WIT, Jacob de

This altarpiece was made for a private church just outside Amsterdam.

This oil sketch is a modello for a canvas ceiling painting that Jacob de Wit executed in 1738 for the Alderman’s Hall in the new wing of the Old Town Hall (Schepenzaal. Oud Stadhuis) in The Hague. The painting was removed (and later lost) in the nineteenth century, and the present picture is the only visual record of the lost canvas.

In this picture five putti are blowing bubbles in a landscape. Putti blowing bubbles are often a symbol of the transience of human life, according to the motto ‘homo bulla’ (man is a bubble). Below there are several objects, amongst them a crown and sceptre, which are signs of power, while the shepherd’s staff may represent peasant life. This implies Death makes no distinction between social classes, thus making kings and peasants equal. On the right we see a globe, an object commonly featured in vanitas still-life paintings.

This painting is a study for a ceiling decoration representing the Art of Painting and other Arts protected by various deities. No large-scale work of this design is known.

Jacob de Wit, a leading representative of Dutch ceiling painting was responsible for a seasonal cycle commissioned by Landgrave Wilhelm VIII for the great galleried hall at Schloss Wilhelmsh�he. This cycle is characteristic of De Wit’s works in grisaille, generally allegorical representations of putti, which were popular and internationally sought-after decorations. With their graduated greys, these works - sometimes called ‘witjes’, in a pun on the name Wit, meaning white - imitate stone bas-relief. The theoretical architectural function of the works is clearly expressed in their organisation as niches with a stele in each.

The divinity appropriate to each of the seasons is represented by a bust on a plinth, while a small crowd of putti make merry play with the god’s attributes. Autumn is represented by Bacchus.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 25 minutes):

Joseph Haydn: The Seasons, Part 3 Autumn, excerpts

Jacob de Wit, a leading representative of Dutch ceiling painting was responsible for a seasonal cycle commissioned by Landgrave Wilhelm VIII for the great galleried hall at Schloss Wilhelmsh�he. This cycle is characteristic of De Wit’s works in grisaille, generally allegorical representations of putti, which were popular and internationally sought-after decorations. With their graduated greys, these works - sometimes called ‘witjes’, in a pun on the name Wit, meaning white - imitate stone bas-relief. The theoretical architectural function of the works is clearly expressed in their organisation as niches with a stele in each.

The divinity appropriate to each of the seasons is represented by a bust on a plinth, while a small crowd of putti make merry play with the god’s attributes. Spring is represented by Flora, her beautiful, symmetrical face is set among graceful garlands of flowers.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 9 minutes):

Joseph Haydn: The Seasons, Part 1 Spring, excerpts

Jacob de Wit, a leading representative of Dutch ceiling painting was responsible for a seasonal cycle commissioned by Landgrave Wilhelm VIII for the great galleried hall at Schloss Wilhelmsh�he. This cycle is characteristic of De Wit’s works in grisaille, generally allegorical representations of putti, which were popular and internationally sought-after decorations. With their graduated greys, these works - sometimes called ‘witjes’, in a pun on the name Wit, meaning white - imitate stone bas-relief. The theoretical architectural function of the works is clearly expressed in their organisation as niches with a stele in each.

The divinity appropriate to each of the seasons is represented by a bust on a plinth, while a small crowd of putti make merry play with the god’s attributes. Summer is represented by Ceres, the thyrsus staff with its pine-cone, the wine-jar and the jug, are all traditional iconographical representations of the season.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 23 minutes):

Joseph Haydn: The Seasons, Part 2 Summer, excerpts

Jacob de Wit, a leading representative of Dutch ceiling painting was responsible for a seasonal cycle commissioned by Landgrave Wilhelm VIII for the great galleried hall at Schloss Wilhelmsh�he. This cycle is characteristic of De Wit’s works in grisaille, generally allegorical representations of putti, which were popular and internationally sought-after decorations. With their graduated greys, these works - sometimes called ‘witjes’, in a pun on the name Wit, meaning white - imitate stone bas-relief. The theoretical architectural function of the works is clearly expressed in their organisation as niches with a stele in each.

The divinity appropriate to each of the seasons is represented by a bust on a plinth, while a small crowd of putti make merry play with the god’s attributes. Winter is represented by Boreas, the North Wind.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 15 minutes):

Joseph Haydn: The Seasons, Part 4 Winter, excerpts

This is a study for the altarpiece executed by De Wit for the Amstelkring Church (attic church) in Amsterdam. This was the first altarpiece the artist painted for a Catholic church in Amsterdam following his apprenticeship in Antwerp.

This oil sketch is a modello for the ceiling canvas that the painter completed in 1744 for the grand canal house of Gerrit Hooft (1708-1780) in Amsterdam. Hooft was a wealthy merchant and eight-time burgomaster between 1766 and 1779. De Wit’s decoration of the ceiling in the main reception room consisted of seven canvases in wood moldings; the large Flora and Zephyr was surrounded by monochrome compositions painted in imitation of stucco relief.

This painting, made by a private church just outside Amsterdam, shows the Holy Family (horizontal) and the Trinity: God the Father, the Holy Spirit and Christ (vertical). Christ is the pivot at the centre of the two groups of three. This expresses the theological concept of Christ’s dual nature; the human and the divine.