Information from the organizers
The versatile painter, poet, courtier and European traveller Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678), one of Rembrandt’s pupils, has received much scholarly attention in the last two decades. Whereas older historians allotted him a marginal role as a minor figure in his master’s studio, he is now recognized for his central position in the world of art and letters in the Dutch Golden Age. This new evaluation is mainly due to careful studies of his treatise on painting, Inleyding tot de Hooge Schoole der Schilderkonst (Introduction to the Academy of Painting, 1678). His book has been mined for unique insights not only into Rembrandt’s working methods but also into profounder problems relative to Dutch art and culture, such as pictorial realism, imitation and illusion, the rise of landscape and still life and the status of the ‘learned artist’. Whereas traditional Rembrandt scholarship seems to have hit upon the limits posed by the available documents on the artist, the work of pupils like Van Hoogstraten keeps offering new possibilities for research. Recently, Van Hoogstraten’s book was allotted a place in the canon of Key Texts for the Cultural History of the Low Countries.
This conference will be the first meeting of Van Hoogstraten specialists from various countries, who will bring their different approaches and scholarly traditions to bear on his art and writing.
Confirmed speakers:
- Dr. Jan Blanc (Université de Lausanne)
- Prof. Celeste Brusati (University of Michigan)
- Dr. Herman Colenbrander (independent scholar, Amsterdam)
- Dr. Hans-Jörg Czech (Wiesbaden Museum)
- Dr. Michiel Roscam Abbing (independent scholar, Amsterdam)
- Dr. Paul Taylor (The Warburg Institute, London)
- Dr. Thijs Weststeijn (University of Amsterdam)
More information and registration: thijs.weststeijn@uva.nl