Orazio Gentileschi: The life and art of a transitory Carravagiste

In an earlier piece on this blog I detailed how the Caravaggisti thread flowed through Italian adherents to Utrecht, carried there by Dutch painters returning from sojourns in Rome. In this series, I will cycle back to the Italian Caravaggistis, beginning with Orazio Gentileschi.

Portrait of Orazio Gentileschi, c. 1630
Lucas Emil Vorsterman after Sir Anthony van Dyck

Orazio was born in Pisa in 1563, son to a Florentine Goldsmith named Giovanni Battista Lomi. He moved to Rome in either 1576 or 1578 and took up residence with a maternal uncle whose surname -- Gentileschi -- he adopted.

There is no widely accepted account as to how Orazio acquired his painting skills. His first mention as a painter was as part of a team of artists decorating the Vatican Library in the period 1588 - 1589. He subsequently worked with the landscape painter Agostino Tassi painting frescos in the churches of Santa Maria Maggiore, San Giovanni Laterano, and Santo Nicolosi in Carcere. This work ran from 1590 - 1600 and Orazio probably contributed figures for Tassi's landscapes.

During this period Orazio was considered a "competent but undistinguished practitioner of the dominant late maniera style."

San Giovanni dei Fiorentino --Interior 
Attributed to Orazio Gentileschi

San Giovanni dei Fiorentino --Interior 
Attributed to Orazio Gentileschi

Exposure to Caravaggio's works led to major changes in Orazio's life and painting styles. According to Keith Christiansen and Judith W. Mann (Orazio and Artemisia Genteleschi, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, 2001):

Orazio's encounter with Caravaggio in the summer of 1600 was the central event of his life. Prior to the unveiling of Caravaggio's canvases showing the calling and martyrdom of Saint Matthew (ed., see below) in the French national church of San Luigi dei Francesi, which created a sensation by making the Lombard artist's work publicly visible for the first time, Orazio had painted in a style that was predicated on compromise and accommodation. His figures were types, his composition conventional; his color was slack. There is a blandness, an anonymity, and a disturbing lack of conviction to his work of the 1590s that comes (sic) as a shock to those who know only his distinctive, post-Caravaggesque pictures.

The Calling of St Matthew, 1599-1600
Caravaggio

The Martyrdom of St. Matthew, 1599-1600
Caravaggio

Orazio became a close associate of Caravaggio, and "unexpected and bold" development in that he was married, the father of four kids, and, at 37 years of age, 11 years older than the oldest of the followers. That being said, his paintings post-1600 began to incorporate elements of the Caravaggio approach (NGA, Christiansen and Mann):

• Use of models
• Dramatic lighting
• Simplified compositional structures with a restricted number of figures close to the picture plane
• Use of dramatic, unconventional gestures and monumental composition
• Uncompromising realism and contemporary representation of figure types.

In the paintings immediately following, Orazio's movement away from Mannerism and incorporation of Caravaggic elements are on full display.

St Francis supported by an Angel, c. 1603
Orazio Gentileschi

David and Goliath, 1605 - 1607
Orazio Gentileschi

Circumcision of Christ, c. 1605 - 1610
Orazio Gentileschi

St Michael and the Devil, 1607 - 1608
Orazio Gentileschi

R. Ward Bissel (Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1967) saw the foregoing paintings as Orazio seeking to find his own way of expressing Caravaggism: "Having explored these alternatives, Gentileschi chose to work towards increased refinement of sentiment and of pictorial effects, and, in so doing established himself as the most original painter among the Roman Caravaggeschi."  Young Woman with a Violin characterizes this moment. It is pure Caravaggio in the placement of a single figure against a dark background with the individual illuminated by an intense light.

Young Woman with a Violin, c. 1612
Orazio Gentileschi

It was during this period that Orazio formed a relationship with the painter Agostino Tassi to collaborate on the frescos in the Casino delle Muse for Cardinal Scipione and in the Sala del Consistorio in the Quirinale Palace. The partnership came to a scandalous end when Orazio accused Tassi of "deflowering" his daughter (and student) Artemisia.

Following the scandal, Orazio actively began seeking work outside of Rome. This led to commissions in Fabriano in 1616-17 and he then accepted the invitation of a Genoese nobleman to work for him in that city. He resided in Genoa from 1621 - 1623. Post that period he became primarily a court painter, traveling to Paris to work with the court of Marie de Medici (1624 - 1626) and then on to the court of Charles I in London. He died in London in 1639.

