Jan van Huysum
Jan van Huysum (Jan van Huysum) (1682 -1749) - Dutch artist.
His father Justus van Huysum Sr., like his three brothers Justus Jr., Jacob and Michael, were artists. Jan very quickly became the leading Dutch still life artist. Among his patrons were Prince William of Hesse, Duke of Orleans, Kings of Poland and Prussia, Elector of Saxony, Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford.
He hid his methods of work from other artists. The only student, and not for long, was Margareta Haverman. Unlike other still life masters, Jan made preliminary drawings, painted pictures very carefully, sometimes over the years, in the summer he went to Haarlem, the center of the Dutch gardening of those years, to observe the flowers.
Jan's brush belongs to several landscapes, but he focused on still lifes. Jan van Huysum's floral still lifes can be divided into two groups: some of them, the early ones, were painted on a dark background, others on a light one, which requires a higher skill of the artist for light modeling. Jan van Huysum's luxurious bouquets, created at the end of the "golden age" of Dutch painting, were intended to decorate ceremonial rooms in rich houses. Subtle colorful nuances, enamel luster of texture and decorative distribution of colorful spots of these paintings create a light joyful mood.
