Gerrit van Honthorst

Gerrit van Honthorst , 1590-1656, Dutch portrait, genre, and allegorical painter. In Italy (c.1610-1620) he gained a sound understanding of the works of Caravaggio, which greatly affected his style. He was a master at painting candlelit genre pieces and biblical scenes. Upon his return to Holland, he introduced the Italian manner of illusionistic decoration into Dutch interiors, as in his decorative scheme for the palace of Honselaarsdijk. In 1628, Charles I invited him to England, where he decorated Whitehall and painted portraits of the king and nobility. Several of these are now in the National Gallery, London. He also worked for the court of Denmark, and from 1637 to 1652 at The Hague. Together with Terbrugghen and Baburen he led the influential Utrecht school of painting that introduced Caravaggesque dramatic realism into Dutch art. Honthorst's Winter King of Bohemia is in the Metropolitan Museum.

Bibliography: See study by J. R. Judson (1959).

Honthorst, Gerrit van (b Utrecht, 4 Nov. 1592; d Utrecht, 27 Apr. 1656). Dutch painter of biblical, mythological, and genre scenes, and of portraits. He was a pupil of Bloemaert in his native Utrecht, but his style was formed by a long stay in Italy, where he probably spent most of the second decade of the century. On his return to Utrecht in 1620 he became, along with Baburen and Terbrugghen, one of the leading followers of Caravaggio in the Netherlands (see Utrecht Caravaggisti). The candlelight effects he used in some of his Roman pictures (Christ before the High Priest, c.1617, NG, London) earned him the nickname Gherardo delle Notti (Gerard of the night scenes). In the late 1620s, however, he abandoned his Caravaggesque style for a lighter manner in which he achieved international success (rare for a Dutch artist) as a court portraitist. His distinguished patrons included Christian IV of Denmark and Charles I of England (see Royal Collection); he spent most of 1628 in England, where he painted several portraits, including one of Charles (NPG, London). From 1637 to 1652 he was court painter in The Hague, where he worked on the decoration of the Huis ten Bosch (see Huygens).