Hieronymus Galle
Hieronymus Galle or Hieronymus Galle I or the Elder [1] (1625 in Antwerp – 1679 in Antwerp) was a Flemish painter, who specialized in still lifes of fruit and flowers and hunting pieces. He collaborated with his fellow painters on garland paintings, i.e. paintings showing a garland of flowers or fruit around a devotional image or portrait.[2]
Life
Hieronymus Galle was the son of Elizabeth Claessens and Huibrecht Galle, Antwerp's envoy to the court in Brussels.[3]
He was a pupil of Abraham Hack, who also taught the prolific Jan van den Hecke. He joined the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1636 and became master in 1645-46.[4]
He travelled to Italy and was documented in Rome in 1661-1662. He shared lodgings in Rome with his compatriot Franciscus de Neve (II).[5] After his stay in Rome he signed his works with the Italianized form of his name, Girolimo.[6]
It is believed he had a career in Antwerp where the last record about Galle dates to 1679.[4] There are further indications that he worked in Brussels where he joined the local Guild of Saint Luke.[7][8]
Work
General
He was known mainly for his flower and fruit still lifes. He also painted hunting pieces and garland paintings. He is further known for vanitas paintings.[4] About 15 signed and dated paintings executed between 1643 and 1680 are known.[9]
Still lifes
He was initially a follower of the leading Antwerp flower painters Daniel Seghers and Jan Brueghel the Elder.[3][10] While Seghers generally bathed his flowers in full light, Galle more typically relied on an animated play of light and shade in his compositions. In his palette he showed a preference for salmon-pink tonalities.[9] In comparison to Seghers, Galle’s work is more modern and his floral compositions are more dense and more picturesque in their conception.[7]
His still lifes further show he absorbed Roman still life traditions of the mid-17th century. During his stay in Rome he would have been exposed to this tradition, which itself was influenced by Flemish still life painters such as Abraham Brueghel.[9] The work of Italian artists such as Paolo Porpora and Michelangelo di Campidoglio may have been an influence on his work too.[10]
A vanitas painting by his hand is kept in the collection of the Museum of Western and Oriental Art, Kyiv.[8]
Garland paintings
He painted a number of paintings in the genre of garland paintings, a special type of still life developed in Antwerp by Jan Brueghel the Elder in collaboration with the Italian cardinal Federico Borromeo at the beginning of the 17th century.[11] The genre was initially connected to the visual imagery of the Counter-Reformation movement.[11] It was further inspired by the cult of veneration and devotion to Mary prevalent at the Habsburg court (then the rulers over the Southern Netherlands) and in Antwerp generally.[11][2] Garland paintings typically show a flower garland around a devotional image, portrait or other religious symbol (such as the host).[2] By the second half of the century secular themes such as portraits and mythological subjects also decorated the central part of the many paintings made in this fashion.[12] Garland paintings are typically a collaboration between a figure painter and a flower painter.
Galle is known to have collaborated with Cornelis Schut on a garland painting referred to as A trompe l'oeil relief of the Pietà in a stone carved tondo, surrounded by festoons of flowers and thistles (Sold at Christie's on 11 May 2005 in Amsterdam lot 29).[13]
Galle was likely an influence on the French still life painter Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer who resided in Antwerp for some time.[14]
References
- ^ Name variations: Jeronimus (I) Galle, Girolimo Galle, Gieronimo Galle, Girolamo Galie, Girolamo Ghale
- ^ a b c Susan Merriam, Seventeenth-Century Flemish Garland Paintings. Still Life, Vision and the Devotional Image, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2012
- ^ a b Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker: Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Volumes 13 and 14, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1992, pp. 108–109
- ^ a b c Hieronymus Galle at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (in Dutch)
- ^ Franciscus de Neve (II) at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (in Dutch)
- ^ Hieronymus Galle, Pumpkins, grapes, peaches, plums, pomegranates, pears, figs, apples and turnips by a plinth at Sotheby’s
- ^ a b Hieronymus Galle, Flower garland with ornamental cartouche at Lempertz
- ^ a b Marie-Louise Hairs, Dominique Finet, The Flemish Flower Painters in the XVIIth Century, International Specialized Book Service Incorporated, 1985, p. 319
- ^ a b c Hieronymus Galle, Roses, lilies, tulips and other flowers in an earthenware vase on a table-top at Bonhams
- ^ a b Hieronymous Galle I, Roses, peonies, poppies, carnations, guelder roses and other flowers in a sculpted terracotta vase on a stone ledge at Christie’s
- ^ a b c David Freedberg, "The Origins and Rise of the Flemish Madonnas in Flower Garlands, Decoration and Devotion", Münchener Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, xxxii, 1981, pp. 115–150.
- ^ John Rupert Martin, "A Portrait of Rubens by Daniel Seghers," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, vol. 17 (1958), pp. 2-20.
- ^ Hieronymus Galle I and Cornelis Schut I, A trompe l'oeil relief of the Pietà in a stone carved tondo, surrounded by festoons of flowers and thistles at Christie's
- ^ Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer, Biography and Works at Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
External links
Media related to Hieronymus Galle at Wikimedia Commons
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