Johannes Anthonie Balthazar Stroebel (1821-1905). Oudhollands leven en Hollands licht

Abstract

The Dutch painter Johannes Anthonie Balthazar Stroebel (1821-1905) was born and raised in the Hague. He received his training at the local Teekenacademie (School of the Arts) and in the studios of Bartholomeus van Hove and his son Huib, both painters of historical architecture. Stroebel followed in their footsteps, while concentrating on spaces indoors enlivened by all manner of figures in seventeenth century dress, thus presenting a wide variety of scenes from everyday life in the past. All through the nineteenth century this type of historical scene enjoyed popularity in most European countries, with many artists successfully specializing in such topics. In the Netherlands however a different situation developed, although historical genre scenes were produced in considerable numbers. Countless Dutch painters tried their hand at such scenes once or twice, thereby adding to its overall quantity, but only to abandon history painting for ever. Merely a handful of artists held on to this subject matter throughout their careers. Stroebel was one of those few. His choice may have originated in individual interests, but will certainly have been influenced by the growing popularity of his personal brand - his rendering of natural sunlight in historical interiors. In spite of criticism of his technical qualities he was a respected artist and successful in exhibiting and selling his work. The results of earlier research into the reception of historical genre scenes in European countries other than the Netherlands suggest that the appreciation for Stroebel's work is likely to have been inspired by a lively cultural historical interest on the part of his admirers. A closer scrutiny of that appreciation however has shown that it was not so much the artist's presentation of life in the Netherland's Golden Age as his particular use of sunlight, often described as Rembrandtesque and almost invariably as charming, even delightful, that caught the attention and fuelled the enthusiasm of his Dutch contemporaries.