Cornelis Van Poelenburgh

Biography

After studying with Abraham Bloemaert, Cornelis van Poelenburgh worked in Rome from 1616 to 1623, in the style of Raphael and, above all, of the ancient masters. He then worked in Florence on behalf of the Grand Duke, before finally returning to Utrecht in about 1626-1627. He met Rubens, and in 1627 worked on a painting commissioned from him by the States of Utrecht for Princess Amalia van Solm, for the sum of 575 florins. In 1637 he went to London and painted several figures for canvases produced by a number of artists, in particular by Steenwyck. He was director of the Utrecht Guild in 1649, 1656, 1657, 1658 and 1664, and dean of the same guild in 1664.His work was shown at the exhibition entitled Drawn to Warmth. 17th-century Dutch Draughtsmen in Italy ( Tekenen van warmte: 17de-eeuwse Nederslandse tekenaars in Italië) held at the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam in 2001.

Many of his paintings were later copied by his pupils, and he himself retouched these copies. He liked depicting religious scenes set in a Roman landscape. His favourite subjects also included nymphs and Diana being surprised by satyrs. These nudes were harmonised with landscapes of forests and ruins. His pupils included G. van Bronckhorst, J. Goz van Bronckhorst, Abr. van Cuylenborch, Jan van Haensbergen, Diderick van der Lesse, Corn.Palmer Warnard van Rysen, Willem van Steenra, Daniel Vertangen, Francis Verwilt and Cornelis Willaerts.
Museum and Gallery Holdings

Aix: Bathers; Diana Discovering the Pregnancy of Callisto; The Shepherds’ Adoration; Christ on the Cross; The Holy Family
Amiens: Andromeda; Ruins with Shepherds; Lanscape with Shepherds
Amsterdam: Bathers; Bathers; Adam and Eve Driven from Paradise; The Spied On Nymphs
Angers: Bathers; Study of a Man and a Woman
Antwerp: Landscape
Augsburg: Ecce Homo
Bamberg: The Children of Prince Palatine Frederick V
Basel: Psyche led to Olympus by Mercury
Bergamo (Accademia Carrara): St Jerome Worshipping
Berlin: Amaryllis gives the Prize to Myrtille; Landscape
Bordeaux: Landscape; Still-life
Bremen: Arcadian Landscape (with Kerrinck)
Brunswick: Landscape with Nymphs and Satyrs
Budapest: The Children of the Count Palatine, King of Bohemia
Copenhagen: Meeting of the Gods
Douai: Annunciation
Dresden: Landscape with the Holy Family; A Rest during the Flight from Egypt; Landscape with Eight Bathers; Laundresses amid the Ruins; Parnassus; The Assumption; Tobit and the Angel; Landscape with Six Bathers; Nymphs Bathing in a River; Landscape with Four Naked Men; Landscape with Four Naked Women; The Adoration of Kings
Edinburgh: Venus and Adonis
Florence (Palazzo Pitti): Roman Ruins
Florence (Uffizi): several landscapes with figures, caves, ruins, animals, etc; Moses Making Water Spring Out of a Rock; Moses Saves the Waters (two); The Adoration of the Shepherds; Landscape with a Satyr and Four Women
Fontainebleau: The Annunciation to the Shepherds
Frankfurt am Main: Diana and her Nymphs Bathing
Geneva (MAH): Tobit and the Angel; The Flight to Egypt
Geneva (Mus. Ariana): Nymphs
Graz: Landscape with Bacchantes and Fauns
Grenoble: Diana and her Nymphs
Helsinki: Nymphs Bathing; Bathers
Karlsruhe: Abraham and Isaac; Christ on the Road to Emmaus
Kassel: Triumph of Love; Glorification of the Madonna’s Image; Venus, Bacchus, Ceres and Cupids; Mercury Falls in Love with Herse; The Adoration of the Shepherds; Rocky Landscape with Water and Livestock (animals by Nic Berghem); The Adoration of the Magi; The Gods on Olympus
Langres: The Taking of Europe (miniature)
Le Mans: St John in the Desert
Le Puy-en-Velay: Sleeping Amazon
Leipzig: mythological scene
Lille: mythological subject
London (Dulwich Picture Gal.): Valley with Ruins and Figures (c. 1627, oil on canvas)
London (NG): Landscape with Classical Ruins and Women Bathers (c. 1630, oil on canvas)
Lyons: Bathers
Madrid (Prado): Diana and her Nymphs Bathing; The Ruins of Diocletian’s Thermae
Metz: The Samaritan
Milan (Pinacoteca di Brera): Women Bathing
Montpellier: Ruins of the Thermae at Caracalla; Landscape; Sleeping Nymph
Moscow (Rumiantsev Mus.): Landscape with Figures
Moulins: Bathers
Munich: The Flight to Egypt; The Adoration of the Shepherds; Italian Landscape with Cave and Houses; Landscape with Ruins and Hills; Diana Reveals Callisto’s Mistake
Nancy: Bathing in the Country; Diana Surprised by Actaeon
Nantes: Roman Ruins with the Arc of Titus
New York: Fauns and Nymphs Bathing
Oberschleissheim: Angels on a Cloud
Orléans: Lot and his Daughters
Paris (Louvre): Sarah Urges Abraham to Take the Slave Hagar as his Wife; Pasture; Bathers; Women Coming Out of their Bath; Ruins of the Emperors’ Palace and of the Temple of Minerva in Rome; Nymphs and Satyrs
Rome (Mus. e Gal. Borghese): The Riches of the Sea
Rouen: Roman Landscape
Schwerin: The Holy Family; Bacchus; Half-naked Woman; Europa and the Bull; Landscape
St Petersburg (Hermitage): Adam and Eve Driven from Paradise; The Annunciation to the Shepherds; Resting in Egypt; The Holy Family; Christ at Gethsemane; Christ on the Cross; Diana and Callisto; Portrait of a Man; Two Sites in the Roman Countryside; St Jerome’s Provisions
Stockholm: Bathers; Rocky Landscape with Figures
Utrecht: The Annunciation to the Shepherds
Venice: Nymphs and Satyrs Dancing Next to a Stream; Landscape with Waterfall
Vienna: The Annunciation; Bathers
Vienna (Czernin’sche Gemäldegal.): Fuite de Cléhé
Vienna (Liechtenstein Mus.): four paintings
Vienna (Schönborn-Buckheim): Nude