For many of my blogs recently, I have concentrated on nineteenth century artists as this is one of my favourite artistic era but I have always been fascinated by the artists who flourished during the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history which lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established until 1672, when the Rampjaar occurred. The Rampjaar, or Disaster Year, was the year of the outbreak of the Franco-Dutch War, when France invaded and nearly overran the Dutch Republic. It was the time of its peripheral conflict, the Third Anglo-Dutch War, and at the same time, it faced the threat of an English naval blockade in support of the French.
Portrait of a Family by Jacob Ochtervelt (1663)
The seventeenth century was a torrid time for the people of the Netherlands who had had to endure war with the old Spanish monarchist with their Catholic cultural traditions. It meant that Dutch art had to reinvent itself almost entirely, a task in which it was very largely successful. The painting of religious subjects of earlier days declined and a large prosperous new market for all kinds of secular subjects evolved. It was an era that saw genre paintings dominated by the likes of Vermeer, Gabriel Metsu, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Jacob van Ruisdael and Jan Steen to mention but a few.
A Singing Violinist set within a niche (thought to be a self-portrait) by Jacob Ochtervelt (c.1670)
Today, my featured artist was a contemporary of these great Dutch painters who was also active during this period but was less well known. He is Jacob Ochtervelt, a Dutch Golden Age painter who was born in Rotterdam in late January 1634. He was the son and third child of of Lucas Hendricksz, who was employed as a bridgeman of the Roode Brugge, and Trintje Jans. He studied painting and lived in Haarlem from 1646 to 1655 apprenticed to the landscape painter Nicolaes Berchem along with fellow apprentice Pieter de Hooch, who became famous for his genre works of quiet domestic scenes and known for his kamergezichten or “room-views” with ladies and gentlemen in conversation. Ochtervelt moved back to Rotterdam in 1655 where he was a pupil of Ludolf de Jongh, who also taught Pieter de Hooch.
The Music Lesson by Jacob Ochtervelt (1670)
Jacob Ochtervelt married Dirkje Meesters in the Reformed Church of Rotterdam on December 14th 1655. Due to the lack of baptismal records of the church, it is thought that the couple apparently had no children. On January 7th 1657 the following year, however, on January 7, 1666, Ochtervelt was appointed one of two guardians of the orphaned children of his brother Jan. It was thought that Jan may have been a sailor; and according to records, he had died on a return voyage from the East Indies.
Singing Violinist by Jacob Ochtervelt (c.1666)
Ochtervelt depicted scenes which centred on the pleasures of the aristocratic life and leisure—men and women were portrayed reading and writing letters, eating and drinking, making music, and playing games. However, he also depicted the “them and us” perspective with his paintings focusing on the interactions between the upper and lower classes, and the setting for these works was often the threshold of an elegant townhouse. These were known as Voorhuis painting. Voorhuis, which translated means entrance hall or foyer and these paintings were a popular Dutch painting genre of the 17th century, which depicted a view from inside a wealthy house with affluent residents standing in the entrance hall and their interaction with the callers to the house. The foyer is lit up from the light emanating through the open front door bathing the area in light and colour. Ochtervelt was a master of this genre and compassionately depicted the people from the differing social classes.
A Nurse and a Child in an Elegant Foye by Jacob Ochtervelt (1663)
An example of Ochtervelt’s Voorhuis paintings was his 1663 work entitled A Nurse and a Child in an Elegant Foyer, which is in the National Gallery of London collection. It is a depiction of a young boy presumed to be about three years old. He wears his hair in long curls and is dressed in a freshly ironed white dress. It was common for boys until the age of around seven before they started wearing breeches. The young boys hand is outstretched offering money to a family of beggars who have called at his home. The housemaid gently holds her charge’s hand while in the background we see the child’s parents looking on through the open doorway. They beam with pride at their son’s generosity, something they have instilled in him, a virtue taught in the home and of great importance to the Dutch. Outside we see a beggar boy as he sets his foot gingerly on the hall floor as he waits to receive a coin. His mother holds a nursing infant to her breast as she covertly observes her son receiving the money. Ochtervelt skilfully contrasts the two classes of people, the privileged world of the aristocratic family with the insecurities of the life of the poor. He has achieved that by differentiating the dark, ragged clothing of the beggars with the grand marble hallway and the radiant attire of those who live in the impressive townhouse.
