
Jacob Isaacszoon van Swanenburg (; 1571 in
Leiden
Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...
– 1638 in
Utrecht
Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...
) was a Dutch painter, draftsman and art dealer. He was known for his city views,
history painting
History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and B ...
s, Christian religious scenes and portraits. He spent a substantial part of his early career in Italy before returning to his native Leiden. He was the teacher of the young
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
.
[Jacob Isaacsz. van Swanenburg]
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 ...
Life
Jacob Isaacszoon van Swanenburg was born in Leiden as the son of
Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg. His father was a painter and designer of prints, stained glass windows and other objects and also served multiple times as Leiden's mayor.
[Willem Isaacsz. van Swanenburg]
at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco His father had been a pupil of the leading Flemish history
Frans Floris
Frans Floris, Frans Floris the Elder or Frans Floris de Vriendt (17 April 15191 October 1570) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, print artist and tapestry designer. He is mainly known for his history paintings, allegorical scenes and portraits. ...
in Antwerp and received major civil and religious commissions in Leiden where he was the leading history painter of his time.
[Jacob van Swanenburg Biography]
in: Arnold Houbraken
Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch people, Dutch Painting, painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters.
Life
Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadt ...
, ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'', 1718 [Amy Golahny, ''Rembrandt's Reading: The Artist's Bookshelf of Ancient Poetry and History'', Amsterdam University Press, 2003, p. 59-64] Jacob had two younger brothers who also became artists:
Claes
Claes is a masculine given name, a version of Nicholas, as well as a patronymic surname. It is also spelled Klas, Clas and Klaes.
Given name
Claes is a common first name in Sweden. It was also a common name in the Low Countries until the 18th cent ...
(1572-1652) was a painter while
Willem
Willem () is a Dutch name, Dutch and West Frisian language, West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic languages, Germanic, and can be seen as the ...
(1580-1612) was a printmaker.
[ The van Swanenburg family was largely of the ]Arminian
Arminianism is a movement of Protestantism initiated in the early 17th century, based on the Christian theology, theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed Church, Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic supporters known as Remo ...
faith and after 1618-1619, Remonstrant
The Remonstrants (or the Remonstrant Brotherhood) is a Protestant movement that split from the Dutch Reformed Church in the early 17th century. The early Remonstrants supported Jacobus Arminius, and after his death, continued to maintain his ori ...
.[
]
Van Swanenburg left Holland for Italy but information about his sojourn is scarce.[ The artist was in Venice around 1591. In Italy he also spent time in Rome as is demonstrated by his ''View of St. Peter's Square in Rome''. He had settled in ]Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
around 1598. He married on 28 November 1599 Margaretha De Cardone, the daughter of a local grocer.[ He sold his paintings directly from his workshop in Naples. In 1608 he ran foul of the Neapolitan ]Inquisition
The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...
for displaying paintings depicting scenes of witchcraft
Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...
in his shop.[ The accusation related to a large canvas depicting a number of witches and devils engaging in perverse acts, which he had displayed outside his shop. During the proceedings van Swanenburg explained that he had only taken out the picture which he had begun three years earlier for cleaning and varnishing. He declared to have studied the art of painting in Venice without a master. He was able to convince the inquisitor of his good character and got off with a severe reprimand. Had the inquisitor known that van Swanenburg was a non-Catholic the punishment would likely have been more severe.][
]
Van Swanenburg returned to his native Leiden without his family in 1615. His return may have been related to the death of his father the year before. He travelled back to Naples in 1617 to move his household permanently to Leiden.[ On 6 January 1618 the artist along with his wife and three surviving children arrived in Leiden. Here van Swanenburg achieved success as a painter and received commissions from local and non-local patrons.][
He was registered as a master of the young ]Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
in 1620. While the subjects of van Swanenburg (mainly cityscapes and hell scenes) did not leave a noticeable mark on Rembrandt's work, Rembrandt's use of chiaroscuro and his interest in artificial lighting may have their roots in van Swanenburg's fiery hell scenes. Rembrandt may also have continued in his work a technique of producing paintings which starts with laying out the composition upon the support in stages, building up the picture from the background to the foreground and applying glazing or finishing layers.[
He died in 1638 while on a trip to Utrecht.][ He was buried in the St. Pieter's Kerk in Leiden next to his father.][
]
Work
Only about 11 works have been attributed to van Swanenburg. These works deal with two principal subjects: three are city views while eight depict scenes of hell.[ He is reported to have painted portraits but none have come down to us.][
The hell scenes deal with different subjects: one sets out all the tortures of inferno, two deal with the story of ]Pluto
Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...
and Proserpina
Proserpina ( ; ) or Proserpine ( ) is an ancient Roman goddess whose iconography, functions and myths are virtually identical to those of Greek Persephone. Proserpina replaced or was combined with the ancient Roman fertility goddess Libera, whos ...
from Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...
