Artist of the day

Monday, July 29, 2024

Artist of the Day, July 29, 2024: Pieter Jansz Saenredam, a Dutch painter (#2088)

Pieter Jansz Saenredam (1597 – 1665) was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age, known for his distinctive paintings of whitewashed church interiors such as Interior of St Bavo's Church in Haarlem (1636) and Interior of the Sint-Odulphuskerk in Assendelft.

Saenredam was born in Assendelft, the son of the Northern Mannerist printmaker and draughtsman Jan Pietersz Saenredam whose sensuous naked goddesses are in great contrast with the work of his son. In 1612, Saenredam moved permanently to Haarlem, where he became a pupil of Frans de Grebber. In 1623, he became a member of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke. A drawing in the British Museum by his friend Jacob Van Campen shows him to be very short and hunch backed.

Saenredam's emphasis on even light and geometry is brought out by comparing his works with those of the rather younger Emanuel de Witte, who included people, contrasts of light and such clutter of church furniture as remained in Calvinist churches, all usually ignored by Saenredam. Unlike de Witte's, Saenredam's views are usually roughly aligned with a main axis of the church.

Saenredam's paintings frequently show medieval churches, usually Gothic, but sometimes late Romanesque, which had been stripped bare of their original decorations after the iconoclasm of the Protestant Reformation. Although Utrecht was the centre of the remaining Catholic population of the mainly Calvinist United Provinces, all the old churches were retained by the Protestants. The drawing for Saenredam's Interior of St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht is typical. As a Catholic church the cathedral had been highly decorated. Then, in the Dutch Revolt the church fell into Protestant hands, it was ‘cleaned’ of Catholic influences. The altarpieces and statuary were removed, and the walls and ceiling were white washed.

Alternatively, the paintings of church interiors by Saenredam and other 17th-century Dutch painters have been interpreted as having less to do with religion and more with the new-found interest in perspective and with the Dutch interpretation (known as Dutch Classicism) of Palladio’s theories of proportion, balance and symmetry.

In any case, Saenredam wanted to record this time of change by documenting the country’s buildings. Many artists before him had specialized in imaginary and fanciful architecture, but Saenredam was one of the first to focus on existing buildings. According to the J. Paul Getty Trust "Saenredam’s church paintings...owe their poetry to his remarkable blend of fact and fiction. He began by making site drawings of buildings that record measurements and detail with archaeological thoroughness." This meticulous preparation helped him to create such accurate and enchanting paintings. The measurements aided him in using scientific linear perspective, just like Andrea Pozzo. He was able to use his measurements to create a realistic image with depth.

There is a small number of Saenredam's works in British collections but the Utrecht Archives houses a large number of Saenredam's drawings. In 2000–2001, the Centraal Museum at Utrecht held a major exhibition of his drawings and paintings.

In July 2012, a picture of Saenredam's village at Assendelft was sold at Christie's for more than £3,500,000. Six months earlier it was entered into a Christie's sale advertised as by a follower of Saenredam with an estimate of between £3,000-5,000 before being withdrawn from sale.

© 2024. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Pieter Jansz Saenredam or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only

Pieter Jansz Saenredam

Town Hall at Haarlem with the Entry of Prince Maurits, circa 1618

The Interior of Saint Bavo, Haarlem, circa 1628

Church of Santa Maria della Febbre, Rome, circa 1629

Interior of St. Bavo in Haarlem, circa 1631

View of the ambulatory of the Grote or St. Bavokerk in Haarlem, circa 1635

Interior of St Bavo's Church in Haarlem, circa 1636

Interior St. Bavo of Harlem, circa 1636

The Interior of the Church of St Catherine, Utrecht, circa 1636

The Transept of the Mariakerk in Utrecht, seen from the Northeas, circa 1637

The Transept of the Mariakerk in Utrecht, circa 1637

The westernmost bays of the south aisle of the Mariakerk in Utrecht, circa 1640

The Nave and Choir of the Mariakerk in Utrecht, circa 1641

Interior of the Ship of the Pieterskerk in Utrecht, Seen to the West, circa 1644

Interior of the Buurkerk, Utrecht, circa 1645

Interior of the Church of St. Bavo at Haarlem, circa 1648

Interior of the Sint-Odulphuskerk in Assendelft, circa 1649

Interior of the Mariakerk, Utrecht, circa 1651

Interior of the St. Pieterskerk in Utrecht, circa 1654

The Nave of the Buurkerk in Utrecht from South to North, circa 1654

A View of Sint Janskerk, Utrecht, circa 1655

Church of Saint Odulphus, Assendelft, circa 1655

Interior of the Nieuwe Kerk at Haarlem, circa 1655

1657 The Oude Stadhuis in Amsterdam, circa 1657

159 The Mariaplaats with the Mariakerk in Utrecht, circa 1659

Interior of the Choir of Saint Bavo's Church at Haarlem, circa 1660

The great or Saint Lawrence's church at Alkmaar, circa 1661

The West Façade of the Church of Saint Mary in Utrecht, circa 1662

View of St. Mary's Square in Utrecht, circa 1663

Interior of St Bavo's, Haarlem, with a Catholic Baptism

Interior of the Buurkerk in Utrech

Saturday, July 27, 2024

Artist of the Day, July 27, 2024: Julian Lennon, a British photographer, filmmaker, musician, (#2087)

Born in Liverpool, England, Julian Lennon began his artistic trajectory at a young age with an inherent talent for playing musical instruments. Those talents would soon broaden into the cinematic and visual arts.

As an observer of life in all its forms, Julian developed his personal expression through such mediums as music, acting, and documentary filmmaking. In 2007, the door opened to yet another… photography, as Julian captured images during a musical tour for his half-brother, Sean.

‘Timeless’, his first photo exhibition, staged in Manhattan in September 2010, debuted Julian’s considerable talents behind the camera, as seen in photographs of Sean Lennon, U2, and his painterly landscapes. His ability to immortalize moments of intimacy and introspection is perhaps best captured in his portraits of Bono and Princess Charlene of Monaco. Taken while U2 was recording a new album and ten minutes before Charlene Wittstock became a real-life Princess, this small collection of images reveals how Julian “brings the subjects down to earth in a way few photographers have been able to accomplish,” notes celebrity photographer Timothy White. Around the same time came the establishment of Julian’s charity, The White Feather Foundation, and with it, a new seed for documentary photography.

The principal goal behind Julian’s latest series, ’Horizon,’ is to marry photography with philanthropy. “I have always felt that I observed life in a different way than others, probably because my life has always been very different than most,” says Julian. His attuned worldview recently led him to see first-hand the results of a Charity: Water and The White Feather Foundation initiative, bringing critically needed clean drinking water to parts of Africa. Simultaneously, his conservation and humanitarian efforts overlapped with support work being developed with Millennium Villages Project.

During these travels through Kenya and Ethiopia, Julian captured a wide variety of images with the intention of inspiring viewers to learn about unique indigenous cultures and to help raise awareness of their plights. Its signature image, Horizon, juxtaposes man and nature in a meditative solo walk upon a majestic mountaintop. The beauty of landscape shots like Follow and Scopium find a complement in the humanity of others, among them: Reverence, with a group of tribal elders, focused intently, during a community gathering to discuss clean water and their environment, and Hope, a bright-eyed Ethiopian child, with a wise, yet insightful vision, of life yet to come…. Empathy, says Julian Lennon, is the bond that unites the planet. He offers, “We are all in this together, and hopefully someday, the world will realize that… and photography is one way to share, learn, appreciate and understand about other cultures and empathize with other peoples lives….”

© 2024. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Julian Lennon or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only