Cornelis Mahu - Still Life with Game Birds

Cornelis Mahu (1613 – 16 November 1689) was a

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

genre paintings Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity c ...

and seascapes who showed a very high level of craftsmanship in his compositions.

Life

Mahu was born in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. Nothing is known about his training before he became master of the Guild of St. Luke in 1638.Cornelis Mahu
at the

Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: ), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in document ...

In 1633 he married Brigitta Wolfvoet, who was the daughter of the painter and art dealer Victor Wolfvoet I and brother of the painter Victor Wolfvoet II. It is possible that his father-in-law was his master.Cornelis Mahu
at Jean Moust Cornelis Mahu - Tavern interior

In addition to his son Victor, he had three pupils of whom

Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen the Elder Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen the Elder (Antwerp, 1635 – Antwerp, 16 April 1681) was a Flemish painter of flowers and garland paintings.Pieter Claesz Pieter Claesz (c. 1597 – 1 January 1660) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of still lifes. Biography He was born in Berchem, Belgium, near Antwerp, where he became a member of the Guild of St. Luke in 1620. He moved to Haarlem in 1620, where hi ...

and

Willem Claeszoon Heda Willem Claeszoon Heda (December 14, 1593/1594c. 1680/1682) was a Dutch Golden Age artist from the city of Haarlem devoted exclusively to the painting of still life. He is known for his innovation of the late breakfast genre of still life painting. ...

.Vlieghe, pp. 218–219. He stressed realism in his still lifes. He also painted Flemish style still lifes more in the style of Jan Pauwel Gillemans the Elder. A good example of his still lifes is the '' Still life with an orange on a pewter plate, a porcelain pitcher, a glass, bread and a box of tobacco on a table'' (sold at the De Jonckheer Master Paintings). It shows in its arrangement of the various elements an influence of the Haarlem style. The work captures the spectator's eye with its vibrant contrasts of light and dark (chiaroscuro). The still life conveys the implicit message of

vanitas ''Vanitas'' is a genre of symbolizing the temporality, transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, and thus the vanity of ambition and all worldly desires. The paintings involved still life imagery of transitory i ...

so typical for northern European still lifes of the time. This message is conveyed through the usual symbols of the genre: the cut orange, which evokes the passing of life that is bitter in essence, and meaningless if not combined with a higher spiritual reality, and the burning candle, which inexorably measures time and the limits of our material and sensual aspirations.Cornelis Mahu
at De Jonckheere Gallery

Genre scenes

Cornelis Mahu was a skilled painter of genre scenes depicted in an interior or outside setting. He was inspired by the various subjects developed by

David Teniers the Younger David Teniers the Younger or David Teniers II (bapt. 15 December 1610 – 25 April 1690) was a Flemish Baroque painter, printmaker, draughtsman, miniaturist painter, staffage painter, copyist and art curator. He was an extremely versatile artist ...

Adriaen van Ostade Adriaen van Ostade (baptized as Adriaen Jansz Hendricx 10 December 1610 – buried 2 May 1685) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works, showing everyday life of ordinary men and women. Life According to Arnold Houbraken, he and his br ...

and

Jan Miense Molenaer Jan Miense Molenaer (1610 – buried 19 September 1668) was a Dutch Golden Age genre painter whose style was a precursor to Jan Steen's work during Dutch Golden Age painting. He shared a studio with his wife, Judith Leyster, also a genre paint ...

such as barn interiors, guardroom scenes and tavern interiors. These lively paintings are full of figures with exaggerated and rough features. Cornelis Manu was one of a few Flemish artists who painted 'guardroom scenes'. Guardroom scenes are a type of genre scene that had become popular in the mid-17th century, particularly in the Dutch Republic. In Flanders there were also a few practitioners of the genre including David Teniers the Younger,

Abraham Teniers Abraham Teniers (1 March 1629 – 26 September 1670) was a Flemish painter and engraver who specialized in genre art, genre paintings of villages, inns and monkey scenes. He was a member of artist family Teniers which came to prominence in the 1 ...

Anton Goubau Anton Goubau or Anton Goebouw (May 1616 in Antwerp – 11 March 1698 in Antwerp) was a Flemish Baroque painter. He spent time in Rome where he moved in the circle of the Bamboccianti, a name given to mainly Dutch and Flemish genre painters who c ...

, Gillis van Tilborch and

Jan Baptist Tijssens the Younger Jan Baptist Tijssens the Younger (1660–1723) was a Flemish painter mainly known for his genre painting, 'guardroom scenes' and still lifes.Guardroom with the Release of St. Peter'' (Sold at Agraa Art on 17 October 2004), which is freely inspired by two compositions of David Teniers the Younger in the

Wallace Collection The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse (Great Britain), townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquess of Hertford, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wall ...

and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden. Cornelis Mahu's work depicts soldiers and officers on three different planes engaging in various activities such as gambling, smoking and talking. At the front left there is a pile of weapons and a drum. The armour depicted in the picture was already out of date at the time it was painted since metal armours, breast plates and helmets fell out of use from the 1620s. It is possible that in line with the moralizing intent of the genre, the armour is a reference to the

motif of the transience of power and fame. The composition also includes a religious scene of the 'Release of St. Peter', which is visible through a gate in the background of the painting. This inclusion of a religious scene in a larger composition is reminiscent of the work of 16th century painters in Antwerp such as

Pieter Aertsen Pieter Aertsen (1508, Amsterdam – 2 June 1575, Amsterdam), called ''Lange Piet'' ("Tall Pete") because of his height, was a Dutch painter in the style of Northern Mannerism. He is credited with the invention of the monumental genre scene, whi ...

and

Joachim Beuckelaer Joachim Beuckelaer (c. 1533 – c. 1570/4) was a Flemish painter specialising in market and kitchen scenes with elaborate displays of food and household equipment.

who placed small religious scenes in the background of lush scenes of markets.Kordegarda (Uwolnienie Św. Piotra), 1645
Cornelis Mahu - Shipping in stormy waters near a coast

Cornelis Mahu - Shipping in stormy waters near a coast

Marine paintings

Although better known for his still lifes and genre scenes, Mahu produced a number of seascapes that show his originality. The seascapes usually depict ships on a wild sea occasionally with a harbour scene or ships in distress. His palette uses a mixture of greens and browns.Rupert Preston, ''The seventeenth century marine painters of the Netherlands'', F. Lewis, 1974, p. 26. Mahu's marine scenes with their heavy clouds and raging seas are similar to those of

Bonaventura Peeters Bonaventura Peeters (I) or Bonaventura Peeters the Elder (23 July 1614 – 25 July 1652) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and etcher. He became one of the leading marine artists in the Low Countries in the first half of the 17th century wit ...

, the leading representative of the "monochrome" movement in marine painting. Other marine paintings show a similarity with those of the painter Jan Porcellis.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahu, Cornelis 1613 births 1689 deaths Flemish Baroque painters Flemish still life painters Flemish genre painters Flemish marine artists Flemish landscape painters Painters from Antwerp