RKD STUDIES

Curiously, we know a large number of paintings of biblical themes by Van Hoogstraten, all in easel size, none of them dated, but on stylistic basis traditionally placed late in his career.¹ They all incorporate displays of reflective satin fabric, strongly suggesting a parallel development with Van Hoogstraten’s adoption of the elegant interior with figures around 1670. There are only subtle differences between them in the handling of the drapery forms, sometimes more rounded and cushion-like, at other times a bit harder and more angular.

Van Hoogstraten’s motivation to depart from his successful specialty of illusionistic works can be read from the Adoration of the shepherds in a private collection [57], resonating with the mother and child theme frequently employed in the elegant interiors, but also revisiting his early interpretation of the same biblical theme from 1647. With its bright colour scheme, punctuated by a prominent swath of blue in the centre, this late Adoration likely came after the other late history paintings, with their more restrained palettes. It is similar to the latest depictions of mothers and children, which is the Mother and child in Tokyo, and was likely painted around the same time, likewise closing the group, or ‘project’.

The late history paintings, which also include several mythological scenes, may well have been painted by the artist for himself. In 1671 he returned to Dordrecht and moved into a new house. One critical clue appears in the faces of three of the shepherds in the Adoration, below right and above left and right, which depart markedly from Van Hoogstraten’s repertoire of historical facial types. These furthermore bear a conspicuous familial relation to each other, both showing a distinctive broad lower lip, dropping at the corners. They may have been friends of the artist, as he includes himself among them in a self-portrait, with a stick over his shoulder. The face of the shepherd to the left, sporting a shorter stubble beard, even reappears as the distressed husband in the Doctor’s visit in the Rijksmuseum. The adoration of the shepherds qualifies as a portrait historié, but it may well have served as a mark of friendship between the artist and his models, more than as a commissioned family portrait. This role would align more closely with their unrefined appearance and spontaneous poses.

Van Hoogstraten appears to have used the stubble-bearded man one further time as a model, for one of the soldiers in Christ's consolation of the women of Jerusalem during the carrying of the cross in Glasgow [58]. This painting’s dimensions, around 81 x 65 cm, link it to the Adoration, as well as to a Resurrection of Christ in Chicago [59], which likely together formed a series, or part of one. They all show a similarly dramatic sky, with evening light reflecting sharply off dark, solidly formed clouds, yielding sharp contrasts and a surreal effect. These artificial forms are familiar to us from the 1668 perspective scene. The late date of the Glasgow canvas was brought into question when technical investigation of the ground layer revealed the presence of a clay quartz ground of the kind that was used by Rembrandt. However, further research indicated that this ground was then covered with an intervening layer much the same in composition as the ground layer of the Resurrection in Chicago, to which it was already linked in terms of format.² A similarly full, ambitious composition characterizes the stylistically similar Rest on the flight into Egypt [60], known only through an old black-and-white photograph, but which shares many of the same curious weaknesses in figures and arrangement, and possibly represents a fourth painting in the series.

Quite different are several smaller paintings in this late cluster: Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos and The penitent Magdalene, which are less narrative scenes than historical portraits [61][62]. The compositions are simple and monumental, aligning more closely with the interior figure scenes with women of the same period. The annunciation of the death of the Virgin in New York [63] shares the same format and tight compositional focus and could well have taken a spot between the other two in a symmetrical arrangement.

57
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
The adoration by the shephards (Luke 2:16), c. 1668-1678
Private collection

58
Samuel van Hoogstraten
Christ's consolation of the women of Jerusalem during the carrying of the cross, c. 1667-1678
Glasgow (city, Scotland), Hunterian Art Gallery, inv./cat.nr. GLAHA:43720

59
Samuel van Hoogstraten
Resurrection of Christ (Matthew 28:1-10), c. 1667-1678
Chicago (Illinois), The Art Institute of Chicago, inv./cat.nr. 1969.110