10. The Titian from Leiden? On Jan Lievens and Venetian Painting
Marjolein Dieltiens
In his journal of circa 1629, the poet Constantijn Huygens (1596–1687) wrote about Jan Lievens (1609–1674) [1] and Rembrandt (1606–1669). Huygens mainly praised their work, but had some critique too,1 stating that both painters were overly confident and that not travelling to Italy is ‘a touch of folly in figures otherwise so brilliant’.2 It was there that Huygens believed both artists could complete their artistic studies by examining the works of Michelangelo (1475–1564) or Raphael (1483–1520). According to Huygens, Lievens and Rembrandt replied that young, successful painters like themselves did not have the time to partake in long travels and that the best Italian art could be found in collections North of the Alps as well.3
Many researchers have shown that Lievens had an indirect and probably direct knowledge of Italian art. He experimented with different styles, as is evident in the works of his early years and his Leiden period (1625–1631).4 In his Beschrijvinge der Stadt Leiden (1641), Jan Jansz. Orlers (1570–1646), Secretary to the city of Leiden, writes that Lievens studied in Amsterdam with Pieter Lastman (1583–1633),5 a painter who had been to Rome and practised a classicist style.6 The Haarlem mannerist Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617), who travelled to Rome in 1590, has long been recognised as an early example for Lievens.7 Bernard Schnackenburg has linked the coarse painting style of Lievens to the techniques of the Venetian painters.8 Until 1627, Lievens also painted in the style of the Utrecht Caravaggisti, such as Gerard van Honthorst (1592–1656) and Hendrick ter Brugghen (1588–1629) who,9 after returning from Italy in the late 1610s,10 introduced darker paintings with a stark light–dark contrast in The Netherlands.11 Whilst working closely with the classicist painter Pieter de Grebber (1600–1653), Lievens painted a series of monumental, clearly defined and smoothly modelled figures. Due to his connection with Rembrandt, he also acquired a monochromatic palette and applied paint in a rough, bold and vivid manner. It is clear that already in his early period and in particular during his Leiden years, Lievens was an eclectic painter with a chameleon-like nature. His stays in the art capitals of London (1632–1635), Antwerp (1635–1644) and Amsterdam (1644–1653, 1659–1669 and 1672–1674) did not diminish his urge to absorb other styles and Lievens thrived in these vibrant artistic environments.12
After his departure for London, Lievens appeared to make a significant style shift towards Venetian painting. His paintings have an overall brighter appearance, he started to idealise his figures more by depicting them in elegant poses, and his brushwork and rendering of fabrics became sketchier. In a verse by Joost van den Vondel (1587–1679) on a portrait that Lievens painted of him around 1650, Vondel described Lievens as a follower of Titian (1488–1576).13 So far, nobody has researched whether Lievens was right in stating he did not need to go south to implement 16th-century Venetian style of painting into his work and, furthermore, if he was right, to ascertain what sources he may have had and how successfully he put this into practice. This article will try to explain this by two main themes: first, by analysing the artistic taste of his patrons by tracing collections with Venetian-style paintings Lievens could have seen in the cities of London, Antwerp and Amsterdam;14 second, by explaining the visual references, painting style and technique of Five Muses on Mount Parnassus (1650), one of Lievens’ most ambitious paintings, through the lens of Dutch theoretical concepts on Venetian art. Since early and recent scholarship has mainly focused on Lievens’ early career, this article will explore part of his later oeuvre, which is still largely understudied.15
Cover image
Jan Lievens
Five Muses on Mount Parnassus, 1650 (dated)
The Hague, Paleis Huis ten Bosch (Oranjezaal)
1
Jan Lievens
Self portrait of Jan Lievens (1607–1674), c. 1650
London (England), National Gallery (London), inv./cat.nr. 2864
Notes
1 This article is an adaptation of my Master’s Thesis at the University of Amsterdam (Dieltiens 2018) (supervisor: Elmer Kolfin), a short version of which was presented at the Going South: Artistic exchange between the Netherlands and Italy in the seventeenth century symposium in 2019. I am grateful to Ariane van Suchtelen and Elmer Kolfin for their valued suggestions and continued guidance.
2 Brown/Van Camp et al. 2019, p. 299.
3 Huygens 1987, p. 89.
4 Sumowski 1983. Schnackenburg/Van de Wetering 2001. Schwartz 1984, p. 49–50.
5 Orlers 1641, p. 136. Orlers lived across the street from the Lievens family and was an early supporter and collector of Lievens’ work, thus supplying an especially close witness account of the artist’s life. Until recently, this statement by Orlers was accepted as true by art history. Bernhard Schnackenburg, however, questions this in his article ‘Jan Lievens und Pieter de Grebber’ and in his recent study of the early work of Lievens from 2016. He argues the striking discrepancy that Huygens did not mention this in his autobiography, and the stylistic difference between Pieter Lastman’s work and the earliest recorded paintings by Lievens. Schnackenburg 2007; Schnackenburg 2016, p. 21–23.
6 Tümpel 1974, p. 63.
7 Schnackenburg 2007, p. 188.
8 Ibid., p. 191.
9 Schnackenburg/Van de Wetering 2001, p. 192.
10 Klessman 1996, p. 182.
11 Schnackenburg 2007, p. 213.
12 Schnackenburg 2016, p. 33.
13 ‘Op mijn Print door Livius van Leiden geteekend en gesneden: ‘Zoo volleght Livius van Leiden, Titiaen en leert door zijne kunst u Vondels spraeck verstaen, Die 't Griecksch en Roomsch tooneel in Neêrlant pooght te stichten. Men vat uit 's Dichters print wat treurspel by wil dichten’. Leendertz 1910, p. 278.
14 The full catalogue of Venetian paintings Lievens may have seen can be consulted in: Dieltiens 2018, appendix.
15 Scholars such as Christopher Brown, J. Douglas Stewart, Helga Guttbrot, Stephanie Dickey, Lloyd DeWitt, Amy Golahny and Jacquelyn N. Coutré have studied Lievens from different viewpoints, mapped the scope of his later career, and of course, revisited the relationship with Rembrandt: Brown 1983. Stewart 1990. Royalton-Kisch 1991. Weber 1992. Gutbrod 1996. Klessman 1996. Wurfbain 1997. Dickey 2001. Dickey 2008. Schnackenburg 2007. DeWitt 2006. Golahny 2006. Coutré 2009. Coutré 2011. Coutré 2013.