View source for Christoffel Jacobsz van der Laemen

{{Short description|Flemish painter}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Christoffel Jacobsz van der Laemen
| image         = Peeter clouwet-Retrato de Christoffel van der Lamen.jpg
|image_size= 190px
| caption       = ''Portrait of Christoffel Jacobsz van der Laemen'' after a design by [[Anthony van Dyck]]
| birth_date   = 1607
| birth_place  = [[Antwerp]], [[Habsburg Netherlands]]
| death_date    = circa 1651
| death_place  = [[Antwerp]]
| field         = [[Painting]]
| works         =
| signature     =
}}
'''Christoffel Jacobsz van der Laemen''' or '''Christoffel van der Laemen'''<ref>Name variations: Christoffel Jacobsz van der Lamen, Christoffel Jacobsz. van der Laenen</ref> (1607/1620 &ndash; c. 1651) was a Flemish painter who specialized in merry company scenes with elegant figures.<ref name=rkd>[https://rkd.nl/explore/artists/47330 Christoffel Jacobsz. van der Laemen] at the [[Netherlands Institute for Art History]]</ref>
His favorite themes were card and backgammon players, brothel scenes, the prodigal son, dancing, music making and scenes of food and drink set in elegant rooms, inns and gardens.
==Life==
Christoffel Jacobsz van der Laemen was the son of [[Jacob van der Laemen]] and Anna Dirkx (or possibly Anna Lemmens).<ref name=rkd/><ref name=bran>Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, pp. 1009–1010 {{in lang|nl}}</ref> His place of birth is not known with certainty and Brussels and Antwerp have been proposed as his place of birth.<ref name=rkd/>
[[File:Christoffel Jacobsz. van der Laemen - The Prodigal Son.jpg|thumb|left|290px|''The Prodigal Son'']]
Brussels has been proposed as a possible birthplace because his father who was a painter and art dealer from Antwerp worked in Brussels between1613 and 1620.  It is, on the other hand, possible that he was born in Antwerp but that the record of his baptism is lost since the records of the Saint Andrew Church of Antwerp for the period in which he was likely born (some time between 21 August 1606 and 29 March 1607) no longer exist.<ref name=lig>[https://books.google.com/books?id=_O5fAAAAcAAJ Ph. Rombouts and Th. van Lerius (ed.), ‘’De liggeren en andere historische archieven der Antwerpsche sint Lucasgilde’’] Volume 2, Antwerp, 1864, pp. 79, 86, 87, 230, on [[Google books]] {{in lang|nl}}</ref>  His birth date is broadly placed between c. 1606 and c. 1615.<ref name=rkd/><ref name=bran/>  He trained with his father.<ref name=bran/>
[[File:Christoffel Jacobsz. van der Laemen - Interior with figures playing cards.jpg|thumb|285px|''Interior with figures playing cards'']]
He was registered as a wine-master (i.e. son of a master) at the Antwerp [[Guild of St. Luke]] in the guild year in 1636/37.  The next year he already received [[Hieronymus Janssens]] as his pupil<ref name=lig/>
When he married Maria Michielsen in 1642, the painters Paul Rijckaert and Adriaen Michielsen were witnesses.  The van der Laemen couple had six children. The artist must have died between 22 September 1651 and 17 September 1652 as he was recorded present at his daughter's baptism on the first date and his death duties to the Guild were paid before the latter date.<ref name=rkd/>
==Work==
Christoffel van der Laemen is known for his merry company scenes depicting elegant figures.  The compositions reprise many of the themes common in Northern genre painting of the 17th century such as card and backgammon players, brothel scenes, the [[Parable of the Prodigal Son|prodigal son]], dancing, music making and scenes of food and drink set in elegant rooms, inns and gardens.
