Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Lievens


Last year the Rembrandthuis in Amsterdam organized an exhibition of paintings by Jan Lievens (1607-1674). I stumbled across images from the show and became intrigued by this Dutch Baroque painter I had never heard of before.







Immediately above is a Lievens portrait of the young Rembrandt. The two painters shared a studio in the 1620s. This alliance only broke up when Lievens was summoned to paint for the English court under Charles I.





The Amsterdam show seems to have succeeded in its aim of rehabilitating Lievens and extricating him from the shadow cast by Rembrandt's fame. Pleasing also to learn that the two of them were friends rather than rivals.