Gerard de Lairesse Liège (Luik) 1641

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Gerard de Lairesse
Liège (Luik) 1641 – Amsterdam 1711
History painter and writer. Lairesse got his first training in Liège from his father
Renier de Lairesse (c. 1596-1667). He belonged to an artist’s family, his elder
brother Ernest (1636-1718) specialised in flower pieces and birds. Gerard’s sons
Johannes (1673-1716) and Abraham (1666-c. 1726) also became painters. In his
twenties he moved to Holland, where he settled briefly in Utrecht 1664-65, then
in Amsterdam where he spent the rest of his life. He became one of the most
appreciated painter in the classicist movement of his day. He collaborated with
Glauber and Goeree. By 1689 he was completely blind and gained his living
writing about art.
He was the teacher of Jacob van det Does, Ottmar Elliger, Jan Goeree, Philip
Tideman, Jan van Mieris, Bonaventura van Overbeeck.
#1
Portrait Surrounded by Allegorical Figures
Pen and brown ink, grey wash, 314x198
NM 106/1986
Letter folded. The oval frame around the portrait, the wreath above it and the
putti’s palm branch are drawn in a darker ink.
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Watermark: Amsterdam coat-of-arms.
Chain lines: 22-23 mm.
Inscription on the verso 157. / Lairesse, pencil. Mark of J. G. De la Gardie (Lugt
2722a).
Provenance: Duke Albert of Sachsen-Teschen; Count J. G. De la Gardie (Lugt
2722a); Gift to the museum in 1973.
Possibly a sketch for a print, sent to a client.
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[Lairesse]
#2
Vulkan Forging Achilles´Arms?
Pen and brown ink, grey wash, 201x273 mm
KA, P 6:32
Laid down.
Inscribed at the bottom left Lairesse, pen and brown ink. Mark of the Royal
Academy of Art (Lugt 1710a).
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[Lairesse]
#3
Allegory of Painting
Black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, point of brush and grey ink,
338x287 mm.
NMH 2169/1863
Ruled framing lines in brown ink. Many areas are strengthened with the brush in
grey.
Laid down.
Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638). Inscribed on the mount in the lower
right corner Lairesse, and numbered 1969 (Sparre) and 156 (struck out), pen
and brown ink.
Provenance: Crozat; C. G. Tessin (List 1939-42, p. 71; Cat. 1749, livre 15, no.
156); Kongl. Biblioteket (Cat. 1790, no. 1969); Kongl. Museum (Lugt 1638).
Although more finished, the manner is similar to the previous drawing. It is also
similar to a drawing in the De Grez collection in Brussels, inscribed Tideman
(signalled by Janno van Tatenhove). It shown Pygmalion in his studio, obviously
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an allegory of Sculpture. At present the traditional attribution to Lairesse has
been retained.
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[Lairesse]
#4
Venus and the Graces Preparing Cupid’s Arrows
Red chalk, pen and brown ink, 332x247 mm.
NM 2168/1863
Ruled framing lines in black ink.
Laid down.
Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638). Inscribed on the mount in the lower
right corner Lairesse, and numbered 1968 (Sparre) and 158 (struck out), pen
and brown ink.
Provenance: Crozat; C. G. Tessin (List 1939-42, p. 71; Cat. 1749, livre 15, no.
158); Kongl. Biblioteket (Cat. 1790, no. 1968); Kongl. Museum (Lugt 1638).
The main figures are losely sketched in red chalk, but no such under-drawing can
be detected for the figures in the sky or the background landscape. This kind of
systematic hatching is characteristic of a number of chalk drawing by Lairessse,
and it occurs in less pedantic way in some pen drawings for a series of etchings
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illustrating the Genesis.1 The subject is probably intended to be an allegory of
love. Two other allegories in a similar vein are drawn in the same manner. 2 They
were engraved by Pieter van der Berghe.
The attribution is not completely convincing. The manneer is similar to a pen
drawing by Gerard van Houten in Munich, signed and dated 1685. 3 Cf also
Ottmar Elliger in this catalogue.
1
A. Roy, Gérard de Lairesse, Paris 1992, nos. D 3-5.
Roy, op.cit., nos. D 16-17.
