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Collection privée, Europe
JOHANNES VAN BRONCHORST (UTRECHT 1627-1656 AMSTERDAM)
Les Musiciens
Details
JOHANNES VAN BRONCHORST (UTRECHT 1627-1656 AMSTERDAM)
Les Musiciens
huile sur toile
107,5 x 147,5 cm (42 x 58 in.)
Les Musiciens
huile sur toile
107,5 x 147,5 cm (42 x 58 in.)
Provenance
Sir Joseph B. Robinson, 1st Bt. (1840-1929), Afrique du Sud ; sa vente, Christie's, Londres, 19 avril 1902, lot 78 (comme Valentin).
Collection particulière, Brno, en 1925 (selon le catalogue d'exposition de 1925, voir infra).
Vente anonyme, Sotheby's, Londres, 8 juillet 2015, lot 9 (comme suiveur de Caravage).
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par la famille de l'actuel propriétaire ;
Puis par descendance à l'actuel propriétaire.
Collection particulière, Brno, en 1925 (selon le catalogue d'exposition de 1925, voir infra).
Vente anonyme, Sotheby's, Londres, 8 juillet 2015, lot 9 (comme suiveur de Caravage).
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par la famille de l'actuel propriétaire ;
Puis par descendance à l'actuel propriétaire.
Literature
M. Steif, 'Alte Meister in Mährischem Privatbesitz. Ein Leitende Worte zur Ausstellung im Brünner Künstlerhaus'', Belvedere VII, 1925, p. 44 (comme Caravage), reproduit en noir et blanc s. p.
T. Döring, Studien zur Künstlerfamilie van Bronchorst : Jan Gerritsz. (ca. 1603-1661), Johannes (1627-1656) und Gerrit van Bronchorst (ca. 1636-1673) in Utrecht und Amsterdam, Alfter, 1993, p. 132, p. 139, p. 165, sous les notes 69-71 et p. 232, n°B13 (comme Jan van Bronchorst).
G. Papi, 'Johannes van Bronchorst e l’influenza di Spadarino', in id., Senza più attendere a studio e insegnamenti. Scritti su Caravaggio e l'ambiente caravaggesco, Naples, 2018, p. 233-242 (comme Johannes van Bronchorst), reproduit en couleurs p. 234, fig. 1.
T. Borgogelli, 'L'Amore e Psiche dell'Ermitage: da Orazio Gentileschi a Jan Gerritsz. van Bronchorst', in ArtItalies, 2023, 29, pp. 31-32 (comme Johannes van Bronchorst), reproduit en couleurs p. 31, fig. 8.
T. Borgogelli, Johannes van Bronchorst (1627-1656). Naturalism and Classicism in the Dutch Golden Age, Rome-Naples, 2026, p. 53, pp. 70-71, sous la note 139, et p. 134, n°6 (comme Johannes van Bronchorst), reproduit en couleurs p. 57, fig. 45.
T. Döring, Studien zur Künstlerfamilie van Bronchorst : Jan Gerritsz. (ca. 1603-1661), Johannes (1627-1656) und Gerrit van Bronchorst (ca. 1636-1673) in Utrecht und Amsterdam, Alfter, 1993, p. 132, p. 139, p. 165, sous les notes 69-71 et p. 232, n°B13 (comme Jan van Bronchorst).
G. Papi, 'Johannes van Bronchorst e l’influenza di Spadarino', in id., Senza più attendere a studio e insegnamenti. Scritti su Caravaggio e l'ambiente caravaggesco, Naples, 2018, p. 233-242 (comme Johannes van Bronchorst), reproduit en couleurs p. 234, fig. 1.
T. Borgogelli, 'L'Amore e Psiche dell'Ermitage: da Orazio Gentileschi a Jan Gerritsz. van Bronchorst', in ArtItalies, 2023, 29, pp. 31-32 (comme Johannes van Bronchorst), reproduit en couleurs p. 31, fig. 8.
T. Borgogelli, Johannes van Bronchorst (1627-1656). Naturalism and Classicism in the Dutch Golden Age, Rome-Naples, 2026, p. 53, pp. 70-71, sous la note 139, et p. 134, n°6 (comme Johannes van Bronchorst), reproduit en couleurs p. 57, fig. 45.
Exhibited
Brno, Mährischer Kunstverein, Ausstellung Alter Meister im Künstlerhaus, 1925, n°26 (comme Caravage).
Further Details
JOHANNES VAN BRONCHORST (1627-1656), THE MUSICIANS, OIL ON CANVAS
This powerful painting belongs to the oeuvre of Johannes van Bronchorst (1627-1656), an artist of extreme rarity whose vivid chiaroscuro, naturalism of execution, and use of models drawn from the popular milieu, situate him in the late Roman Caravaggesque movement.
Son of the painter Jan van Bronchorst (1603-1661), Johannes grew up in Utrecht surrounded by the works of the great masters of the city’s Caravaggesque school, such as Gerrit van Honthorst (1592-1656), who had once been his father’s teacher, and Hendrick Ter Bruggen (1588-1629). The influence of these two painters is easily recognisable in the choice of subject presented here. However, it was likely the young artist’s stay in Rome between approximately 1648 and 1650 that shaped him most profoundly.
It was in the Eternal City that he was able to study not only the works of Caravaggio (1571-1610) himself, but also those of the first generation of his followers, such as Carlo Saraceni (1579-1620), Giovanni Lanfranco (1582-1647), and Giovanni Antonio Galli, known as Lo Spadarino (1585-1652). As Gianni Papi and Tommaso Borgogelli note, it is the influence of the latter that can be read most clearly in the present painting (see G. Papi, op. cit., pp. 233-242 and T. Borgogelli, op. cit., p. 31). At the time of Bronchorst’s stay in Rome, Lo Spadarino, the last representative of the second generation of Caravaggesque painters, was still alive. It is therefore natural that the young artist, already sensitive to Honthorst’s style, would have been captivated by his works.
