Jan van Bijlert

Jan Hermansz van Bijlert (1597 or 1598 – November 1671) was a Dutch Golden Age painter from Utrecht, one of the Utrecht Caravaggisti whose style was influenced by Caravaggio. He spent some four years in Italy and was one of the founders of the Bentvueghels circle of northern painters in Rome. In his later life he painted classicistically. He mainly painted genre scenes and portraits.

Biography
Jan van Bijlert was the son of the glass painter Herman Beernts van Bijlert and Elisabeth Willemsdr. van Laeckervelt. He may have been the first to learn from him. The painter and painter’s biographer Joachim von Sandrart, who knew Van Bijlert personally, wrote that Van Bijlert was a student of the Utrecht painter Abraham Bloemaert. Art historian Jo de Meyere believes that he may have been taught by Bloemaert only after Van Bijlert’s father died in 1616. Art historian P. Huys Janssen, on the other hand, is of the opinion that he was probably taught by Bloemaert around 1612/1613.

Van Bijlert stayed and worked in Paris for two years and in Aix-en-Provence for half a year. In 1621 he lived on Via Margutta in Rome, where according to Hoogewerff he was one of the founders of the Bentvueghels in the spring of 1623 and where he was nicknamed Aeneas. In Rome he was also known as Giovanni Bilardo.

By 1625, he had returned to Utrecht, where he married and joined the schutterij. In 1630, he became a member of the Utrecht Guild of St. Luke and the Reformed church. During the years 1632-1637 he was active as deacon of the guild, and in 1634 he was appointed regent of the Sint-Jobsgasthuis. In 1639, he helped form a painter’s school, the “Schilders-College”, where he served as regent. He died in Utrecht.

In 1630 he became a member of the Utrecht Guild of Saint Luke. He was dean of this from 1632 to 1634. Abraham Willaerts, Ludolf de Jongh and Bertram de Fouchier were among his students. On 24 November 1634 he became regent of the Sint-Jobsgasthuis and in 1642-1643 he was caretaker there. In 1644 he rented a building from the painter Jan de Bont in what later became ‘t Hoogt. In 1657 he bought a house in the Loeff Berchmakerstraat. The following year he sold it again. His last home address was on the Oudegracht.

According to Van Sandrart, Van Bijlert lived “very happily in wealth and cheerfulness”. On February 12, 1669, he received permission from the Utrecht city council to trade in “rosch Arsenicum ofte Rottecruyt”. He survived his first wife and married several more times. His last marriage was to Cecilia van Gelove. Van Bijlert rarely dated his work. Art expert Bob Haak called him “a good craftsman”, who, however, did not show many new insights. He was buried on November 13, 1671 in the Nicolaïkerk in Utrecht.

Work
Jan van Bijlert was a very prolific painter who left some 200 pictures. Upon his return from Rome he, like other Utrecht artists who had come under the influence of Caravaggio’s work, painted in a style derived from that of Caravaggio. These Utrecht artists are referred to as the Utrecht Caravaggisti. The Caravaggesque style of van Bijlert’s early paintings shows itself in the use of strong chiaroscuro, the cutting off of the picture plane to create a close-up image and the realism of the representation. Van Bijlert continued to paint in this style throughout the 1620s.

Around 1630, van Bijlert turned to a more classicising style, possibly under the influence of Cornelis van Poelenburgh. His colours became lighter and his subject matter became more elevated such as religious scenes. In the 1630s he also painted compositions with small figures, usually representing genre scenes of brothels or musical gatherings. These works were similar to those of the Utrecht painter Jacob Duck.

Van Bijlert also painted the portraits of eminent citizens of Utrecht such as burgomasters and nobles.

His pupils included Bartram de Fouchier, Ludolf Leendertsz de Jongh, Johannes de Veer, Mattheus Wijtmans and Abraham Willaerts.