Volume 46, Number 3 · February 18, 1999
More Light on Delft
By John Updike
Pieter de Hooch, 1629-1684 1998-February 27, 1999.
an exhibition at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, December 17,, Catalog of the exhibition by Peter C. Sutton
Yale University Press, 183 pp., $45.00
Pieter de Hooch, though often cited as a painter of domestic Dutch scenes, was never the exclusive subject of a show until one this fall, which enjoyed record-breaking attendance in its ten weeks at London's Dulwich Picture Gallery before coming, with the winter, to the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. His reputation has long been associated with that of his contemporary Vermeer. When in 1765 a painting of his was offered for sale in Amsterdam, it was described as 'zoo goet als de Delfze van der Meer'—'as good as Vermeer of Delft'—and the nineteenth-century French critic Théophile Thoré, in reviving Vermeer's reputation, attributed to him five paintings by de Hooch. It is true that both painters portray intimate domestic interiors of a modest scale and quiet mood, but de Hooch suffers cruelly from the comparison. His brushwork is scratchy, his colors brownish and murky, and his compositions haphazard when viewed with Vermeer's pellucid and exquisitely rigorous canvases in mind. Compared with Ver-meer, de Hooch does not draw well, let alone paint with the younger man's serene rapture of weightless touch and opalescent color.
Review, 2482 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |