BIJLERT, Jan van

The subject depicted is almost certainly an allegory of smell. The dog, an animal known for its acute sense of smell, leaps into the lap of the nude towards the rose which strains on its stem as it blooms, suggestive of a heady perfume. The painting likely formed part of a series of the Five Senses.

It has been suggested that this panel may be the pendant to Bijlert’s signed Girl with a Cat, now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. The sitter in the Baltimore picture is depicted in a similar format and faces left, mirroring the present figure.

The panel is signed upper right corner: J Bijlert. fe:

A child teasing a cat is a frequent subject in Dutch art; it refers to the idea that (sexual) teasing can lead to a painful scratching. That this mischievous girl is partially disrobed makes the consequences more obvious and erotic-since her bared skin teases the viewer as well. Her voluptuousness and apparent cheerfulness suggest a brothel, not the everyday life of children.

Van Bijlert, a leading master in Utrecht, owes his sensual treatment of the human body to the influence of his teacher Abraham Bloemaert and the paintings by the great Italian master Caravaggio that he saw while in Rome (1621-²⁴⁄₂₅), such as the latter’s melancholic, starkly sensual The Musicians,” from which he apparently adapted the shoulder and arm of the boy at the right.

Bijlert was one of the Utrecht Caravaggisti who painted small, cabinet scale pictures on wooden support for Dutch clientele. In this conversation piece he created a harmonious ensemble of the musicians.

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Biagio Marini: Sonata in echo

The subject was popular in 17th-century Dutch painting.

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Biagio Marini: Sonata in echo

When Jan van Bijlert and other Utrecht artists, such as Gerard van Honthorst, Hendrick Terbrugghen and Dirck van Baburen traveled to Rome in the early 1600s, they brought back a style that significantly transformed the art of their native town. These artists, known collectively as the Utrecht Caravaggisti, were greatly influenced by Caravaggio’s use of chiaroscuro which dominated Italian painting in the early seventeenth century and had an extensive impact throughout Europe.

In 1624, van Bijlert brought his Caravaggesque manner back to his native city of Utrecht. By the 1630s, however, he adopted a more classicising style, strongly influenced by his Dutch contemporary, Gerard van Honthorst, as well as Simon Vouet. The present portrait belongs to this later period of the artist’s career. Although highly speculative, it might be a portrayal of the Dutch poet and physician, Jacob Westerbaen (1599-1670).

Like many other Utrecht artists of his time, Jan van Bijlert incorporated Caravaggesque features in many of his genre-, historical- and pastoral scenes. In this he was mostly influenced by Gerrit van Honthorst, who, together with Hendrick Terbrugghen and Dirck van Baburen, introduced Caravaggism to Utrecht around 1620.

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Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonata in A Major for flute and cembalo obligato, BWV 1032

The artist was a prolific painter of pastoral scenes, all representing shepherds and shepherdesses as single half-length figures or in narrative representations. The present painting shows a shepherdess, half-length, wearing a large blue hat decorated with an iris and holding a staff. It is a characteristic example of what is described as Utrecht Caravaggism.

The painting has a pendant representing a shepherd with a flute (private collection).

Dutch painter, who studied with Abraham Bloemaert then left for Italy in 1621. He returned to Utrecht, his native city, from Italy by 1624. He arrived as a confirmed Caravaggist relying heavily on the Italian master’s strong chiaroscuro effects, but by the early thirties, like most Utrecht painters, he adopted a classical manner and a lighter palette.

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Claudio Monteverdi: Charming Angioletta, madrigal

The present painting depicts an episode from the Odyssey (Bk 10). On their journey home after the Trojan War, Ulysses and his companions came upon the island of the sorceress, Circe. With a magic potion, she transformed the men into swine; however Ulysses, having been forewarned by Mercury and having taken an antidote, was able to resist her magic. The present painting depicts the moment when Circe lifts her wand to touch Ulysses and activate the spell.

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Claudio Monteverdi: Il ritorno d’Ulisse, Act I, Duet of Odysseus and Pallas Athene

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Francesco Gasparini: The Meddlesome Cupid, aria

The refined manner of painting, the pale flesh tones and the powerful colour contrasts make the work a paradigm of classicist painting. It is therefore not surprising that it was attributed to the French artist Simon Vouet from the early 1700s until well into the 20th century. Van Bijlert had lived in Rome from 1621 to 1624, and would certainly have met the celebrated Simon Vouet there. The composition and colours of Van Bijlert’s Virgin and Child seem to be strongly influenced by Vouet.

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Franz Schubert: Ave Maria (Hail, Mary), Franz Liszt’s transcription

This painting, treating a subject very popular in Dutch seventeenth-century genre painting, had a companion piece (now lost) depicting a soldier with a feathered hat.

The painting is signed upper right.

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Otto Nicolai: Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor), drinking song

Bijlert was connected with the Utrecht circle of Caravaggists, who included Honthorst and Terbrugghen, and like them spent time in Rome around 1621. The present painting has been dated to roughly that period, although it is not a documented work and must therefore be considered as attributed to Bijlert.

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Francesco da Milano: Tre fantasie for lute

This painting likely portrays a courtesan. She is seen in a state of deshabill�, with her hair decorated in fine jewels and feathers, her face heavily made-up, and plays with a cat, an animal that in both art and literature of the time had erotic connotations. The cat here takes the place of the more-commonly used lute, amongst the Utrecht Caravaggisti, to signify lust.