BOONEN, Arnold - b. 1669 Dordrecht, d. 1729 Amsterdam - WGA

BOONEN, Arnold

(b. 1669 Dordrecht, d. 1729 Amsterdam)

Dutch painter. He began his training at the age of 13 with the painter Arold Verbuys (1673-1717) and in 1683 was apprenticed to the portrait and genre painter Godfried Schalcken (at that time working in Dordrecht), with whom he remained for six years. After working as an independent painter in Dordrecht, he travelled to Germany, where he had considerable success as a portrait painter in Frankfurt-am-Main, Mainz and Darmstadt. He settled in Amsterdam in 1696, shortly after his return to the Netherlands, and worked successfully as a portrait and genre painter. He succeeded Nicolas Maes as the leading painter of fashionable society and visiting dignitaries, including the Tsar Peter the Great of Russia.

A Boy Seated at a Table, Smoking

Boonen specialized in intimate small-scale subjects in the tradition of the Leiden fijnschilders, which had been established earlier in the seventeenth century by Dou. In the present finely painted interior scene a young man wearing a rich costume with slashed sleeves leans against the back of his chair and puffs on a long clay pipe. In his left hand he holds a glass of wine and a violin lies on the table which is covered with a fine oriental carpet. The look on the young man’s face might suggests a meditative interpretation, but the presence of the violin and the glass of wine might also imply an alternative reading as an Allegory of the Senses.

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A Young Man Seated at a Table

The painting reflects the influence of Boonen’s master, the portrait and genre painter Godfried Schalcken.

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Portrait of Anna Lucretia Ortt

This portrait represents Anna Lucretia Ortt (1687-1750). It has a pendant depicting Elisabeth Jacoba Bors van Waveren-Ortt (1692-1719) and her daughter Jacoba Henriëtta (van Loon-) Bors van Waveren (1717-1759).

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Portrait of Elisabeth Jacoba Bors van Waveren-Ortt and her Daughter

This double portrait depicts Elisabeth Jacoba Bors van Waveren-Ortt (1692-1719) and her daughter Jacoba Henriëtta (van Loon-) Bors van Waveren (1717-1759). The pendant of this painting depicts Anna Lucretia Ortt (1687-1750).

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Portrait of Susanna Catharina van der Spelt-Pels and her Daughter

This double portrait represents Susanna Catharina van der Spelt (nee Pels) and her young daughter Johanna Maria van der Spelt. The fashionably dressed sitters were the daughter and granddaughter of a wealthy Amsterdam trader of French wine and salt, Jean Lucas Pels. The house and landscape in the background are typical of Boonen’s elegant style that merges with the pastoral.

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