13 X 18 [Rhenish] duim' (33.9 X 47 cm), sold for f. 25.10 The 'schoolmaster in Zeeland' reported in 1770 is too specific and early a reference to be discarded out of hand; indeed it will be the main indication on which our new attribution is based. The working hypothesis - which seems obvious and acceptable - is that the untraced painting sold in 1770 was by the same hand as the group of extant works mentioned earlier. The prove• nances of the extant paintings- the two earliest going back no further than to 1807 and 1867 - give no clue about their origin."

12 Adriaen Bloemaert (from Utrecht), Ascension of Christ, Salzburg, Univer• sity. Canvas, c. 150 X 130 cm.

Documentary evidence in Middelburg Unrelated to the Utrecht family, the following three or four painters by the name of Blommaert (with this spelling) are recorded in seventeenth-century Middelburg, the capitalof Zeeland. They were hitherto unknown, except for Lowys (see the Appendix for the documents).

1. Lowys Bloemaert (became a member of the local St. Luke's guild in 1642/43 and died in 1657/58). A sole painting is at present known by him: a river landscape with buildings and figures in Kiev, State Museum, canvas, 60 X 83.5 cm, signed L. Blom• maert, somewhat in the manner of Joost Droochsloot and Claes Molenaer. 12 A river landscape stylistically close to the oeuvre discussed in this article in private hands signed LB I6J7 requires further study.13 2. Abraham Blommaert (named for the first time in a deed of 1651, last mentioned in 1671).14 In 1664 he was called a schoolmaster and painter (schoolmeesterenftjnschil• der), owning a house in Middelburg. To our knowledge he is the only Dutch pain• ter who was also a school teacher, a combination noteworthy enough to keep his memory alive for a century.

Oud Holland Jaargang/Volume IlO - 1996 Nr. I