Balthasar Lauwers
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Balthasar Lauwers, known in Italy as Baldassare Lauri or Baldassare Lauro[1][2] (Antwerp, baptized on 18 April 1578 - Rome, 4 August 1645) was a Flemish landscape painter who, after initially training in Antwerp, had a successful career in Italy where he worked for an elite clientele.[3][4] As he was mainly active as a fresco painter in private residences, not many of his works have been preserved.
Life
Balthasar Lauwers was baptized on 18 April 1578 in Antwerp.[3] He was enrolled in 1590 under the name Balten Lauwers at the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke as a pupil of Francoys Borsse, a painter.[5]
Lauwers left Antwerp and travelled via Milan and Venice to Rome.[6] His arrival in Italy must be placed around 1600 when he was still in his early twenties. In Rome, he was a pupil of, and later worked as an assistant to, the prominent Flemish landscape painter Paul Bril who had established himself in Rome around 1582.[7] Thanks to Paul Bril's connections in Rome, Lauwers was able to secure various commissions.
Prior to 1603, Balthasar Lauwers married Hélène (Elena) Cousin, daughter of Henri Cousin, a goldsmith from Paris and scion of a prominent family of French goldsmiths and artists, including two painters of the School of Fontainebleau.[8]
In 1622 he joined the
The painter Angelo Caroselli, who had become a widower, married in 1642 his daughter Brigitta Lauwers (Lauri). Lauwers trained his two sons Francesco Lauri and Filippo Lauri in the art of painting.[10] Filippo further studied with his brother Francesco and his brother-in-law Angelo Caroselli.[11] Aside from his sons, the architectural painter François de Nomé was also a pupil of Balthasar Lauwers.[12]
Lauwers died on 4 August 1645 in Rome.[3]
Work
Balthasar Lauwers was principally active as a landscape painter. He worked on canvas and copper and also produced many frescos in palaces.[3]
Balthasar Lauwers is known for his landscapes depicting coastal and river landscapes populated with contemporary figures and hunting scenes. This is why he is sometimes also referred to as a marine painter. Lauwers is also described in Italian sources as a quadraturista, i.e. a painter of architectural illusions on walls to "open them up" or Italian ceiling paintings.[13] He is known to have provided wall decorations in many palaces.[4]
His style is regarded as close to that of Paul Bril, his master in Rome.[4] He collaborated on decorative projects with Paul Bril and Agostino Tassi.[13]
References
- ^ Gemälde: Beschreibendes Verzeichniss, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. Gemäldegalerie Selbstverlag der Direction, 1882, p.184 (in German)
- ^ Also referred to as: Balten Lauwers, Balthasar Lawers and Baltassare Lauri
- ^ a b c d Balthasar Lauwers at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (in Dutch)
- ^ a b c d Filippo Baldinucci, Domenico Maria Manni, Opere di Filippo Baldinucci: Notizie de'professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua, Società tipografica de'Classici italiani, 1812, p. 288-289 (in Italian)
- ^ Ph. Rombouts and Th. van Lerius (ed.), De liggeren en andere historische archieven der Antwerpsche sint Lucasgilde van 1453–1615, Antwerp, 1872–1876, p. 450 (in Dutch)
- ^ Jörg Martin Merz, Pietro da Cortona, Ernst Wasmuth, 1991, p. 172 (in German)
- ^ Reginald Howard Wilenski, Flemish Painters, 1430-1830, Viking Press, 1960; p. 227
- ^ Pseudo-Caroselli (active in Rome, first quarter of the 17th century), A courtesan in a plumed hat playing a tambourine, a landscape beyond at Christie's New York sale of 19 April 2018, lot 6
- ^ Carel van Mander, Hessel Miedema, The Lives of the Illustrious Netherlandish and German Painters, from the First Edition of the Schilder-boeck (1603-1604): Commentary on lives, Davaco, 1994, p. 16
- ^ Seicento : le siècle de Caravage dans les collections françaises : Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 11 octobre 1988-2 janvier 1989 [et] Palazzo Reale, Milan, mars-avril 1989, Réunion des musées nationaux (France), Milan (Italy). Settore cultura e spettacolo Réunion des musées nationaux, 1988, p. 148 (in French)
- ^ Sir Philip Hendy, European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Trustees of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1974, p. 134
- ^ Franc̦ois de Nomé: Mysteries of a Seventeenth-century Neapolitan Painter, Menil Collection, 1991, p. 20
- ^ a b Napoli scontraffatta (ieri e oggi), Giovanni Artieri A. Mondadori, 1984, p. 558 (in Italian)
External links
Media related to Balthasar Lauwers at Wikimedia Commons
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