Street Musicians at the Door by Jacob Ochtervelt (1665)
A similar depiction can be seen in Ochtervelt’s 1665 painting entitled Street Musicians at the Door which can be seen at the St Louis Art Museum. The setting is similar to the previous painting – the foyer of an upper-class Dutch home. In the mid-ground we see the lady of the house and to the right, the housemaid wearing her pinafore holding the hand of a very young, very excited child dressed in a blue gown as she opens the front door of the house. On the outside we see two dishevelled street musicians who are going from house to house trying to elicit money and who would play some music once they had been paid. There is a moral to this depiction. It is about the child’s mother teaching her child to give coins to the hard working musicians. There is an obvious contrast between the wealthy occupants of the house who are dressed in bright reds and blues, and the musicians, standing outside, begging for money, dressed in shades of murky brown. Through the open doorway we get a perspective view of city buildings culminating in a church.
Bettelmusikanten (Begging Musicians) by Jacob Ochtervelt (c.1665)
A very similar scenario can be seen in Ochtervelt’s painting entitled Bettelmusikanten, which translated means “Begging Musicians”. The setting is once again the entrance area or foyer of a wealthy home. To the left stands a young woman and through the open front door we look into the nighttime darkness and see two musicians who have been going from house to house begging for money as recompense for playing a tune. They are about to enter the voorhuis with its marble-tiled hallway. The woman is holding on to a toddler with both hands who in turn is unaware of the musicians at the door but is concentrating all his efforts on attracting the dog’s attention by waving the yellow ribbons of his dress. Another child on the right bedecked in red satin dress with an expensive lace collar looks mesmerised by the sight of the musicians in the doorway and is already proffering money to recompense the musicians for their tunes.
The Regents of the Leper House, by Jacob Ochtervelt (1674)
The last record of Ochtervelt living in Rotterdam was in 1672, the Ramplaar year. He and his wife were recorded on July 10th 1672 as being a witness at the baptism of the daughter of Jan Meesters and Marya de Jong in a Rotterdam church. There is clear evidence that Ochtervelt and his wife moved to Amsterdam where he was to spend the remainder of his life. It is generally thought that the reason for the move was that Ochtervelt believed that he would find more patrons and receive more lucrative commissions in Amsterdam. Soon he was proved right when in that year he received his largest commission: a group portrait of the Regents of the Amsterdam Leper House. The painting which is now on loan to the Rijksmuseum from the City of Amsterdam. The painting depicts the four regents of the Leprozenhuis, Anthonie de Haes, Gilles Hens, dr. Bonavendura van Dortmont and Isaac Hudde.
Lazarus and the Dog
It is thought that the original painting was slightly larger than this version judged by the way the depiction of the dog in the foreground is almost cut off. On the wall in the background is painted Apollo, and to the right above the door is the Poor Lazarus, just like the lepers “full of ulcers”, whose wounds are licked by a dog as told in the Bible (Luke 16: 19-21):
“…There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores…”
An Interior with a Lady giving Alms to Beggars by Jacob Ochtervelt
Documents from the Burial Register of the Nieuwezijds Chapel in Amsterdam show that Jacob Ochtervelt died in April 1682, aged 58 and his name was entered in the Burial Register of the Nieuwezijds Chapel in Amsterdam on May 1, 1682 which stated that at the time of his death he had been living at the Schapenmarkt near the Amsterdam Mint.
His wife Dirkje was not left a wealthy widow and following her husband’s death she moved back to Rotterdam and died in February 1710 and was buried at the Dutch Reformed Church of Rotterdam.
Information for this blog came mainly from the following websites:
The Ochtervelt Documents by Susan Donahue Kuretsky In the Oud Holland, Journal
