Simon Hardimé (1672–1737) was a Flemish painter of mixed Walloon and Flemish descent.

Jacob Campo Weyerman Jacob Campo Weyerman (9 August 1677 – 9 March 1747) was a painter and writer during the period known as the Dutch Enlightenment. His work encompassed flower and fruit still life paintings, satirical magazines, plays, and biographies of painter ...

''De levens-beschryvingen der Nederlandsche konst-schilders en konst-schilderessen''
Volume 3, Dordrecht, Ab. Blussé en Zoon, 1729–1769, pp. 245-248 He is known for his paintings of flowers. He trained in Antwerp and later worked for a few years 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 ...

. He then moved to London where he remained the rest of his life.Simon Hardimé
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 ...

His patrons included the bourgeoisie in Brussels and Antwerp and aristocrats in the Netherlands and England.

Life

Hardimé 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 ...

as the son of a laborer with the same name, who was originally from

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

, and a Flemish mother. He became in 1684 a pupil of Jan Baptist de Crépu, a flower and fruit painter who was also of Walloon descent. De Crépu was originally an officer in the Spanish service who had only become a painter later in life when he settled in Antwerp.Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, p. 1149 De Crépu later fled his creditors and moved to Brussels where he died in 1689.Jacopo Lorenzelli, Eckard Lingenauber, Daniele Benati, ''The lure of still life'', Galleria Lorenzelli, Galerie Lingenauber Galleria Lorenzelli, 1995, p. 230 Another pupil of de Crépu who studied at the same time as Hardimé was the still life painter Jan Baptist Bosschaert. After about four years in de Crépu's workshop, Hardimé was registered as master in the Antwerp

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 the guild year 1688–89.Ph. Rombouts and Th. van Lerius, ''De Liggeren en andere Historische Archieven der Antwerpsche Sint Lucasgilde, onder Zinkspreuk: "Wy Jonsten Versaemt" afgeschreven en bemerkt door Ph. Rombouts en Th. Van Lerius, Advokaet, onder de bescherming van den raed van bestuer der koninklyke Akademie van beeldende Kunsten, van gezegde Stad''
Volume 2, Antwerp, 1872, pp. 532 and 537 He worked in Antwerp where he was the teacher of his brother Pieter Hardimé. The early biographer

claims that he studied oil painting with Hardimé.

''De levens-beschryvingen der Nederlandsche konst-schilders en konst-schilderessen''
Volume 4, Dordrecht, Ab. Blussé en Zoon, 1729–1769, p. 470 He also stated that Hardimé spent much of his time drinking in taverns. This caused him to have money troubles. To escape his creditors he left Antwerp for

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

where he stayed with his brother Pieter from 1697. He also worked for a while in

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

where he received a commission to paint a chimney piece for the palace of

William III of England William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, Zeeland, Lordship of Utrecht, Utrec ...

. Hardimé left for London in 1702 where he remained active for the rest of his life. He received commissions from the Earl of Scarborough. He died in London in 1737.

Works

Hardimé was a painter of still lives with flowers. In the typical Flemish tradition, he painted these directly from nature. He preferred decorative effect over naturalistic representation. This is in line with trends in Flemish still life painting at the end of the 17th century and shows the influence of the French artist Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer, who worked for King Louis XIV of France.Sam Segal, ''A Flowery Past: A Survey of Dutch and Flemish Flower Painting from 1600 Until the Present : Gallery P. de Boer, Amsterdam, March 13 – April 11, 1982, Noordbrabants Museum, 's-Hertogenbosch, April 29 – May 30, 1982'', Gallery P. de Boer, 198, pp. 59–60Attributed to Simon Hardimé, ''Vase of Flowers and Insects'' at the Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum
/ref> The trend was initiated by contemporary Flemish artists Jan Baptist Bosschaert and Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen the Younger. The two artists often placed their flower bouquets in large stone vases or arranged them in the form of garlands around these vases or garden ornaments. In many of their compositions the vases were placed in outdoor settings with figures. This decorative style was followed not only by Simon Hardimé but also by his brother

Pieter Pieter is a male given name, the Dutch language, Dutch form of Peter (name), Peter. The name has been one of the most common names in the Netherlands for centuries, but since the mid-twentieth century its popularity has dropped steadily, from a ...

and Pieter Casteels III. He painted the still life elements in the works of other painters such as Hendrik Herregouts.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardimé, Simon 1672 births 1737 deaths Flemish Baroque painters Flemish still life painters 18th-century Flemish painters Painters from Antwerp Flemish flower artists Emigrants from the Holy Roman Empire Immigrants to England