Arnold van Boonen (16 December 1669 – 2 October 1729) was a Dutch portrait painter.
Life
He was born at
Dordrecht
Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...
, in the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...
in 1669. He was a pupil first of
Arnold Verbuis, and then of
Godefried Schalken. He painted
genre pictures in the style of the latter, representing subjects by candlelight. However, due to much encouragement in portrait painting, he shifted almost entirely to that branch of art. His style was well adapted to succeed in it. An excellent colourist, a faithful designer of his model, and highly skilled, he was soon distinguished as one of the ablest artists of his day. He painted a great number of portraits of the most distinguished people of his time, among whom were
Peter the Great
Peter I (, ;
– ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...
, the
Elector of Mentz, the
Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt () was a Imperial State, State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse among the four sons of Landgr ...
, the
Prince and Princess of Orange, the great
Duke of Marlborough
General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was a British army officer and statesman. From a gentry family, he ...
, and several others. He created large paintings for different company halls in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
and Dordrecht. He died in 1729.
[
The ]Dresden Gallery
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
has seven works by him, and the ''Woman Singing'' in the Lille Gallery is also attributed to him. His son, Kasper van Boonen, also painted portraits, but in no way proved himself equal to his father.
Gallery
Jan van Huysum - portrait by Arnold Boonen.jpg, Portrait of Jan van Huysum, c. 1720
Arnold Boonen Kaufmann im Kontor.jpg, Merchant in his office, before 1729
Agatha Levina, Joan en Anna Elisabeth Geelvinck.jpg, Detail of a painting with (left) Agatha Levina Geelvinck (1701-1761), c. 1705
Arnold Boonen (attr) A young boy holding a tambourine.jpg, A young boy holding a tambourine, c. 1729
Arnold Boonen - Portrait of 3 van der Elst children.jpg, Family portrait of 3 children of the van der Elst family
SB 4845-De regenten van het Burgerweeshuis-Zes regenten en de boekhouder van het Burgerweeshuis.jpg, Regents of the Burgerweeshuis (municipal orphanage) in Amsterdam
References
Sources
*
1669 births
1729 deaths
Painters from Dordrecht
18th-century Dutch painters
18th-century Dutch male artists
Dutch male painters
Dutch portrait painters
{{Netherlands-painter-stub