VOORHOUT, Johannes

Dutch painter. He was the son of the Amsterdam clock maker Cornelis Voorhout who apprenticed him to the history painter Constantijn Verhout in Gouda. After 6 years, he moved back to Amsterdam in 1664 to work in the workshop of Jan van Noordt, a history and portrait painter. He married in 1670. In 1672, worried about a pending invasion by the French, he fled the country and settled in Friedrichstadt, where his wife had some friends, and he was received by Jürgen Ovens. Following Ovens’s advice, he went to Hamburg where he became successful.

For Dirck Clant of Groningen, the lord of the Castle Hanckema, Voorhout painted a large portrait of the Stadthouder William III on horseback for him, that was later placed in his castle near Groningen as an over-the-mantel piece. This portrait is now in the Groninger Museum, Groningen and was later used in the 1930s as a model for the Dutch 500 guilder note.

He returned to Amsterdam in 1677. and set up his own workshop there. His son Johannes II (born 1677) was his pupil.

Domestic Music Scene

This picture contains the only existing image of Friedrich Buxtehude (1637-1707), a Danish-German organist and composer, one of the most important composers in Germany of the mid-Baroque. His organ works represent a central part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and in church services. His style strongly influenced many composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach.

The picture shows Buxtehude playing a viol, while his friend Johann Adam Reinken (1623-1722) is at the harpsichord. Johannes Voorhout may be the man in the feather hat.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 5 minutes):

Dietrich Buxtehude: Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne, BuxWV 137

Domestic Music Scene

The Repudiation of Hagar