Jacob Jordaens (Jacques Jordaens), Antwerpen 1593 - 1678
Allegorie der Fruchtbarkeit / Allegory of Fertility (ca. 1623-1625)
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
This is without doubt one of Jacob Jordaens’ most magnificent compositions. In this work, painted around 1623, a good eight years after Jordaens had become a free master, the painter is at peak of his career. Nothing remains of the clumsiness of his youthful work. Whether the eye stays on the anatomy or the expressions of the figures, on their rhythmic ordering or their gestures, or enjoys the creamy, confident paint strokes or the alternation between the golden light and the transparent shadows, or is tempted by the rich colours of the opulent fruits: everywhere it senses the same impressive harmony.
The life-size figures, allowing only a glimpse of the landscape to show through, unfold like a sculpted frieze on both sides of a female nude, seen from behind, standing slightly off-centre and so introducing a certain dynamism into the composition. Her nakedness catches the full light and draws the viewer’s attention. A golden glow strokes her skin, in which nothing reminds us of the cold stone from which her sculptural monumentality initially seems to originate. Rather, as a nymph she belongs, together with her female companions and the satyrs surrounding her, to the category of beings between humans, gods and animals which in antiquity embodied the untameable powers of nature.
The grapes that they are all gathering possibly symbolise the rich fertility of nature. The cornucopia on the far right is a reference to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which tells how it came into being when the horn of Achelous, metamorphosed into a bull, broke off in his fight with Hercules. The water nymphs or naiads afterwards filled it with fruit.
Source: Google Art Project
Tags: Jacob Jordaens Allegorie der Fruchtbarkeit Allegory of Fertility Brüssel Brussels Bruxelles Brussel Belgien Belgium Belgique België Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts Royal Museums of Fine Arts Königliche Museen der schönen Künste Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten
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Jacob Jordaens (Jacques Jordaens), Antwerpen 1593 - 1678
Anbetung der Hirten / Adoration of the Shepherds (1617)
Mauritshuis, Den Haag / The Hague
Mary is holding the sleeping Jesus in her arms, showing him to the shepherds. The painter has zoomed in, giving us the feeling that we are in the front row, in the best spot to see the child. And the reflections in the shiny brass jug. The painting has elements of the style of Caravaggio, who was known for his strong lighting effects and raw naturalism. However, the Flemish artist Jordaens never went to Italy. He was introduced to Caravaggism through other painters, such as Rubens.
Source: Mauritshuis
Tags: Jacob Jordaens Anbetung der Hirten Adoration of the Shepherds Mauritshuis Den Haag The Hague
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Jacob Jordaens (Jacques Jordaens), Antwerpen 1593 - 1678
Anbetung der Hirten / The Holy Family with Shepherds aka Adoration of the Shepherds(1610)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The date of 1616 on the tall shepherd’s hat is the earliest known on any work by Jordaens. He never went to Italy but intensified the Caravaggesque qualities found in works by Rubens and other Antwerp artists such as Abraham Janssens. His handling of light and shadow and closely clustered figure groups convey a sense of intimacy that is distinctive of the young Jordaens.
Source: MET
Tags: Jacob Jordaens Anbetung der Hirten Adoration of the Shepherds The Holy Family with Shepherds Metropolitan Museum of Arts New York
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Jacob Jordaens (Jacques Jordaens), Antwerpen 1593 - 1678
Anbetung der Könige / Adoration of the Magi
Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel
Das Gemälde entstand als Entwurf zu dem 1644 geschaffenen und im 1. Weltkrieg zerstörten Hochaltarbild der St. Nikolauskirche in Dixmuide und war Vorbild für die Komposition ist Rubens´ Altarbild von 1624 für St. Michael in Antwerpen, heute im Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten.
Jacob Jordaens war neben Peter Paul Rubens und Anthonis van Dyck einer der drei wichtigsten flämischen Barockmaler, welche die Antwerpener Schule im 17. Jahrhundert prägten. Im Gegensatz zu Rubens und van Dyck war Jordaens nie ins Ausland gereist, war auch nicht als Hofmaler etabliert und erst nach Rubens' Tod erhielt er Aufträge von einigen Höfen. Obwohl er nie in Italien war, zeigen seine Werke Einflüsse Caravaggios. Das Hell-Dunkel der Lichtführung und ein drastischer Realismus stellen ihn geistig in die Gefolgschaft des Italieners.
Tags: Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel Jacob Jordaens Anbetung der Könige Adoration of the Magi Hessen Hesse Deutschland Germany Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Kassel Old Masters Gallery Kassel
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Jacob Jordaens (Jacques Jordaens), Antwerpen 1593 - 1678
Bildnis der Catherina Behaghel / Portrait of Catherina Behaghel (1635)
Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam
Jordaens portrayed Catharina Behaghel seated before a sumptuous background, which recurs in his portrait of Catharina’s husband, Rogier Le Witer. Like him, she is shown frontally, which was exceptional in 17th-century portraiture. Her clothes, pearls and medallion attest to her wealth.
Source: Rijksmuseum
Tags: Jacob Jordaens Bildnis der Catherina Behaghel Portrait of Catherina Behaghel Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Niederlande The Netherlands Nederland
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