Somewhere around 1615 his painting style also changed. According to the National Gallery of Art, he "developed a Tuscan lyricism foreign to Caravaggio's almost brutal vitality" and this was reflected in a lighter palette and a more precise treatment reminiscent of his Mannerist beginnings. In the NGA article, Sydney Freedberg is quoted thusly: "Orazio passed beyond dependence on the art of Caravaggio into a powerful and highly personal style, for which the prior assimilation of Caravaggio was a threshold." His masterpiece -- Annunciation -- was created during this post-Caravaggio period.

Annunciation, c. 1623
Orazio Gentileschi

Even though Orazio backslid, he still enjoys special prominence when discussions arise re Caravaggisti active in the first two decades of the 17th century. He was the first to respond to the shift but he also influenced others, notably Bartolomeo Lavarozzi (1590 - 1625), Orazio Riminaldi (1593 - 1630), and Giovann Francesco Guerreiri (1589 - 1655/1659), Italians all. He also influenced Hendrik Terbruggen who the took the style back to Utrecht. But, by far, his most prominent student was his daughter Artemisi who I will cover in my next post in this series.

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The Utrecht Caravaggists

Earlier Low-Country art movements such as the Romanists and Haarlem Mannerists resulted from local artists traveling to Rome and bringing back their learnings to their home markets. Such also was the case for Utrecht Caravaggism, the subject of the current post. I have laid the foundation with earlier posts on Caravaggio and Caravaggism.

Utrecht

At 40% Catholic in the middle of the 17th Century, Utrecht was the most Catholic of the cities in the United Provinces. And that percentage was even higher if only the elite were evaluated. The city was, however, a key part of a Protestant republic and played important roles in both the Dutch War of Independence (1568 - 1648) and the Thirty-Year War (1618 - 48).

With the resumption of hostilities between the Dutch Republic and Spain, Utrecht was a city in turmoil. In addition to the never-ending troop movement, the religious authorities clamped down on the city's 30,000 inhabitants, forbidding:

• Public celebration of Catholic feast days
• Dancing
• Loud music in taverns and homes
• Drinking
• Gambling
• Sports and games
• Gathering of unmarried youth

Utrecht Caravaggism

This "painting school" encompasses those Dutch Baroque artists who were influenced by Caravaggism while in Rome in the 1610s and upon their return to Utrecht, developed works in the Caravaggisti style. Key players in this drama were Hendrick ter Brugghen, Dirck van Baburen, and Gerard van Honthorst.  

They became known as Caravaggisti because they adopted Caravaggio's:

• Strong sense of light
• Dramatic contrast between light and dark
• Focus on emotionally charged subject matter.

Hendrick ter Brugghen

Hendrick ter Brugghen began to study painting in the studio of Abraham Bloemaert at the age of 13. At 15, he travelled to Italy, returning to Utrecht in 1614 (It is thought that he made a second trip to Italy in the 1620/1621 timeframe.). In Rome, ter Brugghen came into contact with, and was influenced by, the paintings of Caravaggio. On his return to Utrecht he painted in the studio of Gerrit van Honthhorst who became one of his key collaborators in standing up this new painting style.

Hendrick ter Bruggen
P. Bodart

Ter Brugghen painted genre scenes of musicians and drunks as well as biblical and mythological scenes. He came to be known as the leading painter in the group and this was reflected in the commissions that came his way as well as the adulation that he received from fellow painters. Rubens famously described his work as "... above that of all the other Utrecht artists."

A selection of his works are presented below.

Unequal Couple, c. 1623
Hendrick ter Bruggen

Esau Selling his Birthright, 1625
Hendrick ter Bruggen

The Concert, 1627
Hendrick ter Bruggen

Dirck van Baburen

Dirch van Baburen (1595 - 1624) studied painting in Utrecht under the watchful eye of the "competetnt academic artist" Paulus Moreelse and then spent the years between 1612 and 1620 in Italy. Van Baburen did have some success in Italy but much of the work that he did hewed closely to the Caravaggio line. For example, see van Baburen's The Entombment when compared with Caravaggio's.

The Entombment, 1601 - 1604
Caravaggio

The Entombment, 1617
Dirck van Baburen

Van Baburen returned to Utrecht in 1620 and shared a studio a studio with ter Bruggen from 1622 to 1623. The continuing influence of Caravaggio on his style, especially in the use of light and shadow, is illustrated in his painting Crowning of Jesus Christ with Thorns.

Crowning of Jesus Christ with Thorns, 1622
Dirck van Baburen

He was especially fond of genre scenes (see The Procuress, below) and Caravaggio's zoom-in effect, portraying half-length subjects filling the picture also inspired Baburen's dramatic compositions.

