In anticipation of the upcoming Gerard van Honthorst exhibition at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, new research has surfaced regarding a portrait in the collection of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento.
The latest edition of the Crocker’s bulletin, Art Letter, features a new interpretation by the exhibition’s curator Liesbeth Helmus regarding the sitter in the Allegory of Painting (1648). While nineteenth-century sources identified the sitter as the artist’s wife, Sophia Coopmans, Helmus argues that the sitter is actually another close relative of Van Honthorst. This discovery provides fresh insight into the domestic context of the artist’s later career.
The Crocker Art Museum has kindly made this short essay available to us.
CODARTfocus
As of today, CODART members are invited to register for a dedicated CODARTfocus study visit to the exhibition in Utrecht on 18 May. For further details and to access the registration form, please visit the event page.