In 2009, Bernd Ebert published an important study (790 pages) on the artist brothers Simon and Isaack Luttichuys. Interesting in the context of the Keizerskapel in Antwerp is the fact that Bernard Luttichuys (ca. 1573 – before 1646), their father, was a ‘Droogscheerder’ (cloth shearer) who moved from Amsterdam to England in 1604. The Keizerskapel, where the Lady with the Fan is currently on display, was commissioned by the Droogscheerder Guild in 1512. Another interesting connection is that Franchois Hals (ca. 1550 – 1610), father of Frans Hals (1582/1583 – 1666), was also a cloth shearer in the Keizerskapel in Antwerp before the Hals family moved to Haarlem!
Isaack Luttichuys (1616 – 1673), Lady with a Fan, ca. 1660
Private collection
Born in London, Isaack Luttichuys (1616 – 1673) moved to Amsterdam in the 1630s. In 1643 he married Elisabeth Wenck (ca. 1617 – 1645) and in 1646 he remarried Sara Grebert (1616 – 1657). He began his career as a still life painter in the studio of his older brother Simon Luttichuys (1610 – 1661), but soon turned to portraiture, developing a style influenced by Van Dyck. After 1638, when Isaack settled in Amsterdam, his work was influenced by the portraits of Bartholomeus van der Helst. Most of his portraits were done between 1650 and 1670, the same period in which Rembrandt was active in Amsterdam. The present Lady with a Fan (canvas, 117 x 90 cm) dates from around 1660. In several paintings of this period, Luttichuys’ models are depicted next to a classical column draped with a curtain. Some details of the dress are rendered in an almost Rembrandtesque manner, with the paint applied thickly to the canvas (impasto). The dress itself is a stunning example of seventeenth-century women’s dress patterns.
The artist passed away in 1673 and was buried in the Westerkerk in Amsterdam.