Govert Flinck (Kleve, 1615 - 1660, Amsterdam)
Detail; Civic guardsmen of the company of captain Joan Huydecoper and lieutenant Frans van Waveren, c. 1648
265 x 513 cm
Oil on canvas
Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam
Born at Kleve, capital of the Duchy of Cleves, which was occupied at the time by the United Provinces, he was apprenticed by his father to a silk mercer, but having secretly acquired a passion for etching and drawing, was sent to Leeuwarden, where he boarded in the house of Lambert Jacobszoon, a Mennonite, a radical reform movement of the 16th-century Reformation.
Govert Flinck (Kleve, 1615 - 1660, Amsterdam) Flinck
Susanna at the bath
Oil on panel
47 x 35 cm
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
A fair Hebrew wife named Susanna was falsely accused by lecherous voyeurs. As she bathes in her garden, having sent her attendants away, two lustful elders secretly observe the lovely Susanna. When she makes her way back to her house, they accost her, threatening to claim that she was meeting a young man in the garden unless she agrees to have sex with them.
She refuses to be blackmailed and is arrested and about to be put to death for promiscuity when a young man named Daniel interrupts the proceedings, shouting that the elders should be questioned to prevent the death of an innocent. After being separated, the two men are questioned about details of what they saw, but disagree about the tree under which Susanna supposedly met her lover. In the Greek text, the names of the trees cited by the elders form puns with the sentence given by Daniel. The first says they were under a mastic, and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to cuthim in two. The second says they were under an evergreen oak tree, and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to saw him in two. The great difference in size between a mastic and an oak makes the elders' lie plain to all the observers. The false accusers are put to death, and virtue triumphs. More about Susanna
Govert Flinck (Kleve, 1615 - 1660, Amsterdam)
Bathsheba with David's letter
Oil on canvas
116.8 x 88.6 cm
Hermitage, St. Petersburg
According to the Hebrew Bible, "Bat Sheva," , "daughter of the oath"; was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. She is most known for the Bible story in which she was summoned by King David who had seen her bathing and lusted after her.
Bathsheba was from David's own tribe and the granddaughter of one of David's closest advisors. She was the mother of Solomon, who succeeded David as king, making her the Queen Mother. More on Bat Sheva
For many years Flinck laboured on the lines of Rembrandt, following that master's style in all the works which he executed between 1636 and 1648. With aspirations as a history painter, however, he looked to the swelling forms and grand action of Peter Paul Rubens, which led to many commissions for official and diplomatic paintings. Flinck's relations with Cleves became in time very important. He was introduced to the court of the Great Elector, Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg, who possessed the Duchy and who married in 1646 Louisa of Orange. He obtained the patronage of John Maurice of Nassau, who was made stadtholder, the chief magistrate of Cleves in 1649.
Govert Flinck (Kleve, 1615 - 1660, Amsterdam)
Rembrandt as sheperd with staff and flute, ± circa 1636
Oil on canvas
Height: 74.5 cm (29.3 in); Width: 64 cm (25.1 in)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period of great wealth and cultural achievement that historians call the Dutch Golden Age when Dutch Golden Age painting dominated Europe, was extremely prolific and innovative, and gave rise to important new genres in painting.
Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, Rembrandt's later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardships. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, and for twenty years he taught many important Dutch painters. His self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity.
In his paintings and prints he exhibited knowledge of classical iconography, which he molded to fit the requirements of his own experience; thus, the depiction of a biblical scene was informed by Rembrandt's knowledge of the specific text, his assimilation of classical composition, and his observations of Amsterdam's Jewish population. Because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called "one of the great prophets of civilization. More on Rembrandt
In 1652 as citizen of Amsterdam, Flinck married in 1656 an heiress, Sophie van der Houven, daughter of a director of the Dutch East India Company. Flinck was already well known in the patrician circles. In his house, adorned with casts after the Antique, costumes, and a noble collection of prints, he often received the stadtholder John Maurice, whose portrait is still preserved in the work of the learned Caspar Barlaeus.
The earliest of Flinck's authentic pieces is a portrait of a lady, dated 1636, in the gallery of Brunswick. His first subject picture is the Blessing of Jacob (1638), in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Both are thoroughly Rembrandtesque in effect as well as in vigour of touch and warmth of flesh tints.
Govert Flinck (Kleve, 1615 - 1660, Amsterdam)
Four governors of the arquebusiers' civic guard, Amsterdam, c. 1642
Oil on canvas
Height: 203 cm (79.9 in); Width: 278 cm (109.4 in)
Amsterdams Historisch Museum
Govert Flinck (Kleve, 1615 - 1660, Amsterdam)
The Twelve Musketeers
Officers and other militiamen of the XVIII district of Amsterdam, led by captain Albert Bas and lieutenant Lucas Conijn, Govert Flinck, c. 1645
Oil on canvash 347cm × w 244cm
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The corporalship of captain Albert Bas and lieutenant Lucas Conijn, 1645. Civic guard piece in which the members of the militia are displayed in an elevated gallery. Bas and Conijn are sitting at the bottom right of the stairs with walking sticks in hand. The other shooters carry weapons (halberd and rifles) and banners. More on this painting
The four civic guards of 1642, and the twelve musketeers with their president in an arm-chair (1648); in the Stadhuis, Amsterdam, are fine specimens of composed portrait groups.
