A Dynasty Of Painters
Feb. 5th, 2022 03:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloPainting was the De Critz family business. All six sons followed in their father's footsteps. And the daughters probably painted too- or at least made themselves handy in the workshop. Two of John the elder's sisters married into the Gheerhaerts family, thus linking two artistic dynasties.
John the elder is the best documented member of the family. His surviving work consists entirely of portraits, though we know he also painted mythologies- some of which may still be knocking about in country houses and provincial galleries attributed to Anon. As a portrait painter his figures are stiff and flat- in the approved Elizabethan manner- but the faces are lively- and he wouldn't have been in such high demand if he hadn't been able to capture a likeness. There are many versions of his portrait of James I and VI, most of them probably produced in the workshop. They vary in quality. This one, in the National Gallery of Scotland, is of the finest and may be the original stock image- painted from life- and the source of all the copies
The De Critzs rarely signed their work- and none of them developed the kind of distinct artistic personality that would have made them stand out from their contemporaries. Therefore most attributions to members of the family are guesswork. John the younger succeeded his father as Sergeant Painter to the King- and was therefore a man of some importance- but his oeuvre has been swallowed up in his father's- and we have nothing that can certainly be attributed to him. The two Johns died in the same year, the father in the course of nature and the son by violence while serving the king in the Civil War.
Emmanuel de Critz, the 6th child, was described by felloe artist Robert Walker as the finest portrait painter in London. He is generally supposed to have been responsible for this very peculiar double portrait in which a troubled older husband seems to be drawing our attention to his wife's pregnancy.
The most accomplished member of the dynasty was Thomas (1607-53)- John's 5th child. He certainly painted the ceiling in the double-cube room at Wilton House- which is a confident exercise in baroque history painting- and one of the few de Critz works that is not a portrait- and is also credited with a series of very fine portraits of the family of the antiquary and gardener John Tradescant the younger, including this of Hester Tradescant and her stepson
and this of John Tradescant leaning on his spade....
Finally, here is the only portrait I'm aware of that shows an actual de Critz. This is Oliver, John's eldest child by his third wife Grace Plames- and full brother to Rebecca- whose ledger stone got me started down this track. The intensity of the gaze suggests that it's a self-portrait.
John the elder is the best documented member of the family. His surviving work consists entirely of portraits, though we know he also painted mythologies- some of which may still be knocking about in country houses and provincial galleries attributed to Anon. As a portrait painter his figures are stiff and flat- in the approved Elizabethan manner- but the faces are lively- and he wouldn't have been in such high demand if he hadn't been able to capture a likeness. There are many versions of his portrait of James I and VI, most of them probably produced in the workshop. They vary in quality. This one, in the National Gallery of Scotland, is of the finest and may be the original stock image- painted from life- and the source of all the copies
_-_James_VI_and_I_(1566%E2%80%931625),_King_of_Scotland_(1567%E2%80%931625),_King_of_England_and_Ireland_(1603%E2%80%931625)_-_PG_561_-_National_Galleries_of_Scotland.jpg)
The De Critzs rarely signed their work- and none of them developed the kind of distinct artistic personality that would have made them stand out from their contemporaries. Therefore most attributions to members of the family are guesswork. John the younger succeeded his father as Sergeant Painter to the King- and was therefore a man of some importance- but his oeuvre has been swallowed up in his father's- and we have nothing that can certainly be attributed to him. The two Johns died in the same year, the father in the course of nature and the son by violence while serving the king in the Civil War.
Emmanuel de Critz, the 6th child, was described by felloe artist Robert Walker as the finest portrait painter in London. He is generally supposed to have been responsible for this very peculiar double portrait in which a troubled older husband seems to be drawing our attention to his wife's pregnancy.
_-_Portrait_of_a_lady_and_a_gentleman.jpg)
The most accomplished member of the dynasty was Thomas (1607-53)- John's 5th child. He certainly painted the ceiling in the double-cube room at Wilton House- which is a confident exercise in baroque history painting- and one of the few de Critz works that is not a portrait- and is also credited with a series of very fine portraits of the family of the antiquary and gardener John Tradescant the younger, including this of Hester Tradescant and her stepson
and this of John Tradescant leaning on his spade....
Finally, here is the only portrait I'm aware of that shows an actual de Critz. This is Oliver, John's eldest child by his third wife Grace Plames- and full brother to Rebecca- whose ledger stone got me started down this track. The intensity of the gaze suggests that it's a self-portrait.
no subject
Date: 2022-02-05 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-02-05 05:26 pm (UTC)Actually I love everything about this painting. I think it's tremendous.