HAMEN, Juan van der

Van der Hamen’s painting of the Offering to Flora is a visual poem that parallels the lyric verse of his time, in which he united his skills as portraitist and flower painter to produce one of the most beautiful paintings of the allegory of Spring.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 2 minutes):

Thomas Weelkes: Madrigal (Springtime Song)

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Van der Hamen’s style, like Sanchez Cotan’s before him, was his cultivation of the illusion of three dimensional space. With an emphasis on formal purity, he has, in this still-life, subtly manipulated a series of forms (edibles and utensils) all derived from primary geometric shapes (circles, spheres and cylinders) and played these against the reticular articulation of the tablecloth and the receding rectangular tabletop. As a result of the powerful play of light and shadow on the creased damask cloth near the picture plane, and the subtle shading of the tabletop, a compelling ‘arena’ is established wherein the richly modelled forms can assume their maximum plasticity. The place of each form is firmly established by the strong, transparent shadows cast toward the right.

This signed and dated canvas depicts a serving table with plates of sweets, olives and cheese, a glass vessel of water, and a terracotta jar. In this still-life, the painter subtly manipulated a series of forms (edibles and utensils) all derived from primary geometric shapes (circles, spheres and cylinders) and played these against the reticular articulation of the tablecloth and the receding rectangular tabletop.

Tabletop still-lifes were produced by such early seventeenth century Northern artists as Nicolaes Gillis, Floris van Dyck and Clara Peeters. Van der Hamen was beginning to make table-top still-lifes at the end of his life.

The pair of paintings, the Still-Life with Flowers and a Dog, and the Still-Life with a Puppy formed part of the interior decoration of Jean de Croy’s palace in Madrid. This Flemish nobleman, Count of Soire and Captain of the Flemish Guard of Archers, was also the owner of Van der Hamen’s Offering to Flora. The paintings, which were probably commissioned by De Croy (d. 1638), hung unframed on either side of the doorway of a room that led on to the picture gallery. Here, they probably served as illusionistic extensions of real space, perhaps by reproducing the actual floor of the room. The dog and its playful puppy may well have portrayed actual animals owned by the patron. The theme of the pictures is related to the culture of aristocratic hospitality, that was such a necessary part of the refined lifestyle of the occupants of the house. In one of the pictures, a wine cooler stands on the floor and the side tables covered with green velvet damask display sweetmeats and a glass ewer with aloja, an aromatic drink popular at the time, while the clock shows that it is just before five o’clock, an appropriate time for such treats.

The major motifs in these pictures are two large gilt ormolu and glass vases with floral arrangements. These vessels represent a type of luxury decorative object that suited the status of Van der Hamen s patron, and the flowers they contain stand out for the copiousness and variety of their blooms. They doubtlessly evoke real arrangements of flowers that formed a part of the rich decor of Soire’s house. However, these were not painted from life and are artificial images in representing blooms in such perfect condition and in bringing together flowers that bloom at different times of the year.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 7 minutes):

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, ballet suite, op. 71, Waltz of the Flowers

The main subject, a large glass vase of flowers, is accompanied by a smaller glass vase with pink roses on the uppermost surface. The larger vase of flowers presides over two artichoke heads and their leaves, the contrast between these two faces of Nature being intentional; the beauty of the flowers is enhanced by the presence of the more commonplace green vegetable below them, and the senses of sight and smell are pitted against the sense of taste. Van der Hamen has given the same painterly attention to all of the motifs, however, drawing and modelling the leaves of the artichokes with as much attention to detail as the blooms themselves. The flowers are painted with the artist’s customary finesse; each bloom is carefully painted and the rose petals are modelled using thin glazes of red lake over white.

One of the features of Van der Hamen’s still-life painting for which he was best known lay in the depiction of expensive luxury glassware, such as the pieces represented here.

The pair of paintings, the Still-Life with Flowers and a Dog, and the Still-Life with a Puppy formed part of the interior decoration of Jean de Croy’s palace in Madrid. This Flemish nobleman, Count of Soire and Captain of the Flemish Guard of Archers, was also the owner of Van der Hamen’s Offering to Flora. The paintings, which were probably commissioned by De Croy (d. 1638), hung unframed on either side of the doorway of a room that led on to the picture gallery. Here, they probably served as illusionistic extensions of real space, perhaps by reproducing the actual floor of the room. The dog and its playful puppy may well have portrayed actual animals owned by the patron. The theme of the pictures is related to the culture of aristocratic hospitality, that was such a necessary part of the refined lifestyle of the occupants of the house. In one of the pictures, a wine cooler stands on the floor and the side tables covered with green velvet damask display sweetmeats and a glass ewer with aloja, an aromatic drink popular at the time, while the clock shows that it is just before five o’clock, an appropriate time for such treats.

The major motifs in these pictures are two large gilt ormolu and glass vases with floral arrangements. These vessels represent a type of luxury decorative object that suited the status of Van der Hamen s patron, and the flowers they contain stand out for the copiousness and variety of their blooms. They doubtlessly evoke real arrangements of flowers that formed a part of the rich decor of Soire’s house. However, these were not painted from life and are artificial images in representing blooms in such perfect condition and in bringing together flowers that bloom at different times of the year.

This painting represents a chocolate service with a wooden box of packed chocolate, two lacquered gourd drinking bowls, a wooden milk whisk, napkins, a spoon and pastries on a pewter plate. The round, wooden box at right is tilted at an angle to display the packed chocolate within, the black decorated vessels are drinking cups, and the wooden instrument resting above the pastries is a whisk for blending the melted chocolate with milk. Following the Spanish colonization of Mexico, regular trade by the 17th century meant chocolate swiftly became a popular commodity.

Formerly the painting was attributed to Francisco Barrera, and later to Antonio Ponce, an assistant in van der Hamen’s workshop.

Juan van der Hamen, together with Felipe Ram�rez and Juan S�nchez Cot�n, made his contribution to the definition of the austere, spiritual character of the still-life genre in Spain, in contrast to the far more pompous, rhetorical character of its Flemish and Italian counterparts.

This serious and austere painting represents a group of everyday objects which are arranged in an orderly fashion on a table top. In the foreground, creating the central motif of the composition, are some cakes and rolls, while to the right is a cheese mould and on the left some cups and jars.

In 1626 van der Hamen made his still-lifes more varied and complex than his early ones by placing objects on different levels. This type of composition seems to have originated in Rome during the early 1620s and is seen in works attributed to Tomasso Salini and Agostino Verrocchi. However, van der Hamen’s use of this scheme differs from that of the Roman painters, who liked to scatter a profusion of inanimate objects over the surface. Van der Hamen drastically reduces the number of elements and arranges the remainder into exquisitely balanced, asymmetrical compositions, strongly lit in the Spanish manner. This allows him to concentrate on the rendering of each individual object and thus to enhance the sensation of corporeality and texture.