RKD STUDIES

It is time to discuss Karel van Mander III (1609-1670),¹ the most famous Dutch portraitist in Copenhagen. After the death of his father, his mother, Cornelia Rooswijk, took the 16-year-old boy with her to Copenhagen, where she had settled and traded in spices. The king soon became aware of the talent of the young painter, who probably visited the workshops of Pieter Isaacsz and Reinhold Thim. As early as 1630 he must have painted a miniature portrait of the king [1],² and four years later he and Simon de Passe designed the costumes and decorations for a festival production on the occasion of Prince Christian’s wedding [2].³ Between 1635 and 1638, if not earlier, Van Mander must certainly have stayed in The Netherlands and Italy to complete his education. While in the Dutch Republic, he painted several works, including a portrait of Joost van den Vondel, and in Italy he studied the works of Caravaggio and his Dutch interpreter Honthorst. It is self-evident that a painter travelling with open eyes in the Dutch Republic of the thirties could not have escaped being influenced by the paintings of Rembrandt and Frans Hals.

In 1638 he was again in Copenhagen, and then began his actual activity for the court, the nobility and numerous bourgeois patrons. A series depicting the Five senses (Copenhagen, Museum, on loan to Kronborg; private property) belongs to his earliest work [3-5].⁴ It consists of powerfully painted, genre-like portraits in the style of the early Rembrandt, as represented by the early Jacob Backer.⁵ At the same time he created two pendant genre pieces of a farmer and his wife (Copenhagen) [6-7], in which something of the Utrecht style of Hendrick Bloemaert also lingers.⁶ At no time did Karel van Mander tie himself down to a distinct manner.

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Karel van Mander (III)
Allegory of sight: an old man with spectacles, dated 1639
Copenhagen, SMK - National Gallery of Denmark, inv./cat.nr. Sp. 799

Beside these bold works there is a Repentance of St. Peter (same location) [10], which is very painterly in conception and entirely conforms to the manner of the late Rembrandt as it was understood by Salomon Koninck. The portraits of the 40s take both these conceptions as their point of departure. The portraits of Prince Elect Christian and his wife of 1642 (Rosenborg 501 and 503) [8-9] are still fairly boldly painted, but in a portrait of the poet Anders Bording [11], perhaps rightly attributed to Karel van Mander, the painterly aspect and dreamy expression are carried to ultimate perfection; it looks like a Ter Borch in large format.

The stately equestrian portrait of Christian IV (Frederiksborg 602) [12] is massive and well-painted in bold reds and yellows.⁷ These official portraits often approach interchangeability with ones by Wuchters. Van Mander undergoes the same development to elegant and well-groomed portraits with meticulous technique. In general it may be said that, contrary to Wuchters, Van Mander favors curvilinear lines and restless light. This is apparent, for instance, from the family portrait that the Copenhagen museum has purchased from the Hamburg Kunsthalle [13] (replica in Frederiksborg [14]).⁸ Many details at once remind us of the spirited art of Jan de Braij.

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and Morten van Steenwinckel Karel van Mander (III)
Equestrian portrait of King Christian IV (1577-1648) of Denmark, c. 1643
Hillerød, The National Museum of History Frederiksborg Castle, inv./cat.nr. A 2741

We cannot mention all the pictures that Karel van Mander made for the two kings and other dignitaries. A great many of them have survived in engraved copies by Haelwegh. A double portrait in the Sehested Juel collection in Ravnholt [15] is replete with dignity and sobriety, and the pensive Corfitz Ulfeld in Frederiksborg [16] belong to his most beautiful later pictures (although the latter work is certainly not an original, as is established by another version, which was offered to the museum in 1938 [17]).⁹ Karel van Mander also met with some success as painter of histories and decorations. Ceiling paintings of his in Amalienborg [18-22] and Holsteinborg [23-27] are brightly and airily painted, with strong light and dark contrasts and sharp creases. They can stand comparison with works by Honthorst in Kronborg, which probably did not remain unknown to Van Mander.

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Karel van Mander (III)
Portrait of a couple, 1640s
Private collection

A depiction of Tasso’s Jerusalem liberated (Copenhagen) [28], with romantic light effects copied from Dutch Caravaggists such as Bramer and Honthorst, is probably earlier in date.¹⁰ In later years this Honthorstian tradition became mixed with Flemish elements, as is demonstrated by a large painting of Abraham and Melchizedek that hangs in the castle church of Frederiksborg [29]. It appears to have suffered from the fire and to have been cut down as a consequence.¹¹

Andrup recently published a pictorial cycle with scenes from Heliodorus’ Aethiopica, which probably came to Kassel from Sweden in the 18th century [30-38].¹² Though not autograph works by Karel van Mander, they are shop work with a pronounced Dutch character.

Is it too bold an assumption that the Swedes stole these works from Kronborg or another Danish castle when they invaded Denmark in 1659?¹³

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Karel van Mander (III)
The finding of Prince Svend's body (d. 1079) (Tasso: Gerusalemme Liberata VIII), possibly before 1642
Helsingør, Kronborg Slot

Danish collections contain numerous pictures in the style of Karel van Mander and Abraham Wuchters which have yet to be attributed to any specific emulator. We can only conclude that the Dutch approach slowly came to prevail everywhere. The names of Wuchters and Van Mander students that we have at our disposal do not justify our being detained for long by these painters. The Christian IV on his deathbed (Rosenborg Castle) [39] by Berent Hilwaertz is a weak picture belonging to the school of Karel van Mander.¹⁴ Bendex Grodtschilling the Younger (picture in museum, Copenhagen) [40] and Michael van Haven (c. 1625-1679) [41] followed Wuchters, including in his capacity as director of the Sorø Academy. He also went to the Dutch Republic, to buy works of art.¹⁵ One Monogrammist B.M. from Århus (Frederiksborg no. 1040, there attributed to Broder Matthisen [† 1666]) [42]¹⁶ and a certain Jørgen Maler (Frederiksborg 693) [43] lean more to Van Mander’s manner.

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Berent Hilwaertz
King Christian IV on his deathbed, 1648
Copenhagen, The Royal Danish Collection - Rosenborg Castle

Most attractive is the work of Heinrich Dittmers (c. 1625-1677) [44], who began in the powerful manner of the early Van Mander [45] and later turned to a more elegant genre along French lines [46]. He came from Hamburg but apparently received his artistic training in the Dutch Republic or, at the very least, with Dutch painters. Like Karel van Mander he initially loved the undulating Haarlem technique and the broad brushstrokes of Frans Hals. His drawings and especially his reference studies are again closely related to the traditions of the Rembrandt school [47-49].

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Heinrich Dittmers
Self-portrait of Heinrich Dittmers (c. 1625-1677)
Copenhagen, SMK - The Royal Collection of Graphic Art, inv./cat.nr. KKSgb6779