In this composition, three figures prepare to play music. The two older men, tuning their instruments, and a young singer, who waits for them impatiently, are bathed in a golden light that enters the scene from an external source. This same light illuminates their faces, their hands, and the honey-colored wood of the violin and theorbo, while the folds of their garments and the background are plunged into velvety shadows. Bronchorst's striking chiaroscuro imbues the composition with a dark theatricality.
While the realistic details of the composition, such as the furrowed brow of the man playing the theorbo, the graying beard of the man on the left, or the meticulously carved forms of the instruments, demonstrate the Caravaggesque influence on Bronchorst, one can also perceive a taste for antiquity. Like Valentin de Boulogne (1591-1632) in The Concert with a Bas-Relief (Louvre Museum, Paris, inv. 8253), or Orazio Borgianni (1574-1616) in Saint Charles Borromeo (San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Rome), Bronchorst adds a historical dimension to his work through the inclusion of the bas-relief at lower right. While the antique element is easily identified in the works of Valentin and Borgianni (in both cases they depict The Wedding of Peleus and Thetis, Louvre Museum, Paris, inv. CP 4172), the present relief remains unidentified for the time being. It may represent a winged Victory, which would underscore the symbolism of the chosen subject: the triumph of harmony over discord.
The sitter used for the theorbo player, easily recognizable by the small mole on his right cheek, his long nose, and his hollow eyes, appears in other paintings by Bronchorst. He is notably present in the artist’s only signed work, Saint Bartholomew, currently held in the collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein (fig. 1, inv. GE119). According to Papi (see op. cit., p. 236), both works date from the artist’s Italian period. Two other concert scenes also feature this same theorbo player: one now in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (fig. 2, inv. 58.19), and the other in Stockholm at the Stiftelsen Musikulturens Främjande (Rudolf Nydahl Collection).
We would like to thank Dr. Thomas Döring and Dr. Tommaso Borgogelli for endorsing the attribution of the painting to the artist on the basis of a photographic examination of the work.
This powerful painting belongs to the oeuvre of Johannes van Bronchorst (1627-1656), an artist of extreme rarity whose vivid chiaroscuro, naturalism of execution, and use of models drawn from the popular milieu, situate him in the late Roman Caravaggesque movement.
Son of the painter Jan van Bronchorst (1603-1661), Johannes grew up in Utrecht surrounded by the works of the great masters of the city’s Caravaggesque school, such as Gerrit van Honthorst (1592-1656), who had once been his father’s teacher, and Hendrick Ter Bruggen (1588-1629). The influence of these two painters is easily recognisable in the choice of subject presented here. However, it was likely the young artist’s stay in Rome between approximately 1648 and 1650 that shaped him most profoundly.
It was in the Eternal City that he was able to study not only the works of Caravaggio (1571-1610) himself, but also those of the first generation of his followers, such as Carlo Saraceni (1579-1620), Giovanni Lanfranco (1582-1647), and Giovanni Antonio Galli, known as Lo Spadarino (1585-1652). As Gianni Papi and Tommaso Borgogelli note, it is the influence of the latter that can be read most clearly in the present painting (see G. Papi, op. cit., pp. 233-242 and T. Borgogelli, op. cit., p. 31). At the time of Bronchorst’s stay in Rome, Lo Spadarino, the last representative of the second generation of Caravaggesque painters, was still alive. It is therefore natural that the young artist, already sensitive to Honthorst’s style, would have been captivated by his works.
In this composition, three figures prepare to play music. The two older men, tuning their instruments, and a young singer, who waits for them impatiently, are bathed in a golden light that enters the scene from an external source. This same light illuminates their faces, their hands, and the honey-colored wood of the violin and theorbo, while the folds of their garments and the background are plunged into velvety shadows. Bronchorst's striking chiaroscuro imbues the composition with a dark theatricality.
While the realistic details of the composition, such as the furrowed brow of the man playing the theorbo, the graying beard of the man on the left, or the meticulously carved forms of the instruments, demonstrate the Caravaggesque influence on Bronchorst, one can also perceive a taste for antiquity. Like Valentin de Boulogne (1591-1632) in The Concert with a Bas-Relief (Louvre Museum, Paris, inv. 8253), or Orazio Borgianni (1574-1616) in Saint Charles Borromeo (San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Rome), Bronchorst adds a historical dimension to his work through the inclusion of the bas-relief at lower right. While the antique element is easily identified in the works of Valentin and Borgianni (in both cases they depict The Wedding of Peleus and Thetis, Louvre Museum, Paris, inv. CP 4172), the present relief remains unidentified for the time being. It may represent a winged Victory, which would underscore the symbolism of the chosen subject: the triumph of harmony over discord.
The sitter used for the theorbo player, easily recognizable by the small mole on his right cheek, his long nose, and his hollow eyes, appears in other paintings by Bronchorst. He is notably present in the artist’s only signed work, Saint Bartholomew, currently held in the collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein (fig. 1, inv. GE119). According to Papi (see op. cit., p. 236), both works date from the artist’s Italian period. Two other concert scenes also feature this same theorbo player: one now in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (fig. 2, inv. 58.19), and the other in Stockholm at the Stiftelsen Musikulturens Främjande (Rudolf Nydahl Collection).
We would like to thank Dr. Thomas Döring and Dr. Tommaso Borgogelli for endorsing the attribution of the painting to the artist on the basis of a photographic examination of the work.
Brought to you by
Olivia Ghosh
Specialist