GERARD VAN HONTHORST

By Alte Pinakothek, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen

Alte Pinakothek, Bavarian State Painting Collections

Present-day Portrait of Gerard van Honthorst by Jörg SchwarzenbachAlte Pinakothek, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen

Gerard van Honthorst

The son of a painter, Honthorst was born in Utrecht and trained in the workshop of Abraham Bloemaert. The year of his arrival in Rome is uncertain; the earliest document of his stay there is a drawing, dated 1616, after a painting by Caravaggio. Until his departure in 1620, he lived in the household of Benedetto and Vincenzo Giustiniani. In Rome, Honthorst received commissions from important patrons for altar and gallery paintings. Of these, his artificially lit night scenes in particular gained him notoriety, so much so that he was later nicknamed ‘Gherardo delle Notti’. Back in Utrecht, he ran a large workshop with numerous students, including Joachim von Sandrart. From April to December 1628, he worked at the English court of King Charles I and was granted English citizenship in November of the same year. In the following years, his international reputation grew in aristocratic circles. In 1640, he was elected president of the Utrecht painters’ guild. Honthorst died in Utrecht in 1656.

The Liberation of Peter (1616) by Gerard van HonthorstGemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Christ before the High Priest (about 1617) by Gerrit van HonthorstThe National Gallery, London

The Mocking of Christ The Mocking of ChristLos Angeles County Museum of Art

Saint Sebastian (about 1623) by Gerrit van HonthorstThe National Gallery, London

The Concert (1623) by Gerrit van HonthorstNational Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Der liederliche Student (1625) by Gerard van HonthorstAlte Pinakothek, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen

The procuress (1625) by Gerard van HonthorstCentraal Museum

Credits: Story

The contents were created in connection with the exhibition "Utrecht, Caravaggio and Europe" at the Alte Pinakothek München. Click here to discover the world of the Caravaggisti.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions (listed below) who have supplied the content.
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