Govert Flinck (Kleve, 1615 - 1660, Amsterdam)
Officers and other militiamen of district III in Amsterdam led by captain Allaert Cloeck and lieutenant Lucas Jacobsz Rotgans, Thomas de Keyser, c. 1632
Oil on canvas
h 220cm × w 351cm
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Officers and other militiamen of District III in Amsterdam, led by Captain Allaert Cloeck and Lieutenant Lucas Jacobsz Rotgans. The other shooters are: Claes Coeck Nanningsz (with banner), Jan Vogelensang, Gerrit Pietersz Schagen, Michiel Colijn, Hans Walschaert, Jan Kuysten, Adolf Fortenbeeck, Aris Hendrick Hallewat, Hendrick Colijn, Hademan van Laer, Dirck Pietersz Pers, Frederick Schulenborch, Thomas Jacobsz Hoingh and Julius van den Bergen. More on this painting
The best of Flinck's productions in this style is the peace of Münster in the Rijksmuseum, a canvas with 19 life-size figures full of animation in the faces, "radiant with Rembrandtesque colour," and admirably distributed. Flinck here painted his own likeness to the left in a doorway.
Govert Flinck (Kleve, 1615 - 1660, Amsterdam)
Marcus Curius Dentatus refuses the gifts of the Samnites, c. 656
Oil on canvas
Height: 4,850 mm (15.91 ft); Width: 3,770 mm (12.36 ft)
Royal Palace of Amsterdam
Manius Curius Dentatus (died 270 BC), was a three-time consul and a plebeian hero of the Roman Republic, noted for ending the Samnite War.
Dentatus is supposed to have been incorruptible and frugal; the story was that when the Samnites sent ambassadors with expensive gifts in an attempt to influence him in their favor, they found him sitting by the hearth roasting turnips. He refused the gifts, saying that he preferred ruling the possessors of gold over possessing it himself. Although the truth of this story is unclear — it may have been an invention of Cato — it was the inspiration for a number of paintings by Jacopo Amigoni, Govert Flinck, and others. More on Manius Curius Dentatus
The man in the red woollen tunic on the left of this painting is Marcus Curius Dentatus. He is holding up a turnip in one hand and, with the other, waving away the gold and other gifts being offered to him by the man with the white robe and red cloak, who is a leader of the Samnites. He is attempting to bribe the Roman consul but Marcus Curius’s plain garb and turnip show that he is content with his simple lifestyle and has no desire for the luxurious gifts on offer. More on this painting
Govert Flinck (Kleve, 1615 - 1660, Amsterdam)
Salomon asking God for wisdom
Oil on canvas
465 x 450 cm
Royal Palace, Amsterdam
On his knees king Solomon asks for the wisdom he will need to lead his people. He has put off his crown, and offers a number of sacrifices. A group of citizens and a priest stand next to him, fear in their expressions. God is depicted as a swarm of angels. More on this painting
The mannered period of Flinck is amply illustrated in the Marcus Curius Dentatus refuses the gifts of the Samnites, and Solomon receiving Wisdom, in the Palace on the Dam at Amsterdam. Here it is that Flinck shows most defects, being faulty in arrangement, gaudy in tint, flat and shallow in execution, that looks as if it had been smeared with violet powder and rouge.
Govert Flinck (Kleve, 1615 - 1660, Amsterdam)
A Young Archer, circa 1639–1640
Oil on oak wood
Height: 66.2 cm (26 in); Width: 50.8 cm (20 in)
The Wallace Collection, London
Described as ‘The celebrated Negro Archer’ by The Times in 1889, the picture was considered a fine example of Rembrandt’s work in the nineteenth century, and acquired as such by the 4th Marquess of Hertford at the sale of the Duke of Buckingham. The signature was apparently tampered with at an early date and once read: R…. The picture was re-attributed to Rembrandt’s pupil Flinck in 1928, an attribution confirmed by the remains of the artist’s signature, and by the existence of a drawing of the same model attributed to Flinck in a private collection, Paris.The picture was probably painted during Flinck’s early years as an independent master, c.1639–1640. It has recently been suggested, however, that the work may represent a specific, but as yet unidentified, literary character. More on this painting
Govert Flinck (Kleve, 1615 - 1660, Amsterdam)
Detail; Little girl as shepardess, c. 1641.
Musée du Louvre, Paris
The chronology of Flinck's works, so far as they are seen in public galleries, comprises, in addition to the foregoing, the Grey Beard of 1639 at Dresden, A Young Archer from 1640 in the Wallace Collection, the Girl of 1641 at the Louvre, a portrait group of a male and female (1646) at Rotterdam, a lady (1651) at Berlin.
In November 1659 the burgomaster, mayor, of Amsterdam contracted with Flinck for 12 canvases to represent four heroic figures of David and Samson and Manius Curius Dentatus and Horatius Cocles, and scenes from the Batavians and Romans. Flinck was unable to finish more than the sketches. After his death Rembrandt was asked to fill one of the commissions, and produced his last great history picture, the Conspriracy of Claudius Civilis, which the authorities rejected.
Govert Flinck (Kleve, 1615 - 1660, Amsterdam)
Civic guardsmen of the company of captain Joan Huydecoper and lieutenant Frans van Waveren, c. 1648
265 x 513 cm
Oil on canvas
Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam
In the same year he received a flattering acknowledgment from the town council of Cleves and the completion of a picture of Solomon which was a counterpart of the composition at Amsterdam. This and other pictures and portraits, such as those of Friedrich Wilhelm and John Maurice, and the allegory of Louisa of Orange attended by Victory and Fame and other figures at the cradle of the first-born son of the elector, have disappeared. Of several pictures which were painted for the Great Elector, none are preserved except the Expulsion of Hagar in the Berlin museum.
Flinck died in Amsterdam on 2 February 1660. More on Govert Teuniszoon Flinck
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