3
Wegner 1973, no. 648, Taf. 275.
2
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[Lairesse]
#5
Adam and Eve Discover the Dead Abel
Black chalk, pen and brown ink, grey wash, 190x246 mm.
NMH 2167/1863
Verso: Two studies of a hand with upturned palm, red chalk (visible against the
light).
Ruled framing lines in black ink. Several vertical and horizontal folds. Red chalk
has rubbed off on the surface in the upper left part of the drawing.
Laid down, no watermark.
Chain lines: 27 mm.
Inscribed on the old mount to the left Lairesse, and numbered to the right 1966
(Sparre), pen and brown ink. Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638).
Provenance: Crozat; C. G. Tessin (List 1939-42, p. 70v; Cat. 1749, livre 15, no.
155); Kongl. Biblioteket (Cat. 1790, no. 1966); Kongl. Museum (Lugt 1638).
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Lairesse treated the subject of Cain and Abel in a series of etchings. In one of
them, “Cain’s Remorse”, the slain Abel is lying on the ground in a similar
position.4 The size of the drawing coincides with the prints, but the preserved
drawing for the series are done in a different manner. The drawing is close in
style to a drawing in the British Museum, showing the same tidy outlines and
precise brush work in defining the anatomy (Inv. 1943.1113.72). The tidyness of
the drawing might suggest a copy, but against that speaks the fact, that the
finished drawing does not slavisly follow the underlying, summary chalk sketch
and the pen lines are drawn without any hesitation.
Tessin listed this as the first of four drawings by Lairesse he acquired in Paris,
and it was given a preferential treatment in the Royal Museum, where the
biography of the artist was added on the sheet is was mounted on. Clearly it met
the taste for finished drawings.
4
Hollstein, X, p. 16; A. Roy, Gérard de Lairesse, Paris 1992, no. G 7.
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[Lairesse]
#6
Hunter with Spear and Dog Approaching a Woman with two small Children
Red chalk, brown wash, 183x221 mm.
NM s.n.
Double, ruled framing lines in brown ink.
No watermark.
Chain lines: 24 mm.
Inscribed in the lower left corner Lairesse, pen and brown ink.
Provenance: C. G. Tessin? (The inscription seems to be by the same hand as that
on the mount of #4).
The style and setting is similar to a red chalk drawing in the Graphische
Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, in which a seated woman plays the triangle for
some dancing putti, set against a background of large trees and a rustic wall.5
5
Inv. 3.676. E. Pokorny, “Die Lairesse-Zeichnungen der Albertina”, Delineavit et Scupsit, 19 (1998), no. 2.
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That drawing was used for a print by Nicaise de Ruyter, and Pokorny suggests a
date around 1665-70, and also for an etching by Glauber.6
In the present drawing the volumes are not rendered by hatching but with wash.
The precise but freely drawn outlines, and the rendering of the volumes with the
brush resembles Jan de Bisschop. However, the same use of red chalk and wash
is found in a drawing of putti in Leiden7.
The two central figures have been used by Lairesse in his Principes du dessein to
illustrate how to draw a group with a seated and a standing figure. 8 The boy on
the right and the background have been left out in the illustration.
6
A. Roy, Gérard de Lairesse, Paris 1992, no. D 184a.
Roy, op.cit., no. D 162.
8
G. de Lairesse, Les principes du dessein ou methode courte et facile pour apprendre cet art …, Amsterdam &
Leipzig 1746, p. 19.
7
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[Lairesse, copy after?]
#7
Last Supper
Red chalk, 420x548
UUB, Ned. St.f. 27
Ruled framing lines in black ink. Central vertical fold. Repairs on the right.
Watermark: Bend.
Chain lines: 26-29 mm.
Inscribed on the verso Lairesse, pen and brown ink.
Provenance unknown.
The drawing corresponds in all but minor details to a painting in Amsterdam, an
early work dated around 1664/65. 9 Chalk drawings by the artist are rare, but the
manner bears some resemblance to a study sheet in Amsterdam. 10 However the
character of the drawing suggests a copy rather than a preparatory drawing or a
presentation drawing.
9
A. Roy, Gérard de Lairesse, Paris 1992, no. P 10.
Roy, op.cit., no. D 19.
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