Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Savery

Portrait & biography of Roelant Savery
published by Jean-Baptiste Deschamps
1753

Roelant Savery (1576-1639) was a Flemish-born painter who spent his life in the Netherlands. There, he participated in the merry summertime of cultural creativity that followed the expulsion of the Spaniards. This artist's preference for craggy Germanic landscapes set him apart from the 17th century European mainstream.

Mountainous Landscape with Castle
1609

Crab Fishermen
c. 1610

Courtyard with Beggar Woman
c. 1608

Seated Man, Drawn from Life
c. 1606-09

Seated Woman, Drawn from Life
c. 1603-09

Elephant Rubbing Against a Tree
c. 1608-12

Dapple Grey
c. 1625-30

Landscape with Temptation of St. Anthony
1617

Three Stags in Landscape
1620s

Landscape with Birds
1628

Still Life with Crown Imperial
1624

Flower Still Life
1612

Savery is remembered today less for his landscapes and more for his flower studies (as above). People who study flower studies declare that Savery's flower studies are very good ones. But he is most famous for the pleasure he took in repeatedly painting the Dodo (as below) which humans were successfully driving to extinction during his lifetime.  

Edwards' Dodo
1626