Van der Hamen is well known to lovers of Golden Age painting in Spain as one of the most famous and prolific still-life painters of the seventeenth century. He was much more than that. In this beautiful book William B. Jordan examines the artist’s entire output of still lifes, but he also has a larger aim: to study for the first time the complete Van der Hamen, the painter esteemed by his peers above all for his versatility - for his portraits, allegories, landscapes, flower paintings and large-scale religious works executed for churches and convents in the environs of Madrid and Toledo...

The artistic life of tile Spanish court in the 1620s, once depicted as a drab and featureless backdrop against which to depict the genius of Velazquez, was actually one of the most creative and dynamic periods of foment of the entire seventeenth century. This masterful examination of the life and work of Juan wmder Hamen y Leon (1596-1631) serves as a powerful lens for viewing the 1620s from a novel perspective, one that opens new vistas and invites further investigation.

Van der Hamen is well known to lovers of Golden Age painting in Spain as one of the most famous and prolific still-life painters of the seventeenth century. He was much more than that. In this beautiful book William B. Jordan examines the artist’s entire output of still lifes, but he also has a larger aim: to study for the first time the complete Van der Hamen, the painter esteemed by his peers above all for his versatility - for his portraits, allegories, landscapes, flower paintings and large-scale religious works executed for churches and convents in the environs of Madrid and Toledo. Although his fame today has been eclipsed by the long career of Velazquez, Van der Hamen’s star was verv bright when his Sevillian rival was just finding his way at the court of the young King Philip IV. When that fire was unexpectedly extinguished at the age of thirtyfive, some of his contemporaries, such as the playwright Juan Perez de Montalvan, lamented the passing of ’the greatest Spaniard of his art who ever lived’. Long dismissed as literarv hyperbole, this lofty assessment, even if biased by friendship and bereavement, is made understandable by newly discovered works in all these genres, many of them published here for the first time.

The product of forty years of research, this study is underpinned by copious archival documentation and probing analysis of contemporary sources. Recent restoration has also transformed many paintings long familiar only in a compromised state, making a true assessment of their quality possible for the first time. The Van der Hamen who emerges is a surprising one, who finally takes his proper place among the masters of Spanish art.

PREFACE

TRODUCT1ON: A VISION OF RENEWAL

1 APPROACHING THE COURT

2 THE VAN DER HAMEN FAMILY:

A PAST IN FLANDES, A FUTURE IN SPAIN

3 JUAN VAN DER HAMEN Y LEON: THE EARLY YEARS

4 THE VAN DER HAMEN BROTHERS

AT THE DAWN OF A NEW AGE

5 THE STILL LIFE:

A CONVERGENCE OF LIFE AND ART

6 MASTER OF THE STILL LIFE

7 THE PORTRAIT

8 THE ARISTOCRACY AND THE CONVENTS

9 VAN DER HAMEN’S PORTRAITS OF INTELLECTUALS

10 THE COMTE DE SOLRE

11 THE MARQUES DE LEGANES

12 THE ITALIANS

13 THE YEAR OF CRISIS: I627

14 RUBENS IN MADRID

15 FLOWERS AND LANDSCAPE

16 THE CORDON OF FAITH AROUND THE PALACE

17 THE CARDINAL-INFANTE DON FERNANDO

18 THE LATE STILL LIFES

19 DEATH AND SURVIVORS

NOTES

CHECK LIST

BIBLOGRAPHY

INDEX