DIRCK DIRCKSZ SANTVOORT
If it is a fact, as generally supposed, that Santvoort (1610-1680) was one of Rembrandt’s pupils, he did not follow the master’s use of chiaroscuro, but rather the example of his elaborately detailed portraits. In Santvoort’s own case, as he may be studied in the Rijks Museum, this led at first’ to hardness of modeling, as may be seen in the portrait group of the Dirck Bas Jacobsz Family, dated 1634, where the stiffness of the composition is increased by the gaze of every face being focused to one point. Still hard, but full of character, is a later portrait, dated 1638, of Four Ladies of the Spinhuis. The latter was the house of correction, and these guardians and matrons look competent to rule it firmly. More theatrical in arrangement, with hands pointing this way and that, is the Four Governors of the Serge Hall (1643). Meanwhile, three years earlier, Santvoort painted the single portrait of Frederick Dircksz Alewyn, which again is harsh in texture and bronze-like in color. On the other hand, the portrait of this man’s wife, Agatha Geelvinck, has a distinct charm. The light falls upon her forehead and soft hair, which is frizzed out with little curls, while the features are modeled with a dainty discretion that recalls a Florentine primitive. Then follow two portraits of children, respectively ten and nine years old, Martinus and Clara Alewyn. They are represented as a shepherd and shepherdess, the former in a rose tunic, with a scarf of goldish sheen, quite Rembrandtesque in quality, the latter in a satin dress of the hue of strawberries and cream. She carries a bow and arrow, and is accompanied by lambs, while the boy is attended by a black greyhound. The hands and faces are well modeled and have expression, while the painting throughout is fluent and limpid. The pictures are inclined to sentimentality, which, however, is more easily excused because of the youngness of the children and the painter-like quality of the technique.
BARTHOLOMEUS VAN DER HELST
From the above followers of Rembrandt, who reflect the manner but so little of the greatness of the master, it is a relief to turn to a portrait-painter who, while he owed something to Rembrandt in the way of chiaroscuro, was
PORTRAIT OF PAUL POTTER BARTHOLOMEUS VAN DER HELST
HAGUE MUSEUM
an independent personality and one of force. It is Bartholomeus van der Helst, born in Haarlem in 1613, whose life, however, was spent in Amsterdam, where he died in 1670. It is in the Rijks Museum that he is most brilliantly represented, though his single portraits stud the galleries of Europe. Their usual feature is direct and vivid characterization, conveyed without much persuasiveness of manner, but singularly sincere. One example, however, the Portrait of Paul Potter, is an exception, being both in technique and feeling one of the most persuasive portraits to be met with. It has in it also a suggestion of the feeling for decorative arrangement, which was elaborated on so sumptuous a scale in the corporation pictures of the Rijks Museum.