's ''Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...
'' and two include a depiction of the seven deadly sins
The seven deadly sins (also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins) function as a grouping of major vices within the teachings of Christianity. In the standard list, the seven deadly sins according to the Catholic Church are pride, greed ...
. Four pictures show the entrance to hell and two of these include the story of Aeneas
In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas ( , ; from ) was a Troy, Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus (mythology), Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy ...
with the Cumaean Sibyl
The Cumaean Sibyl () was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, a Greek colony near Naples, Italy. The word ''sibyl'' comes (via Latin) from the ancient Greek word ''sibylla'', meaning prophetess. There were many sibyls thr ...
from Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...
's ''Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...
''. These references to Ovid and Virgil were not original and were clearly derived from the work of the Flemish painter Jan Brueghel the Elder
Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Elder ( , ; ; 1568 – 13 January 1625) was a Flemish painting, Flemish painter and Draughtsmanship, draughtsman. He was the younger son of the eminent Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, Flemish ...
who had been a pioneer of the hell scene.[
An example of a hell scene is ''The Sibyl showing Aeneas the Underworld, Charon's boat'' (circa 1620, ]Museum De Lakenhal
Museum De Lakenhal is the city museum of fine art and history in Leiden, Netherlands. Founded in 1874, its collection ranges from early works by Rembrandt van Rijn and Lucas van Leyden's ''Last Judgement'' to modern classics of De Stijl and artwork ...
). The picture shows the god of the underworld, Pluto, steering a chariot across the sky. On the left the boat of Charon
In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon ( ; ) is a psychopomp, the ferryman of the Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the worlds of the living and ...
carries the souls of the dead to the underworld. In a huge mouth the seven deadly sins are represented through various characters: a reclining woman is the personification of laziness, a love couple of lust, a woman who pulls out her tongue is slander, a woman with a pouch represents avarice, a dressed up lady with a mirror depicts vanity and an eating man intemperance. The scene is further completed with crowds of naked people and monsters engaged in perverse acts, fantastic ships and an eerie background with ancient ruins, flames and clouds of smoke.[
]
Van Swanenburg's city views include a biblical scene of ''The siege of Bethulia'' (Museum De Lakenhal
Museum De Lakenhal is the city museum of fine art and history in Leiden, Netherlands. Founded in 1874, its collection ranges from early works by Rembrandt van Rijn and Lucas van Leyden's ''Last Judgement'' to modern classics of De Stijl and artwork ...
), which the artist completed in Naples in 1615. It depicts the apocryphal biblical story of the siege of the Jewish mountain town Bethulia by the Babylonians. The most important scene in the lower right corner is barely noticeable. There lies the lifeless body of the Babylonian general Holofernes
Holofernes (; ) was an invading Assyrian general in the Book of Judith, who was beheaded by Judith, who entered his camp and decapitated him while he was intoxicated.
Etymology
The name 'Holofernes' is derived from the Old Persian name , meanin ...
. He was beheaded by the Jewish heroine Judith
The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book included in the Septuagint and the Catholic Church, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Christian Old Testament of the Bible but Development of the Hebrew Bible canon, excluded from the ...
, who had cunningly entered his tent, plied him with drink, and then beheaded him. She took the head back to Bethulia as a trophy.
Van Swanenburg also painted a topographical scene of ''St. Peter's Square in Rome with a papal procession'' (1628, National Gallery of Denmark
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).Jacob van Swanenburgh, ''A Papal Procession on the Piazza San Pietro in Rome''
at the National Gallery of Denmark
Notes
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swanenburg, Jacob van
1571 births
1638 deaths
Dutch Golden Age painters
Dutch male painters
Artists from Leiden
Dutch draughtsmen