Pieter Lastman

Abstract

An Amsterdam painter of historical, religious, and mythological subjects, Pieter Pietersz. Lastman (b. 1583–d. 1633) is now recognized as a brilliant initiator of clearly composed narratives that offer a psychologically complex interpretation of their themes. Within his Amsterdam milieu, he is the most gifted of a group of history painters, including François Venant (b. 1591/2–d. 1636), Jan Tengnagel (b. 1584–d. 1635), Willem van Nieulandt II (b. 1584–d. 1635), Jan Symonsz. Pynas (b. 1581–d. 1631), and Pieter Isaaczs.(b. 1569–d. 1625). A Catholic, Lastman never married. One brother, Claes Pietersz. (b. 1586–d. 1625), was a painter and printmaker; Lastman himself made twelve etchings of costume studies, and several of his compositions were published by others. Another brother, Seger Pietersz. Coninck (b. 1575–d. 1650) was a goldsmith. In 1611, he designed one of the fifteen stained-glass windows for the Zuiderkerk in Amsterdam, no longer extant but known in a preparatory drawing (Berlin, Kupferstichkabinet) and painted copy by Thomas de Keyser (1660; Paris, Lugt Collection). Three paintings were commissioned for Christian IV of Denmark as part of a larger series, and a Finding of Moses, now lost, belonged to the Stadholder Frederik Hendrik in 1632. A number of Amsterdam inventories from the mid-17th to early 18th centuries include paintings by Lastman, often in collections that also featured Rembrandt, Jan Lievens, and their circle. Lastman’s work was seminal in the paintings of his two famed pupils, Rembrandt and Lievens. Despite such success during his lifetime, his reputation ebbed during the decades following his death. Although few early works survive, they demonstrate a more naturalistic style than that of his mannerist teacher Gerrit Pietersz. Sweelink (b. 1566–d. c. 1612). While in Italy (1603 to 1607), Lastman traveled extensively, and studied ancient sculpture and Renaissance and current art, whose motifs appear in his own work. He must have produced many more drawings than have survived, which served him for individual figures and animals occasionally as interchangeable motifs in various paintings. His paintings demonstrate narrative clarity, archaeological exactitude, and textual erudition. In the present state of Dutch art history research, this inventive method has been discussed with respect to the rhetorical terms. Within this approach, Lastman was imaginative and theatrical.