Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (19 August 1621 – 29 September 1674) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and a favourite student of Rembrandt. He was also an etcher, an amateur poet, a collector and an adviser on art.

Biography

Gerbrand was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, the son of a jeweller, a

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radi ...

who fled after 1585 from Antwerp to the north. In 1631 his mother died. His father's second wife was Cornelia Dedel, the daughter of a founder of the Delft chamber of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

. Arnold Houbraken records Van den Eeckhout was a pupil of Rembrandt. A fellow pupil to

Ferdinand Bol Ferdinand Bol (24 June 1616 – 24 August 1680) was a Dutch painter, etcher and draftsman. Although his surviving work is rare, it displays Rembrandt's influence; like his master, Bol favored historical subjects, portraits, numerous self-port ...

, Nicolaes Maes and Govert Flinck, but regarded as inferior to them in skill and experience; he soon assumed Rembrandt's manner with such success that his pictures were confused with those of his master. Eeckhout does not merely copy the subjects; he also takes the shapes, the figures, the

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish dress and the pictorial effects of his master. It is difficult to form an exact judgment of Eeckhout's qualities at the outset of his career. His earliest pieces are probably those in which he more faithfully reproduced Rembrandt's peculiarities. Exclusively his is a tinge of green in shadows marring the harmony of the work, a gaudiness of jarring tints, uniform surface and a touch more quick than subtle. Eeckhout matriculated early in the Gild of Amsterdam. As he grew older Eeckhout succeeded best in

portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...

, for example that of Isaac Commelin (formerly identified as a portrait of the historian

Olfert Dapper Olfert Dapper (January 1636 – 29 December 1689) was a Dutch physician and writer. He wrote books about world history and geography, although he never travelled outside the Netherlands. Biography Olfert Dapper was born in early 1636 in the J ...

(1669)),RKD
/ref> in the Städel collection in Frankfurt. Eeckhout occasionally varied his style. He followed Gerard ter Borch in ''Gambling Soldiers'', at Stafford House, and a ''Soldiers' Merrymaking'', in the collection of the marquess of Bute. Amongst the best of Eeckhout's works are ''Christ in the Temple'' (1662), at

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, and the ''Haman and Mordecai'' of 1665, at Luton House. Eeckhout, unmarried, was also appreciated as art connoisseur, and dealing with poets and scientists. At the end of his life he was living with his sister-in-law, a widow, on

Herengracht The Herengracht () is the second of four Amsterdam canals belonging to the canal belt and lies between the Singel and the Keizersgracht. The Gouden Bocht (Golden Bend) in particular is known for its large and beautiful canal houses. History Th ...

, at a very prestigious part of the canal. He died in Amsterdam.

Works

*'' The Continence of Scipio'', Rijksmuseum Amsterdam *'' Isaac Blessing Jacob'', in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

*''Resurrection of the Daughter of Jairus'', in the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

museum *''Presentation in the Temple'', in the

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

gallery *''Presentation in the Temple'', at Berlin *''Giving a Tenth'', at Museum of Yugoslav History in Belgrade *''Tobit with the Angel'', at Brunswick *''Woman taken in Adultery'', at Amsterdam *''Anna presenting her Son to the High Priest'', in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

* '' Epiphany'', at

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

* ''

Circumcision Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. Top ...

'', at Kassel * ''A likeness of a lady at a dressingtable with a string of beads'', at

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

* ''Sportsman with Hounds'', in the Van der Hoo gallery (?) * ''Group of Children with Goats'' in the Hermitage * ''Vision of Cornelius the Centurion'', at

The Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

Image:Scholar with His Books by Gerbrand van den Eeckhout.jpeg, ''Scholar with His Books'' Image:Gerbrand van den Eeckhout - Vision of Cornelius the Centurion - Walters 372492.jpg, ''Vision of Cornelius the Centurion'' (1664),

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

File:Gerbrand van den Eeckhout - Abraham and the Three Angels - WGA7462.jpg, ''Abraham and the Three Angels'' (1656),

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...

File:Gerbrand van den Eeckhout - Anna toont haar zoon Samuël aan de priester Eli.jpg, ''Anna presenting her son Samuel to the priest Eli'' (circa 1665),

File:Gerbrand van den Eeckhout - Juno, Jupiter and Io.jpg, ''Juno, Jupiter and Io'' (1672) File:Målning från 1657 föreställande "Josef och hans bröder" - Skoklosters slott - 64697.tif, ''Joseph and his brothers'' (1657) Skokloster Castle

References

;Attribution *

External links

Eeckhout the Rijksmuseum

Works and literature
at PubHist
Vermeer and The Delft School
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which has material on Gerbrand van den Eeckhout
Dutch and Flemish paintings from the Hermitage
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (cat. no. 8) {{DEFAULTSORT:Eeckhout, Gerbrand Van Den 1621 births 1674 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Painters from Amsterdam Dutch etchers Pupils of Rembrandt