27.11.2018 The School of Delft Custom Search home vermeer catalogue glossary painting technique vermeer events vermeer bookshop The School of Delft THE SCHOOL OF DELFT The School of Delft was loosely composed of a heterogeneous group of artists, most of whom were born outside Delft but worked there at one time or another for varying lengths of time between 1650 and 1670. the school of delft: origins & characteristics According to some art historians, there was, however, no pivotal figure in Delft (least of all Vermeer) around carel fabritius & paulus potter whom the other painters gathered for inspiration although at one time or another Carel Fabritius, Pieter Saenredam, Paulus Potter and even Nicolaes Maes have been cast in the role of catalysts. pieter de hooch & johannes vermeer gerard houckgeest & emanuel de witte Vermeer news Leonaert Bramer, who would have been acknowledged by Delft citizens as the most Facebook important Delft painter of his generation, What is a "school" of painting? produced eccentric history paintings, murals Vermeer FAQ In reference to painting the word "school" is and moody Italianate nocturnal scenes (see used with various meanings. In its widest Art bookshops image left) which share nothing with the work of sense a school may include the painters of a Vermeer and his pioneering colleagues. The single country, regardless of date such as Vermeer slideshow other important painter in Delft was Christiaen "the Dutch School." In its narrowest sense, it denotes a group of painters who worked van Couwenberg, who, like Bramer, made Digital images under the influence of a single artists as in, primarily history paintings and had studied in the "School of Raphael." In a third sense, it About Italy. His paintings of Biblical subject matter, for applies to the painters of one city or province modern taste, appear theatrical and brittle, who worked under some common local Peasants by a Fire influence, and with some general similarity Leonaert Bramer practically at the antipode of the Delft spirit. c. 1626 of design, color, or technique, such as "the Florentine School. Oil on slate, 22 x 33 cm. Any scenario that might explain how the Delft Private collection spirit was ignited must include the contemporary Painters of a specific geographical area were gathering of Carel Fabritius from Amsterdam (and with him the lessons of Rembrandt), Pieter de Hooch once bound together more closely than in modern times. In order to sign and sell their from Rotterdam (a painter of amiable low-life scenes), Paulus Potter (noted for his silvery, atmospheric works, they were required to belong to the landscapes) and the pioneering architectural painters, Gerrit Houckgeest and Emmanuel de Witte along with Guild of St. Luke, the corporation of artists Vermeer, native of Delft. and artisans which regulated the local art commerce and assisted painters in illness We know that Italian artists and art writers of the Renaissance thought the artistic production from each of and old age. Each guild had a clearly defined the major Italian cities (Rome, Florence and Venice) presented distinct characteristics distinguishing them set of rules, traditions and a system of from the others. There is no documentary evidence showing that painters of Amsterdam, Haarlem or Utrecht apprenticeship that compelled young painters to work for a term of four to six had ever viewed the more innovative art production of Delft distinct from the production of other cities— years with a recognized guild master. Thus, nough so to merit an appellative. Nor is it known if the painters of the School of Delft themselves held that an important master might stamp his manner there was a common thread binding them together. Vermeer may have urged the awkward De Hooch to of working on a large number of pupils, draw his figures and organize his compositions with greater care, but if Vermeer's white-washed walls owe some of whom would be more than willing more to the pearl-gray church walls of Houckgeest or De Witte rather than to the stark white background of to acquiesce to the tastes of local collectors who had guaranteed their master's prosperity. Fabritius's tiny Goldfinch is impossible to know. A significant number of the paintings produced in Delft are not dated, frustrating attempts to determine the directions of influence with any degree of accuracy. The "School of Delft," or the "Delft School," belongs to the third type of school, although On the other hand, it is almost impossible to believe that in a city as small as Delft, which at that time could its "members" would probably not have been have been be crossed by foot in a few minutes, such exceptionally talented painters belonging to the same aware that they belonged to any school at all. They were, however, bound by their guild would not have talked shop and kept a close eye on their colleagues' progress, if nothing else in order obligatory guild membership and could not not to fall behind in competition. have avoided contact with each other is such a small town as Delft. Characteristics of the School of Delft The School of Delft is known for genre SCHOOL OF DELFT Resources scenes of domestic life, church interiors, Wayne Franits, Pieter de Hooch: A Woman courtyards and its city streets. The principal Preparing Bread and Butter for a Boy, Getty artists of the School of Delft are Johannes Museum Studies on Art, Los Angeles, 2006. Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch, Carel Fabritius, Frederik J. Duparc, Gero Seelig and Ariane Gerard Houckgeest, Paulus Potter and Van Suchtelen, Carel Fabritius 1622–1654, Emmanuel de Witte. Today, Vermeer is The Hague: Royal Cabinet of Paintings, universally considered the greatest painter of Mauritshuis, 2004. the school although each of painters listed Sergiusz Michalski, "Rembrandt and the above have carved out a prestigious place Church Interiors of the Delft School" Artibus among the most significant painters of the et Historiae, vol. 23, no. 46, 2002, . 183– Golden Age of Dutch painting. Some art 193. historians have also designated a School of Walter A. Liedtke, Michiel Plomp, and Axel Pieter de Hooch. Rüger, Vermeer and the Delft School, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001. Other painters who, to a greater or lesser Gary Schwartz, "With Emanuel de Witte in degree, have been associated with the School the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam," in Geest en are Hendrick van der Burch, Cornelis de Man, gratie: Essays Presented to Ildiko Ember on Anthonie Palamedesz, Egbert van der Poel, Her Seventieth Birthday, ed. Orsolya Adam Pynacker, Jan Steen, Jacob van Velsen, Radványi, 2001, . 84–91. Johannes Verkolje, Hendrick Cornelisz van Walter A. Liedtke, A View of Delft: Vermeer Vliet, Daniel Vosmaer and Jacob Woutersz and his Contemporaries, Zwolle: Waanders A Woman Peeling Apples Vosmaer. Publications, 2000. Pieter de Hooch c. 1663 Danielle Lokin, Michiel C. Kersten, "The Oil on canvas, 67.1 x 54.7 cm. The principle qualities which distinguish the Delft Church Interior," in Delft Masters, The Wallace Collection, London painting of the School of Delft from the painting Vermeer's Contemporaries,: Waanders Publications, 1996, 41–86. http://www.essentialvermeer.com/fakes_thefts_school_of_delft_lost_sp/school_of_delft_one.html#.W_0sxuhKhPY 1/8 27.11.2018 The School of Delft of other Dutch schools is a pervading calm, careful observation of the activity of light, perspective Amy L. Walsh, Paulus Potter: his works and coherency, measured composition and a relative disinterest for detail for the sake of detail. The last is the their meaning. Ann Arbor: Columbia quality which brought the fijnschilders (fine painters) of the Leiden School to the international stage. University, 1989. Walter A. Liedtke, "De Witte and The School of Delft coalesced in the early 1650s and continued to produce paintings of elevated quality and Houckgeest: Two New Paintings from Their originality through the 1660s. However, as quickly as the Delft style arose, it disappeared. Many artists Years in Delft," The Burlington Magazine, departed for more promising markets, usually Amsterdam. By the time Vermeer died in 1675, the city had Vol. 128, No. 1004 (Nov., 1986), 802–805. reverted to its status as an artistic backwater. Walter Liedtke, Architectural Painting in Delft: Gerard Houckgeest, Hendrick Van The character or even the existence itself of the School of Delft—no such appellation existed at the time—is Vliet, Emanuel De Witte, Doornspijk: not, however, set in stone. The art historian Christopher Brown has questioned if the School of Delft ever Davaco, 1982. existed in a meaningful art historical sense. J. Breunesse holds that "with the use of the term 'Delft School,' Christopher Brown, Carel Fabritius with a a problem [is] created rather than solved." Catalogue Raisonné, Oxford: Phaidon, 1981. On the other hand, in line with previous art historians, John M. Montias, the economist turned Vermeer Peter C. Sutton, Pieter De Hoogh: Complete Edition, Oxford: Phaidon, 1980. biographer, suggests that once Potter, De Witte, Fabritius, De Hooch and Vermeer joined the Delft Guild of Saint Luke shortly before or shortly after 1650s, "a genuine school—in the sense of a community with Hans Jantzen, Das niederlandische intersecting interests in subject matter and techniques, with some similarity in aesthetic approaches, and Architekturbild, Leipzig, 1910 (2nd ed. Brunswick 1979). with significant cross influences—had at last come into existence." Ilse Ruth Manke, Emanuel De Witte: 1617– Walter Liedtke, one of the most authoritative scholars of Dutch art, affirms unequivocally that the School of 1622. (Dutch), Amsterdam: Hertzberger, Delft did exist and organized in its honor an imposing exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art which 1963. included 85 paintings, 15 by the hand of Vermeer.1 Briefly, Liedtke posits that "most innovative Delft artists Arthur K. Wheelock, "Gerard Houckgeest of the 1650s and 1660s achieved (unconsciously, to be sure) a synthesis of qualities that were well and Emmanuel de Witte: Architectural established in Delft and the naturalistic mode of description that had been at home in Haarlem, 'Cradle of Painting in Delft around 1650," Simiolus, 8 the New Art.'" (1975/76), 167–185.