[[File:Christoffel Jacobsz. van der Laemen (Attr) - An elegant company dancing and making music in an interior.jpg|thumb|left|285px|''Elegant company dancing and making music in an interior'']]
The themes of elegant people enjoying themselves had developed first in the 16th century.  Dancing scenes appear particularly frequently in van der Laemen's work.  In the iconographic traditions of that time, dance scenes are linked to representations of the sin of lust.<ref>Elmer Kolfin, ''The Young Gentry at Play: Northern Netherlandish Scenes of Merry Companies 1610-1645'', Centraal Boekhuis, 2005, p. 58</ref> In his dancing scenes, van der Laemen included pictures with religious scenes on the background walls so that the sinful act of dancing depicted in the painting could be neutralised by the religious message in the background pictures.<ref name="Elmer Kolfin, p. 115">Elmer Kolfin, p. 115</ref> An example is the [[:File:Christoffel Jacobsz. van der Laemen (Attr.) - Dancing Party in an Interior.jpg|''Dancing Party in an Interior'']] ([[National Gallery of Denmark]]) where a dancing party in a large room is overlooked by a large painting hanging over the fireplace in the back representing the New Testament of the [[miraculous catch of fish]]. His pupil Hieronymus Janssens became even more closely linked to the subject of dancing scenes, which earned him the nickname 'the dancer'.<ref>[http://explore.rkd.nl/explore/artists/41933 Hieronymus Janssens] at the [[Netherlands Institute for Art History]]</ref>
[[File:Christoffel Jacobsz. van der Laemen - An elegant company seated around a set table on a terrace, a formal garden beyond.jpg|thumb|285px|''Elegant company around a table on a terrace'']]
Van der Laemen returned regularly to the theme of the prodigal son. Of the known versions, one was sold at Christie's Amsterdam on 14 November 2007, lot 207, a second was sold at Christie's New York on 5 October 1995, lot 127 and a third one at Sotheby's London on 12 February 2008, lot 135.  There is also a [[:File:Christoffel Jacobsz. van der Laemen - The prodigal son among courtesans.jpg|version]] in the [[Louvre]].<ref name=sot>[http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.135.html/2008/old-master-paintings-l08030 Christoffel Jacobsz. van der Laemen, ''The prodigal son in a brothel''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323173940/http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.135.html/2008/old-master-paintings-l08030 |date=23 March 2019 }} at Sotheby's</ref> The various versions combine two of the key episodes from the story as told in the [[New Testament]].  In the background on the right is depicted the fate of the dissolute prodigal son after he had squandered all his money and had fallen on hard times.  The young man is shown being chased out of a brothel.  In the central scene in the foreground the young man is enjoying himself and spending his money on young girls, drink and gambling.  Even while the picture does not directly reference the biblical story it is clear that the prodigal son has ended up in dubious company.  An old woman, most likely a procuress, is encouraging a young boy to steal his purse. The story of the prodigal son offers the painter the opportunity to display his talents.  The elegant figures with their colourful attire and the sumptuous still life ([[pronkstilleven]]) on the table add to the picture's charm.  The man is holding a flute glass with red wine in his hand. The picture shows parallels to the merry company pieces by Dutch painters, such as [[Dirck Hals]]. Van der Laemen's style is, however, more painterly and swifter and looser, and he used a thick [[impasto]]. The contours are kept vague and this [[sfumato]] effect puts the figures into relief.<ref>[http://hoogsteder.com/publications/journals/hoogsteder-journal-no-09/drinking-peasants-drunken-gentlemen Drinking peasants, drunken gentleman] at Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder</ref>
[[File:Christoffel van der Laemen - Elegant company in an interior making merry with music, food and drink.jpg|thumb|285px|''Elegant company in an interior making merry'']]
It is believed that the Polish-Dutch genre painter Laurence Neter, who likely worked for a period of time in [[Middelburg, Zeeland|Middelburg]] near Antwerp, was influenced by the merry company paintings of van der Laemen.<ref>Paul Huys Janssen, ''Genre Paintings by Laurence Neter of Elblag'', in: Hoogsteder Mercury, 1992, 13-14</ref> Neter likely was inspired by van der Laemen's motifs in his dancing scenes.<ref name="Elmer Kolfin, p. 115"/>
==References==
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==External links==
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[[Category:1651 deaths]]
[[Category:Flemish Baroque painters]]
[[Category:Flemish genre painters]]
[[Category:Painters from Brussels]]
[[Category:Painters from Antwerp]]
[[Category:17th-century births]]