DOI issue:
Nr. 2-4
DOI article:Kozak, Anna; De Herdt, Jan [Ill.]: Jan de Herdt, a forgotten 17th century Flemish painter
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18902#0062
1. Jan de Herdt, Antiąue Dealer, oil on canvas, Staatliche KunsthaUe, Karlsruhe (photo: Staat-
liclie KunsthaUe, Karlsruhe)
at Znojmo, whieh appears from his two paintings for the loeal Holy Cross Church. These, though
undated, are stylistically reminiscent of his works done in that period. The latest signed and
dated painting by Herdt that I have been able to locate is St John on the Island of Patmos,
from 1684, now in the Archbishops’ Pałace in Prague. The find proves that Herdt lived morę
than ten years longer than I last surmised17. According to Nagler18, the artist spent some time
in Olomouc where he remained in close relations with the Dean of Ali Saints’ convent, M. A. Lu-
biński. At the latter’s reąuest, Herdt was to exeeute a print after Lubinski’s drawing of St
Francis Xavier talking to pagan priests in front of a prince. Yet a scrutiny of archives and recent
research on M. A. Lubinski’s oeuvre have not confirmed this information. Nor have I been
able to locate the print mentioned by Nagler.
To assess Herdt’s art is as difficult as to tracę his biography. I have not succeeded in finding
any of his early paintings, yet there is still hope for something to turn up when research has
been launched in Antwerp. His earliest known paintings come from 1658—1661 when he was
active in and around Brescia. On the basis of her research, Baroncełli hołds that three signed
paintings from that period have survived, namely, Yirgin Mary with St Anthony of Padua and
17. A. Kozak, op. cit.
18. G.K. Nagler, Die Monogramisten, Munich, 1919, II, N°. 1144, p. 441.
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liclie KunsthaUe, Karlsruhe)
at Znojmo, whieh appears from his two paintings for the loeal Holy Cross Church. These, though
undated, are stylistically reminiscent of his works done in that period. The latest signed and
dated painting by Herdt that I have been able to locate is St John on the Island of Patmos,
from 1684, now in the Archbishops’ Pałace in Prague. The find proves that Herdt lived morę
than ten years longer than I last surmised17. According to Nagler18, the artist spent some time
in Olomouc where he remained in close relations with the Dean of Ali Saints’ convent, M. A. Lu-
biński. At the latter’s reąuest, Herdt was to exeeute a print after Lubinski’s drawing of St
Francis Xavier talking to pagan priests in front of a prince. Yet a scrutiny of archives and recent
research on M. A. Lubinski’s oeuvre have not confirmed this information. Nor have I been
able to locate the print mentioned by Nagler.
To assess Herdt’s art is as difficult as to tracę his biography. I have not succeeded in finding
any of his early paintings, yet there is still hope for something to turn up when research has
been launched in Antwerp. His earliest known paintings come from 1658—1661 when he was
active in and around Brescia. On the basis of her research, Baroncełli hołds that three signed
paintings from that period have survived, namely, Yirgin Mary with St Anthony of Padua and
17. A. Kozak, op. cit.
18. G.K. Nagler, Die Monogramisten, Munich, 1919, II, N°. 1144, p. 441.
52