Pumpkins, grapes, peaches, plums, pomegranates, pears, figs, apples and turnips by a plinth

Hieronymus Galle or Hieronymus Galle I or the Elder [1] (1625 in Antwerp – 1679 in Antwerp) was a Flemish painter, who specialized in still lifes of fruit and flowers and hunting pieces. He collaborated with his fellow painters on garland paintings, i.e. paintings showing a garland of flowers or fruit around a devotional image or portrait.[2]

Life

Hieronymus Galle was the son of Elizabeth Claessens and Huibrecht Galle, Antwerp's envoy to the court in Brussels.[3]

A hare and songbirds on a stone ledge

He was a pupil of Abraham Hack, who also taught the prolific Jan van den Hecke. He joined the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1636 and became master in 1645-46.[4]

He travelled to Italy and was documented in Rome in 1661-1662. He shared lodgings in Rome with his compatriot Franciscus de Neve (II).[5] After his stay in Rome he signed his works with the Italianized form of his name, Girolimo.[6]

It is believed he had a career in Antwerp where the last record about Galle dates to 1679.[4] There are further indications that he worked in Brussels where he joined the local Guild of Saint Luke.[7][8]

Work

General

A swag of flowers

He was known mainly for his flower and fruit still lifes. He also painted hunting pieces and garland paintings. He is further known for vanitas paintings.[4] About 15 signed and dated paintings executed between 1643 and 1680 are known.[9]

Still lifes

He was initially a follower of the leading Antwerp flower painters Daniel Seghers and Jan Brueghel the Elder.[3][10] While Seghers generally bathed his flowers in full light, Galle more typically relied on an animated play of light and shade in his compositions. In his palette he showed a preference for salmon-pink tonalities.[9] In comparison to Seghers, Galle’s work is more modern and his floral compositions are more dense and more picturesque in their conception.[7]

Madonna in a flower garland

His still lifes further show he absorbed Roman still life traditions of the mid-17th century. During his stay in Rome he would have been exposed to this tradition, which itself was influenced by Flemish still life painters such as Abraham Brueghel.[9] The work of Italian artists such as Paolo Porpora and Michelangelo di Campidoglio may have been an influence on his work too.[10]

A vanitas painting by his hand is kept in the collection of the Museum of Western and Oriental Art, Kyiv.[8]

Garland paintings

He painted a number of paintings in the genre of garland paintings, a special type of still life developed in Antwerp by Jan Brueghel the Elder in collaboration with the Italian cardinal Federico Borromeo at the beginning of the 17th century.[11] The genre was initially connected to the visual imagery of the Counter-Reformation movement.[11] It was further inspired by the cult of veneration and devotion to Mary prevalent at the Habsburg court (then the rulers over the Southern Netherlands) and in Antwerp generally.[11][2] Garland paintings typically show a flower garland around a devotional image, portrait or other religious symbol (such as the host).[2] By the second half of the century secular themes such as portraits and mythological subjects also decorated the central part of the many paintings made in this fashion.[12] Garland paintings are typically a collaboration between a figure painter and a flower painter.

Galle is known to have collaborated with Cornelis Schut on a garland painting referred to as A trompe l'oeil relief of the Pietà in a stone carved tondo, surrounded by festoons of flowers and thistles (Sold at Christie's on 11 May 2005 in Amsterdam lot 29).[13]

Galle was likely an influence on the French still life painter Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer who resided in Antwerp for some time.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Name variations: Jeronimus (I) Galle, Girolimo Galle, Gieronimo Galle, Girolamo Galie, Girolamo Ghale
  2. 1 2 3 Susan Merriam, Seventeenth-Century Flemish Garland Paintings. Still Life, Vision and the Devotional Image, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2012
  3. 1 2 Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker: Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Volumes 13 and 14, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1992, pp. 108–109
  4. 1 2 3 Hieronymus Galle at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (in Dutch)
  5. ↑ Franciscus de Neve (II) at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (in Dutch)
  6. ↑ Hieronymus Galle, Pumpkins, grapes, peaches, plums, pomegranates, pears, figs, apples and turnips by a plinth at Sotheby’s
  7. 1 2 Hieronymus Galle, Flower garland with ornamental cartouche at Lempertz
  8. 1 2 Marie-Louise Hairs, Dominique Finet, The Flemish Flower Painters in the XVIIth Century, International Specialized Book Service Incorporated, 1985, p. 319
  9. 1 2 3 Hieronymus Galle, Roses, lilies, tulips and other flowers in an earthenware vase on a table-top at Bonhams
  10. 1 2 Hieronymous Galle I, Roses, peonies, poppies, carnations, guelder roses and other flowers in a sculpted terracotta vase on a stone ledge at Christie’s
  11. 1 2 3 David Freedberg, "The Origins and Rise of the Flemish Madonnas in Flower Garlands, Decoration and Devotion", Münchener Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, xxxii, 1981, pp. 115–150.
  12. ↑ John Rupert Martin, "A Portrait of Rubens by Daniel Seghers," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, vol. 17 (1958), pp. 2-20.
  13. ↑ Hieronymus Galle I and Cornelis Schut I, A trompe l'oeil relief of the Pietà in a stone carved tondo, surrounded by festoons of flowers and thistles at Christie's
  14. ↑ Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer, Biography and Works at Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.