LEERMANS, Pieter

(b. ~1655 ?, d. ~1706 Leiden)

Dutch painter. Presumably working in Leiden, Leermans has been identified as the creator of the group portrait of the regents of the Leiden St. Elizabeth’s hospital in 1667. His style is mostly in line with that of the Leiden fine painters.

He remains a rather obscure artist, of whom little biographical details are known. He was a painter of portraits, genre scenes, and religious themes. It is not known with certainty if Leermans was one of Gerrit Dou’s many pupils, but there is scholarly consensus that Leermans was active in the immediate circle of Dou or at least that he was highly influenced by this prominent master.

Portrait of a Lady

This panel, a so-called ‘portrait histori�’, depicts a lady as the Penitent Mary Magdalene, three-quarter-length, besides a willow tree, with an extensive landscape in the background with a castle beyond.

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Young Woman with Guitar

In this elegant genre scene, a young woman holding a guitar with her hand tries to play the instrument. The most striking element within the composition is the woman leaning out of the window. Her main role in this painting is to represent the five senses: touch, smell, taste, sight, and hearing. Hearing symbolized by the guitar, touch and sight by the butterfly, smell by the perfume of the plant, and taste by the oranges on top of the rock.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 2 minutes):

Francesco Canova da Milano: Fantasia sexta

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Young Woman with Guitar (detail)

While one of the woman’s hands is holding the base of the guitar, the other is reaching out to a colourful butterfly. The red, black, and blue butterfly is flying close to the small orange tree.

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