1660. PORTRAIT OF HIMSELF.
Adrian van der Werff (Dutch: 1659-1722).
"The painter who by his astounding success did most after Gerard de Lairesse to lead the art of painting into a perverse path was Adrian van der Werff. He was born at Kralinger-Ambacht, near Rotterdam, and received lessons in drawing from Cornelis Picollet, and then entered the studio of Eglon van der Neer, where he made rapid progress. At first he seemed inclined to follow the bent of his master, but he deserted the study of nature for the pursuit of the ideal, and in doing so he fell into cold sentimentality and tasteless affectation. His groups became pretentious, his heads monotonous, his bodies have no life, and his flesh-colouring assumes the polish and the tint of ivory. These defects, however, did not prevent his misleading a certain number of people who believed themselves to be connoisseurs. The Duke of Wolfenbüttel and other high personages of his time contended for the possession of his pictures at enormous prices, and praised the merits of their favourite artist to the skies. No one more assisted him in his career, and in the making of his reputation, than the Elector-Palatine John William, who, not satisfied with giving him very considerable commissions, also conferred upon him the title of Chevalier, and ennobled his family. (The artist signs himself on occasion 'Chevalier van Werff'). The compositions which he painted for his patron are now to be seen at Munich" (Havard: The Dutch School, p. 280). There is in the Dulwich Gallery a "Judgment of Paris" by Van der Werff—a celebrated work painted in 1718 for the Duke of Orleans and much admired by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The heads are wanting in expression and the flesh is bloodless, but the painting is of the greatest finish. There are also pictures by him in the Wallace Collection. "The cold porcelain-like colour," says Mr. Phillips in his catalogue, "and mechanical finish of this artist in the treatment of the nude are much less appreciated by modern connoisseurs than they were by his contemporaries. Still his general accomplishment and the certainty of his execution, in a vicious and wholly conventional style, are not to be denied."
In our picture "the courtly painter of polished, lascivious nudities faces the spectator in a wig of the period of Louis Quatorze, looking as dignified and impersonal as the painters of that particular age did manage to look in their portraits." The statue of Fame, holding a wreath, is characteristic. The portrait is signed, and dated 1685.