The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (227 page)
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Authors: Ian Chilvers
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Hondecoeter , Melchior d'
(1636–95).
Dutch painter, the best-known member of a family of artists. He was the Netherlands' most renowned painter of birds, winning an international reputation with his vigorous and brightly coloured canvases. They show both domestic and exotic birds, often in action and sometimes pointing a moral. Hondecoeter also painted still lifes. He was a prolific artist and is represented in many museums. His father,
Gysbert
(1604–53), was also a bird painter and his grandfather,
Gillis
(d. 1638), was a landscapist. Melchior trained with his father and with his uncle, Jan Baptist
Weenix
; he worked in Utrecht, The Hague, and Amsterdam.
Dutch painter, the best-known member of a family of artists. He was the Netherlands' most renowned painter of birds, winning an international reputation with his vigorous and brightly coloured canvases. They show both domestic and exotic birds, often in action and sometimes pointing a moral. Hondecoeter also painted still lifes. He was a prolific artist and is represented in many museums. His father,
Gysbert
(1604–53), was also a bird painter and his grandfather,
Gillis
(d. 1638), was a landscapist. Melchior trained with his father and with his uncle, Jan Baptist
Weenix
; he worked in Utrecht, The Hague, and Amsterdam.
Hone , Nathaniel
(1718–84).
Irish
miniaturist
and portrait painter, who settled permanently in London after studying in Italy, 1750–2, and became a foundation member of the
Royal Academy
. He is now remembered mainly for one painting.
The Conjurer
(NG, Dublin, 1775), in which he satirized
Reynolds's
practice of borrowing poses from the Old Masters. The picture was accepted at the RA, but was withdrawn after Angelica
Kauffmann
(whose name had been linked romantically with Reynolds's) objected that a nude figure in the background was meant to represent her. (Hone painted out the nude figures, but they can be seen in his sketch for the picture in the Tate Gallery.) In protest at the removal of his painting Hone exhibited it in a one-man show in St Martin's Lane, the first of its kind recorded in Britain. Hone's sons,
Horace
(1754–1825) and
Camillus
(1759–1836), were also painters, as was a brother,
Samuel
(born 1726). Camillus was the subject of some of his father's best portraits.
Evie Hone
(1894–1955), a descendant of Nathaniel, was one of the outstanding stained-glass designers of the 20th cent. Her masterpiece is the huge east window of Eton College Chapel, commissioned in 1949 to replace glass destroyed by bombing in the Second World War and completed in 1952.
Irish
miniaturist
and portrait painter, who settled permanently in London after studying in Italy, 1750–2, and became a foundation member of the
Royal Academy
. He is now remembered mainly for one painting.
The Conjurer
(NG, Dublin, 1775), in which he satirized
Reynolds's
practice of borrowing poses from the Old Masters. The picture was accepted at the RA, but was withdrawn after Angelica
Kauffmann
(whose name had been linked romantically with Reynolds's) objected that a nude figure in the background was meant to represent her. (Hone painted out the nude figures, but they can be seen in his sketch for the picture in the Tate Gallery.) In protest at the removal of his painting Hone exhibited it in a one-man show in St Martin's Lane, the first of its kind recorded in Britain. Hone's sons,
Horace
(1754–1825) and
Camillus
(1759–1836), were also painters, as was a brother,
Samuel
(born 1726). Camillus was the subject of some of his father's best portraits.
Evie Hone
(1894–1955), a descendant of Nathaniel, was one of the outstanding stained-glass designers of the 20th cent. Her masterpiece is the huge east window of Eton College Chapel, commissioned in 1949 to replace glass destroyed by bombing in the Second World War and completed in 1952.
Honthorst , Gerrit van
(1590–1656).
Dutch painter of biblical, mythological, and
genre
scenes, and of portraits. In Utrecht, his birthplace, Honthorst was a pupil of
Bloemaert
, but his style was formed by a long stay in Italy (
c.
