Karel Philips Spierincks - Jupiter and Callisto

Karel Philips Spierincks (many name variations: Spierinckx, Spierinck, Spieringh, Spiringh, Spirinck, Spirinx, Spirin, Carlo Filippo Fiammingo)Biographical details
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 ...

(c. 1600 or 1609–1610, in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

– 22 May 1639, in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

) 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 ...

who spent his active career in Italy. He painted mainly landscapes with putti or mythological scenes in a classicizing style which show the influence of

François Duquesnoy François Duquesnoy or Frans Duquesnoy (12 January 1597 – 18 July 1643) was a Flanders, Flemish Baroque sculptor who was active in Rome for most of his career, where he was known as Il Fiammingo ("the Fleming"). His idealized representations re ...

and

Nicolas Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythologic ...

as well as religious paintings.

Life

The details about Spierincks’ early life and training are uncertain. Little information is available on his date of birth. He is usually stated to have been born in Brussels c. 1609–1610. However, he is mentioned as a pupil of Michel de Boerdous in Brussels in 1612 and as a master in the Brussels

Guild of Saint Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was iden ...

in 1622. It is therefore more likely that he was born around 1600. He was in Rome by 1624 and it is believed that he may briefly have been a pupil there of his Flemish compatriot, the landscape painter

Paul Bril Paul Bril (1554 – 7 October 1626) was a Southern Netherlands, Flemish painter and printmaker principally known for his Landscape art, landscapes.Nicola Courtright. "Paul Bril." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. ...

Karel Philips Spierincks - An allegorical scene with putti fighting

By 1630 Spierincks is documented as sharing a house with the Flemish sculptor François Duquesnoy (1597–1643). The two artists lived together in via della Vittoria near

Piazza di Spagna The Piazza di Spagna is a square in the centre of Rome, the capital of Italy. It lies at the foot of the Spanish Steps and owes its name to the Palazzo di Spagna, the seat of the Embassy of Spain to the Holy See. The Column of the Immaculate Con ...

from 1630 until Spierincks’ death in 1639.Carel Philips Spierinck (Brussels c. 1600 – 1639 Rome)
Putti Teasing a Goat, at

Dorotheum The Dorotheum () is one of the world's oldest auction houses and is the largest auction house of art items in Continental Europe. Established by Emperor Joseph I in 1707, it has its headquarters in Vienna on the Dorotheergasse and branches in ...

François Duquesnoy had previously shared lodgings with Nicolas Poussin. In the period 1634–35 Spierincks was paying dues to the

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca () is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its first ''principe'' or director; ...

in Rome, though not as a member. He died on 22 May 1639 and was buried near the high altar of

Santa Maria della Pietà in Camposanto dei Teutonici The Church of Our Lady of Mercy in the Teutonic Cemetery (Latin: ''Sancta Maria Pietatis in Coemeterio Teutonicorum,'' ) is a Roman Catholic church in the rione Borgo (rione of Rome), Borgo of Rome, Italy. It is located on the Via della Sagrestia. ...

, a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church in

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

Work

The work of Spierincks can be divided by subject matter into mythological and religious paintings. The two major influences on his style were Poussin and François Duquesnoy.Silvia Danesi Squarzina, A 'Hagar and the Angel' by Carel Philips Spierinck in Potsdam
in: The Burlington Magazine, June 1999 (Number 1155 – Volume 141) The influence of Duquesnoy can be seen in his

Classicist Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

tendencies and the theme of the putti. Poussin had during his first decade in Rome (1624–34) created a series of mythological landscapes inspired by

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

’s series on the theme of the Bacchanales (one now in the National Gallery, London, and two in the Prado, Madrid) and on the pastoral love poetry of classical antiquity such as the

Eclogues The ''Eclogues'' (; , ), also called the ''Bucolics'', is the first of the three major works of the Latin poet Virgil. Background Taking as his generic model the Greek bucolic poetry of Theocritus, Virgil created a Roman version partly by o ...

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 ...

. These Poussins are playful and erotic celebrations of the idyllic life of Arcadia but also have a serious undertone.Karel Philips Spierincks (c.1600–39)
at the Royal Collection Spierincks was inspired by Poussin's paintings to produce a series of mythological paintings often depicting putti in a bucolic setting. His work is sometimes confused with that of another follower of Poussin, the Italian painter

Andrea de Leone Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ref ...

.Miriam Di Penta, 'Due inediti di Andrea de Leone. Nuove riflessioni sul Poussin-castiglione-De Leone Problem'
in Storia dell'Arte 125–126. 2010, p. 101 Spierincks left incomplete paintings for the sacristy of

Santa Maria dell'Anima Santa Maria dell'Anima () is a church in central Rome, Italy, just west of the Piazza Navona and near the Santa Maria della Pace church. It was founded during the course of the 14th century by Dutch merchants, who at that time belonged to the Ho ...

which he had already started. These paintings have not survived although one of them, a

Saint Norbert Norbert of Xanten, O. Praem (c. 1080 – 6 June 1134), also known as Norbert Gennep, was a German Catholic bishop who was the Archbishop of Magdeburg, founder of the Premonstratensian order of canons regular, and is venerated as a saint in the ...

, was recorded on 2 March 1643 in the house of 'Petrus Piscator' i.e. Peter Visscher (or Pieter de Vischere), an Italian banker and patron of Flemish origin.

References

Literature

* Stefan Albl, 'Poussins Freunde: Pietro Testa und Karel Philips Spierincks', Die neue Ausgabe der Frühneuzeit-Info, 6 November 2013, p. 29–42 *A.F. Blunt, 'Poussin Studies X: Karel Philips Spierincks, the First Imitator of Poussin's Bacchanals', The Burlington Magazine 102 (1960), p. 308–311 *D. Bodart, Les peintres des Pays-Bas méridionaux et de la principauté de Liège à Rome au XVIIeme siècle, Brussel-Rome 1970, dl. 1, p. 137–140 *S. Danesi Squarzina, 'Il Silebo ebbro di Spierinck. Dai baccanali alla storia sacra', in: Roma luce ed ombra. Due dipinti tra terzo quarto decennio del seicento (Galleria Silvano Lodi & Due, TEFAF Maastricht), Milaan 2008, p. 44–95; speciaal p. 87–91: S. Danesi Squarzina & L. Lorizzo, 'Carel Philips Spierinck a Roma. Regesto documentario' *M. Beccari, 'A 'St Sebastian' by Karel Philips Spierinck', The Burlington Magazine 162 (2020), p. 595–598

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spierincks, Karel Philips Flemish Baroque painters Painters from Brussels 1639 deaths 1600s births