Gerrit van honthorst biography of williams

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There he painted several portraits, and a vast allegory, now at Hampton Court, of Charles and his queen as Diana and Apollo in the clouds receiving the Duke of Buckingham as Mercury and guardian of the King of Bohemia's children. Following his return to the Netherlands he became a leading portrait painter.


Van Honthorst was born in Utrecht, the son of a decorative painter, and trained under his father, and then under Abraham Bloemaert.


Having completed his education, Honthorst went to Italy, where he is first recorded in 1616.

Giustiniani had an important art collection, and Honthorst was especially influenced by the contemporary artists, including Caravaggio, Bartolomeo Manfredi and the Carracci. He popularised candle-light scenes.

In 1628 he was working in London for King Charles I. He returned in December 1628 and lived in The Hague, where he was in the service of Prince Frederick Henry of Orange (who died 1647).

The other three were Dirk van Baburen, Hendrick ter Bruggen and Jan van Bijlert. He painted a more intimate group portrait of The Four Eldest Children of the King of Bohemia, (also at Hampton Court) in which the two eldest are depicted as Diana and Apollo.


After his return to Utrecht, Honthorst retained the patronage of the English monarch, painting for him, in 1631, a large picture of the king and queen of Bohemia and all their children.

His school is called the Utrecht caravaggists. He also worked for Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.


Honthorst returned to Utrecht in 1620, and went on to build a considerable reputation both in the Dutch Republic and abroad. At around the same time he painted some pictures illustrating the Odyssey for Lord Dorchester, and some showing incidents of Danish history for Christian IV of Denmark.

With paintings such as 'Christ before the High Priest' he became one of the few Dutch painters to achieve international fame.

Honthorst was born in Utrecht, probably the son of Herman Gerritsz. Cardinal Scipione Borghese became another important patron, securing important commissions for him at San Silvestro Della Mariro, Montecompatri, and at Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.

They were named the Utrecht caravaggisti. Through her he became known to Charles, who invited him to England in 1628. In 1628 he spent a few months in London, commissioned by Charles I to decorate the Whitehall Banqueting House.

During his stay in Italy Van Honthorst came under the influence of Caravaggio. In 1620 he was back in Utrecht, where he married Sophia Coopmans.

He also painted a portrait of the king's daughter Countess Leonora while she was in the Hague.

This is a part of the Wikipedia article used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). In 1635 Honthorst sent to Denmark the first of a long series of classical and historical pictures commissioned by King Christian IV.

In 1652 he returned to Utrecht, where he died.