1610–20) and upon his return to the Netherlands he became, along with
Baburen
and
Terbrugghen
, one of the leading Dutch followers of
Caravaggio
. The candlelight effects he favoured in his early pictures (
Christ before the High Priest
, NG, London) earned him the nickname ‘Gherardo delle Notti’ (Gerard of the Night Scenes). In the late 1620s Honthorst abandoned his Caravaggesque style for a lighter manner in which he achieved international success (rare for a Dutch artist) as a court portraitist. He was employed by the Elector of Brandenburg and by King Christian IV of Denmark, and in 1628 Charles I called him to England, probably on trial as a court painter (his portrait of Charles is in the NPG, London). From 1637 to 1652 he was court painter at The Hague.
Dutch painter of biblical, mythological, and
genre
scenes, and of portraits. In Utrecht, his birthplace, Honthorst was a pupil of
Bloemaert
, but his style was formed by a long stay in Italy (
c.
1610–20) and upon his return to the Netherlands he became, along with
Baburen
and
Terbrugghen
, one of the leading Dutch followers of
Caravaggio
. The candlelight effects he favoured in his early pictures (
Christ before the High Priest
, NG, London) earned him the nickname ‘Gherardo delle Notti’ (Gerard of the Night Scenes). In the late 1620s Honthorst abandoned his Caravaggesque style for a lighter manner in which he achieved international success (rare for a Dutch artist) as a court portraitist. He was employed by the Elector of Brandenburg and by King Christian IV of Denmark, and in 1628 Charles I called him to England, probably on trial as a court painter (his portrait of Charles is in the NPG, London). From 1637 to 1652 he was court painter at The Hague.
Hooch , Pieter de
(1629–84).
Dutch
genre
painter. He was born in Rotterdam, studied in Haarlem (as a pupil of
Berchem
), and spent the last two decades of his life in Amsterdam, but he is particularly associated with Delft. His period of residence there was fairly brief (
c.
1655–
c.
1661), but during this time he painted the pictures on which his reputation depends—a small number of tranquil masterpieces that perfectly evoke the well-being of his peaceful and prosperous country. Typical subjects include a sunny yard (
The Courtyard of a House in Delft
, NG, London, 1658) or light streaming into the interior of a corner of a burgher's house (
The Pantry
, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam,
c.
1658). There is a kinship of spirit with his great Delft contemporary,
Vermeer
, and de Hooch sometimes approaches him in delicate observation of light and lucidity of composition, although not in beauty of brushwork. After de Hooch moved to Amsterdam in the early 1660s, however, the quality of his paintings was less remarkable than their quantity. Instead of the simple brick and plaster backgrounds of his earlier groups he chose sumptuous marble interiors, and towards the end these backgrounds acquired something of the harsh quality of a painted drop-scene. He died in a madhouse.
Dutch
genre
painter. He was born in Rotterdam, studied in Haarlem (as a pupil of
Berchem
), and spent the last two decades of his life in Amsterdam, but he is particularly associated with Delft. His period of residence there was fairly brief (
c.
1655–
c.
1661), but during this time he painted the pictures on which his reputation depends—a small number of tranquil masterpieces that perfectly evoke the well-being of his peaceful and prosperous country. Typical subjects include a sunny yard (
The Courtyard of a House in Delft
, NG, London, 1658) or light streaming into the interior of a corner of a burgher's house (
The Pantry
, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam,
c.
1658). There is a kinship of spirit with his great Delft contemporary,
Vermeer
, and de Hooch sometimes approaches him in delicate observation of light and lucidity of composition, although not in beauty of brushwork. After de Hooch moved to Amsterdam in the early 1660s, however, the quality of his paintings was less remarkable than their quantity. Instead of the simple brick and plaster backgrounds of his earlier groups he chose sumptuous marble interiors, and towards the end these backgrounds acquired something of the harsh quality of a painted drop-scene. He died in a madhouse.
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