The Procuress, after 1623
Dirck van Baburen

Man Playing a Jew's Harp, 1621
Dirck van Baburen

He was the least known of the Caravaggistis but his pictures appear in the background of two Vermeer paintings: Lady Seated at a Virginal and The Concert.

Lady Seated at a Virginal, 1670 - 72
Johannes Vermeer

The Concert, 1665 - 66
Johannes Vermeer

Gerrit van Honthorst

Like Hendrick ter Brugghen, Gerrit van Hanthorst (1592 - 1656) was trained in the studio of Abraham Bloemaert.

Gerrit van Honthorst

He went to Italy and, while there, "copied the naturalism and eccentricities" of Caravaggio. While working there he earned the moniker Gerard of the Night Scenes due to his proclivity for painting night scenes, many lit by a single candle whose direct flame was obscured form the viewer by one of the models.

The Procuress
Gerrit van Honthorst

He came back to Utrecht in 1620 where he set up a studio which did very well. Ter Brugghen painted out of this studio for a couple of years.

According to rijksmuseum.nl, "Honthorst's works are numerous, and amply represented in English and Continental galleries. His most attractive pieces are those in which he cultivates the style of Caravaggio, those, namely, which represent taverns, with players, singers and eaters. He shows great skill in reproducing scenes illuminated by a single candle, amply employing the style of chiaroscuro."

The Concert, 1623
Gerrit van Honthorst

Soon after his return to Utrecht, van Honthorst abandoned the Caravaggiste style for a "much lighter palette" and went on to gain great renown for his portraits for the Royal and noble families of Europe.

Legacy

These painters were active in isolation in Utrecht and their very un-Dutch works were overlooked for a very long time. For example, ter Brugghen was really only recognized as a great painter in the middle of the 20th-century and is nowadays regarded as the most important of the three.

In general there is more interest in these painters and their movement because:

• There is now a realization that they formed an important link between Caravaggio's Italian Baroque and Dutch painters such as Rembrandt (clair-obscur), Fran Hals (genre pieces), and Vermeer (use of color).
• They set the tone for later artists who were inspired by Caravaggio, artists such as Georges de la Tour (Lorraine) and Jan  Janssen.

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From Caravaggio to the Utrecht Caravaggisti

 I am in the midst of a series of Smithsonian lectures on the life and works of Johann Vermeer and was intrigued to learn that the works of the Utrecht Caravaggisti "forms a link connecting Caravaggio's Baroque Italian art with the great and famous painters of the Dutch Golden Age," to include Hals, Rembrandt, and the aforementioned Vermeer.  I was unfamiliar with this thread so I thought I would pull on it for a bit.

I began by setting the foundation with a post -- based largely on a Dr. Rocky Ruggiero lecture -- on the life and works of Caravaggio. I continue in this post by establishing the linkage between Caravaggio and the Utrecht Caravaggisti.

Caravaggio had been too busy getting into trouble and running from the law -- and developing phenomenal works of art during the dead periods --to establish a school or to take on students. Rather, subsequent adherence to his style was organic.

According to worldatlas.com, "Caravaggisti art refers to an artistic movement that resulted in a new Baroque painting style" based on the work of Caravaggio and characterized by the use of tenebrism ("the use of profound shadowing and high contrast between areas of light and dark") and chiaroscuro (use of "light and shadows to create a three-dimensional appearance").

The painters who adopted Caravaggio's techniques were called Caravaggisti. Some adopted his techniques for a portion of their careers while others devoted their entire lives to modeling his style. 

The chart below shows the elements of Caravaggio's style in the southwestern quadrant and its further spread along the bottom portion. Style adherents are shown in the upper portions of the chart.

Selected works of a subset of these non-Utrecht Caravaggisti are shown below.

Tavern Scene with a Lute Player
(Chiaroscuro)
Bartolomeo Manfredi

Saint Cecilia and the Angel, c. 1610
(Tenebrism)
Carlo Saraceni

Repenting Magdalene, c. 1635 - c. 1637
(Tenebrism)
Georges de La Tour

David with the Head of Goliath, 1635
(Tenebrism)
Bernardo Strozzi

St. Andrew, c. 1631
(Tenebrism)
Jose de Ribera

Lucretia, 1620
(Tenebrism)
Artemesia Gentileschi

A number of Dutch artists were in Rome in the 1610s at a time when Caravaggio's style was influential. This group included names such as :

• Hedrich Ter Bruggen
• Dirck van Baburen
• Gerst van Honthorst
• Jan van Bijlert
• Matthias Stom

These painters returned to Utrecht and began painting in the Caravaggist style, earning the moniker Utrecht Caravaggisti. I will discuss these men and their works in a follow-up post.

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