Gerrit van Honthorst

Gerrit van Honthorst – Student of Abraham Bloemaert, follower of Caravaggio

Gerrit van Honthorst was born in Utrecht on 4th November 1592. Having learnt the basics of painting from his father, an interior decoration painter, he received further tuition together with his contemporary Hendrick ter Brugghen from the respected Utrecht master Abraham Bloemaert. Following this period of learning, van Honthorst was one of the first Utrecht oainters to travel to Italy where he discovered the art of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio in Rome in 1616. Caravaggio had an immense influence on the young Dutch painter which was reflected so clearly in his work that Honthorst and his colleagues – who included from the beginning his fellow student Terbrugghen and Dirck van Baburen – were known as the Utrecht Caravaggists. This school of painting was so successful and influential, that it made its mark on the work of later masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Frans Hals and Johannes Vermeer, amongst others.

Success in Rome and Utrecht; painter of the European nobility

In Italy, Gerrit van Honthorst worked for important personalities from the clergy, nobility and business world, namely Cardinal Scipione Caffarelli Borghese and the art collector and Caravaggio admirer Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani, whose uncle was also a cardinal. There was also a temporary collaboration with the Italian painter and etcher Guido Reni. Van Honthorst's fondness for nocturnal scenes lit by lamps and candles earned him the friendly nickname Gherardo della Notte among the Italians - although more recent research vehemently denies that this nickname was already in use during the artist's lifetime. In 1620, van Honthorst returned to Utrecht, married his cousin, and eventually joined the Guild of St Luke. As a sought-after and celebrated artist, he socialised in the upper classes of Europe, served at the Court of Orange, and fulfilled numerous commissions for the exiled Bohemian royal couple Friedrich V and Elisabeth Stuart. He travelled to London with his pupil Joachim von Sandrart, where he worked for King Charles V and painted portraits of the royal family. Gerrit van Honthorst was soon able to afford a large house and studio in Utrecht, where he also received artist friends such as Peter Paul Rubens.

Thriving workshops in Utrecht and The Hague

Gerrit van Honthorst enjoyed such great popularity that he was eventually able to open a second studio in The Hague. Despite his enthusiasm for Caravaggio, he was never a simple epigone, but rather mixed the Italian's style with what his former teacher Bloemaert had taught him and also repeatedly found his own approaches for his clear, naturalistic and bright pictorial language. His younger brother Willem van Honthorst also made a name for himself as a portrait and history painter.

Gerrit van Honthorst died on 27th April 1656 in his birthplace and hometown of Utrecht.