DOI issue:
Nr. 4
DOI article:Kluk, Maria; Michałkowa, Janina: Catalogue of paintings
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18940#0119
P. STRIK — active at the turn of the 17tb-18th centuries
Thieme-Becker does not name this painter, although does mention anotlier artist of the
same name — Jacob van Strik, active in Flanders in the seventeeth ccntury (voI. XXXII,
p. 191). However, one can safely assume that P. Strik belonged to a younger gencration of
the same family.
6. An artist ivith pupils in his studio
Oil on canvas; 36.5x30.5 cm; Inv. no. 181847 (M. Ob. 2373).
Signed: P. Strik (on the side of a chest).
Prov.: In the collection of Edward Raczyński and his family in WarsaW. Depositcd at the
National Museum in Warsaw in 1941; donated to the museum in 1991.
On the back there is an inscription reading 51 Netscher (presumably a number and former
attribution) and another number: RR. 93.
The painting combines two separatc iconographic subjects: St. Lukę painting the Madonna
and the artist's studio. The first subjcct had a long tradition in European painting, the
second was freąuently taken up in the seventeeth and eighteenth century. Presumably,
the popularity of the latter of the two subjects arose from the wish to enhance the role of
the artist. Often paintings of this kind are self-portraits of the artist surrounded by his
pupils and sponsors, describing reality in a way, and this is cmiteprobably the case of our pa-
inting. The artist is shown here dressed in a colourful smock, sitting at an easel and paint-
ing the Madonna with Child. He is being intcrrupted by one of the pupils who approaches
him from the left with a sketch in his hands. The chest on which the artist is seated and
the floor around are littered with books and painting accessories. At the far end of the work-
shop there is a cupboard with carefully labellcd boxes and bottles on top of it. A landscape
hangs above them on the wali and further still there is a nudę study and some busts and
other objects on the shelf above. At the far cnd of the studio two pupils are working at a
table. The colourful striped fabric of the smock, velvet beret, the dress with large buttons
of the pupil on the left side, the evident care in the depiction of details, f inally the "smooth-
ness" of the techniąue, testify to the artist's close contacts with painters from the Leiden
school of the last quarter of the seventeenth ccntury and the first guarter of the eighteenth.
Similar striped cloth appears in the works of Frans van Mieris the Younger (Pharmacy,.
panel, 39.5 X 33.5 cm, signed and dated 1714, Amsterdam, Amsterdams Historisch Museum,.
on long-term loan to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdom, inv. no. C 186) and Willem van Mieris.
(Shop with venison, panel, 42.5x37.5 cm, signed and dated 1714, The Hague, Rijskdienst,.
Beeldendc Kunst, inv. no. NK 1652); in the latter case also the man's coat is extremely
similar in cut, colour and buttons. Although the artist's name points to a Flemish origin,
while the representation of Madonna with Child suggests that he was a Catholic, it cannot
be excluded that, working in the United Provinccs, he came under the strong influence
of the style characteristic of local painters there.
Unpublished.
M.K„
100
Thieme-Becker does not name this painter, although does mention anotlier artist of the
same name — Jacob van Strik, active in Flanders in the seventeeth ccntury (voI. XXXII,
p. 191). However, one can safely assume that P. Strik belonged to a younger gencration of
the same family.
6. An artist ivith pupils in his studio
Oil on canvas; 36.5x30.5 cm; Inv. no. 181847 (M. Ob. 2373).
Signed: P. Strik (on the side of a chest).
Prov.: In the collection of Edward Raczyński and his family in WarsaW. Depositcd at the
National Museum in Warsaw in 1941; donated to the museum in 1991.
On the back there is an inscription reading 51 Netscher (presumably a number and former
attribution) and another number: RR. 93.
The painting combines two separatc iconographic subjects: St. Lukę painting the Madonna
and the artist's studio. The first subjcct had a long tradition in European painting, the
second was freąuently taken up in the seventeeth and eighteenth century. Presumably,
the popularity of the latter of the two subjects arose from the wish to enhance the role of
the artist. Often paintings of this kind are self-portraits of the artist surrounded by his
pupils and sponsors, describing reality in a way, and this is cmiteprobably the case of our pa-
inting. The artist is shown here dressed in a colourful smock, sitting at an easel and paint-
ing the Madonna with Child. He is being intcrrupted by one of the pupils who approaches
him from the left with a sketch in his hands. The chest on which the artist is seated and
the floor around are littered with books and painting accessories. At the far end of the work-
shop there is a cupboard with carefully labellcd boxes and bottles on top of it. A landscape
hangs above them on the wali and further still there is a nudę study and some busts and
other objects on the shelf above. At the far cnd of the studio two pupils are working at a
table. The colourful striped fabric of the smock, velvet beret, the dress with large buttons
of the pupil on the left side, the evident care in the depiction of details, f inally the "smooth-
ness" of the techniąue, testify to the artist's close contacts with painters from the Leiden
school of the last quarter of the seventeenth ccntury and the first guarter of the eighteenth.
Similar striped cloth appears in the works of Frans van Mieris the Younger (Pharmacy,.
panel, 39.5 X 33.5 cm, signed and dated 1714, Amsterdam, Amsterdams Historisch Museum,.
on long-term loan to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdom, inv. no. C 186) and Willem van Mieris.
(Shop with venison, panel, 42.5x37.5 cm, signed and dated 1714, The Hague, Rijskdienst,.
Beeldendc Kunst, inv. no. NK 1652); in the latter case also the man's coat is extremely
similar in cut, colour and buttons. Although the artist's name points to a Flemish origin,
while the representation of Madonna with Child suggests that he was a Catholic, it cannot
be excluded that, working in the United Provinccs, he came under the strong influence
of the style characteristic of local painters there.
Unpublished.
M.K„
100