HOUBRAKEN, Arnold

(b. 1660 Dordrecht, d. 1719 Amsterdam)

Dutch painter, etcher and writer, part of a family of artists. Although a competent artist, Arnold Houbraken is best known as a writer. His three-volume Groote schouburgh (The Great Theatre of Dutch Painters, 1718-21), the last volume of which was published posthumously, is generally regarded as one of the most important sources on the lives of 17th-century Dutch artists - despite its many omissions and errors. As an artist, he was taught by Jacobus Levecq and Samuel van Hoogstraten in Dordrecht and went on to have a relatively successful studio in Dordrecht and Amsterdam. He specialized in small scale, precise history paintings, portraits and gentile genre scenes.

Houbraken’s son Jacobus Houbraken (1698-1780) was a reproductive engraver, specializing in portraiture. Jacobus’s sister Antonyna Houbraken (1686-1736) made topographical and portrait drawings, as well as designs for vignettes and a title-page.

Commemoration of King Mausolus by Queen Artemisia

Artemisia was the wife of Mausolus, the satrap of Caria in Asia Minor. She succeeded her husband on his death in 353 B.C., and erected a great monument to his memory at Halicarnassus - hence ‘mausoleum’. It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was said that she mixed the ashes of Mausolus in liquid which she then drank, thereby making herself, observes Valerius Maximus, making of herself a living, breathing tomb. Artemisia symbolizes a widow’s devotion to her husband’s memory. In Renaissance painting she is depicted holding a cup or goblet.

This painting appears to be influenced by the paintings of the Leidein fijnschilders.

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Pallas Athene Visiting Apollo on the Parnassus

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The Artist and His Model

Houbraken painted here an outrightly spicy picture of a model being ogled by the friend of an artist.

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