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DOI Artikel:Kozak, Anna; De Herdt, Jan [Ill.]: Jan de Herdt, a forgotten 17th century Flemish painter
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18902#0064
3. Jan de Herdt, Erminia at the Shepherds’, oil on canvas, Kunsthistorisch.es Museum, Vienna
(photo: Kunsthistoriscłies Museum, Yienna)
Herdt’s Italian works do not proyide a reliable basis for assessing the quality of his art im
that period. Baroncelli, who knows them all, underlines the marked influence of Italian painting
upon Herdt, especially Fetti and Strozzi, and brings out their link with the Flemish tradition.
She is obviously right. In the mid 17th century, Brescia, which had thriven in the times of Ro~
manino and Moretto da Brescia, could not offer profound artistic inspirations to a painter edu-
cated on Rubens, van Dyck, Jordaens or Crayer. No wonder then that, like his Flemish masters
who had yisited Italy before him, Herdt turned towards Venetian art, examples of which he
could find in the work of Domenico Fetti active temporarily in nearby Mantua. Herdt’s interest
in Venetian painting continued for many years after he had left Italy. As regards his Italian
paintings on the other hand, one cannot resist an impression that his attachement to certain
Jflemish patterns, eyident for instance in the composition Yirgin Mary with St Anthony of Padua
and St Yalentine, the overall design of which is reminiscent of C. Crayer’s works, was as strong
as his fascination with Venetian painting.
Herdt arrived in Yienna by the beginning of 1662 (his signature under the Viennese document
■comes from January 8, 1662)26. The city had long been a haven for Netherlandish painters on
26. cf. notę 13.
54
(photo: Kunsthistoriscłies Museum, Yienna)
Herdt’s Italian works do not proyide a reliable basis for assessing the quality of his art im
that period. Baroncelli, who knows them all, underlines the marked influence of Italian painting
upon Herdt, especially Fetti and Strozzi, and brings out their link with the Flemish tradition.
She is obviously right. In the mid 17th century, Brescia, which had thriven in the times of Ro~
manino and Moretto da Brescia, could not offer profound artistic inspirations to a painter edu-
cated on Rubens, van Dyck, Jordaens or Crayer. No wonder then that, like his Flemish masters
who had yisited Italy before him, Herdt turned towards Venetian art, examples of which he
could find in the work of Domenico Fetti active temporarily in nearby Mantua. Herdt’s interest
in Venetian painting continued for many years after he had left Italy. As regards his Italian
paintings on the other hand, one cannot resist an impression that his attachement to certain
Jflemish patterns, eyident for instance in the composition Yirgin Mary with St Anthony of Padua
and St Yalentine, the overall design of which is reminiscent of C. Crayer’s works, was as strong
as his fascination with Venetian painting.
Herdt arrived in Yienna by the beginning of 1662 (his signature under the Viennese document
■comes from January 8, 1662)26. The city had long been a haven for Netherlandish painters on
26. cf. notę 13.
54