On Gerard de Lairesse’s “Frenchness,” His Liège Roots, and His Artistic Integration in Amsterdam
2020; Volume: 12; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.5092/jhna.2020.12.1.2
ISSN2473-1404
Autores Tópico(s)Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis
ResumoIn the second half of the nineteenth century a positive view of seventeenth-century Dutch art (realist, honest, the art of the common people) came to oppose a negative view of French art (idealized, academic, aristocratic) of the same period. 1Dutch painting of the later seventeenth century was therefore perceived as ruined by the French influence, and Gerard de Lairesse, who functioned within this framework as the epitome of "Frenchness, " became the scapegoat.Over the last decades the explicitly negative connotations of this "Frenchness" have diminished considerably, but the notion that his paintings and theories were "French" has remained with us ever since and is prominent in characterizations of Lairesse's oeuvre in surveys of Dutch art. 2 Lairesse was, for example, the "principal Dutch advocate of the classical doctrine that was spreading over Europe from the French Royal Academy, " wrote Rudi Fuchs in 2003 in his concise book on painting in the Netherlands, as he judged Lairesse's paintings "typical of the French influenced phase of Dutch painting." 3 Some authors have recently qualified this notion of Lairesse representing French art and art theory in Holland and have drawn attention to the Netherlandish context of his achievements as artist and author, 4 but only Melinda Vander Ploeg Fallon, in a valuable American dissertation, has tried to undermine the idea that Lairesse's art was "French." 5 The German art historian Ekkehard Mai, by contrast, has argued quite radically for Lairesse's orientation toward French classicism and art theory. 6 Most francophone art historians also lay claim to Lairesse as part of a specifically French sphere of influence. 7
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