Jan Baptist Weenix, Girl as Shepherdess with Dog, Le Musée de Picardie, Amiens
Anke Van Wagenberg, PhD, Chief Curator at the Academy Art Museum will discuss paintings of Jan Baptist Weenix and his son Jan Weenix, at an upcoming Kittredge-Wilson lecture, “Painting for Princes: Dutch Art by Jan Baptist Weenix & Jan Weenix.” The event will be held on Friday, May 18 at 6 p.m. at the Academy Art Museum. She recently published her two-volume tome entitled “Jan Baptist Weenix and Jan Weenix: The Paintings.” It is the result of many years of scholarly art-historical research on the works of the Dutch, seventeenth-century painters Jan Baptist Weenix (1621–1659)—a contemporary of Rembrandt and Vermeer—and his son Jan Weenix (1641– 1719).
These important Dutch masters and contemporaries of Rembrandt painted Italianate landscapes, portraits and still lifes and are represented in most principal museums with Dutch collections. The publication fills a lacuna in the art history of the Golden Age and provides a broader base for the appreciation of Dutch art. From the beginning it has been the purpose to study and publish the art of father Weenix and son Weenix because the authorship of their paintings has been frequently confused, especially paintings of the 1660s, when Weenix II had just “graduated” from his father’s studio. With the similar subject matter and style, their paintings have puzzled many writers and art historians. After his father-teacher’s death, the son gradually transferred his style in line with a newer more “courtly” taste of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, culminating in a commission to decorate the castle Bensberg near Dusseldorf for a German Prince. This transformation can now be clearly illustrated in Anke’s books, in which hundreds of artworks have been documented.
The 850-page monograph contains new, unpublished archival material on these important painters and a catalogue of 500 entries. The dual volume set is presented in a cassette and published by the renowned publishing house Waanders, in The Netherlands, with world-wide distribution in New York.
Signed copies of Van Wagenberg’s recently published two-volume book will be available at the lecture. As limited copies are available, advanced copies can be reserved. The cost of the lecture is $24 for Museum members and $29 for non-members. Pre-registration is suggested. Register online at academyartmuseum.org or call 410-822-2787.
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