Jordaens – 1593- 1678 - Pride of Antwerp at the Petit Palais, Paris,
19th September to 19th January 2014.<p>
The Petit Palais in Paris has amassed a dazzling and
extensive exhibition of the talented 17th century Flemish painter,
Jacob Jordaens. It is the first major French retrospective dedicated to this
well renowned artist and includes 120 exceptional works from major public and
private collections from around the world including The Prado Museum in Madrid,
the Hermitage in St Petersburg and the Royal Museum in Brussels.<p>
Jordaens
was one of the three Flemish Baroque painters along with Peter Paul Rubens and
Anthony Van Dyck to bring prestige to the Antwerpen school of painting. He
represented the solid virtues of the bourgeoisie but was also a history painter
of the sacred and profane and had a large aristocratic clientele. Interestingly
Jordaens never travelled abroad to Italy – unlike his contemporaries - and he
remained in Antwerp his whole life, except for short trips to the Low Countries.
He breathed new life into classical and religious subjects and his art was full
of emotion with Antwerp as the privileged backdrop to his painting. Although
his father was a linen merchant there was a history of frame making in his
family since the fifteenth century.<p>
A rather delightful and playful music
accompanies you throughout the exhibition which somehow adds atmosphere to the
experience. His painting, called “The Pintor family”, is beautiful and is an
autoportrait of him with his wife, Catherine Van Noot and their daughter Elizabeth. Here he uses a
carefully manufactured scene normally reversed for the noblesse with sumptuous decoration and elegant, sombre
costumes with white neck ruffles for the women. Jordaens portrays himself as an
accomplished man with intellectual and artistic qualities; an artist who also
takes himself very seriously! We see in another of his huge paintings, entitled
“The Adoration of the Bergers”, that he concentrates with elaborate detail on
the body of Jesus. It was at this time, in 1616, that he collaborated with
Rubens and started to assimilate the art of his master. The exhibition rather
cleverly puts the Jordaens ‘Adoration’ painting alongside the same painting by
Reubens so that you can see the similarities and differences of both artists. We
see how Jordaens copies Ruben’s Adoration whilst tightening the circle of
people and he intensifies the emotions and the combination of colours.<p>
In
‘La Sainte Famille’ Jordaens again uses his family to create a more intimate
and personal work of art. It is the portrait of a saint and attributed to
Caravaggio. His wife and daughter; Catherine and Elisabeth, are the faces of
the Virgin and Jesus. The coral necklace on Jesus as a baby is an allusion to
the blood running during the Passion and creates the strong sacred mood of the
scene. The black background means the figures really impose themselves and the
contrast of light and dark on their faces is amazing. Jordaens executed several
scenes of the Town Hall in Antwerp and two paintings marked the pinnacle of his
career ; “The Victory of Time “ and “The Triumph of Frederik Hendrik, Prince of
Orange” which was intended for the ceremonial hall in the ‘House of Woods’
outside the Hague. We see how at ease Jordaens is with the baroque allegorical
language adopted by Rubens. In fact after Rubens died in 1640 Jordaens became
the most important painter in Antwerp for large scale commissions. He often
created several variations of the same theme - such as his scenes of uproarious festivity in
the series of paintings, entitled “The King”. These paintings stem from the
rich literary and proverbial heritage of the Netherlands which dates as far back
as the Middle Ages.<p> Jordaens liked to
use proverbs as a way of educating the masses and his representations of
everyday life normally had a moral message to convey. The opulence and
elaborate detail in the paintings is incredible as scenes of great mirth,
overflowing wine, bountiful fruit and food and youthful hilarity are played out
for us. In each of the paintings the king is in the middle of the painting and
he is crowded by other people of all ages and even animals such as dogs and
parrots. Yet such a subject matter also had a hidden denunciation of the human
excesses and decadence of the time in which Jordaens lived One of my favourite paintings in this
exhibition is Jordaens “Portrait of a Young Lady”, painted in 1639. It is
probably a portrait of his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, born in 1617. She looks
out at us with a straight, eloquent gaze and is dressed in beautiful, delicate,
lacy clothes whilst holding an antique ornament. The delicate pink rose of her
cheeks, the little pearl clip in her hair and the hint of a pearl earring
together with her faraway expression completes an intimate and masterful
portrait. Indeed most of Jordaens models
for his portraits were from his close circle of friends and family.<p>
The exhibition ends
with a very effective and unusual ‘chest of curiosities’ where members of the
public are invited to learn in even more detail about Jordaen’s techniques and
art. A succession of different shaped drawers hide information on his style and
techniques as well as the culture and lifestyle of the time. Certainly this exhibition
is well worth a visit if only to admire the rich and evocative works of the
Golden Age of Flemish seventeenth century painting. <p>
Jordaens, Pride of Antwerp at the Petit Palais, Paris by Larissa Woolf, Arts Editor, Visitmuseums.com<p>
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