Arent de Gelder(Dordrecht 1645 – 1727 Dordrecht)

How to citeBakker, Piet. “Arent de Gelder” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 2nd ed. Edited by Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artists/arent-de-gelder/ (archived June2020).
A PDF of every version of this biography is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrativeoccurs.

No other pupil of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69) worked more emphatically and longer in the style of hismaster than the Dordrecht painter Arent de Gelder. De Gelder was Rembrandt’s last pupil, and he adopted
the master’s late expressive style, remaining faithful to it for the rest of his career, even in the face of theprevailing classicizing fashion. Nevertheless, his style displays distinctive features that give it a personalidentity. His sense of form was less stable than Rembrandt’s, but his palette was more adventurous andcolorful. De Gelder also differed from Rembrandt in his effective use of colored grounds and other underlayersof paint.[1]Arent de Gelder was born in Dordrecht on 26 October 1645. His parents were Jan Aertsz de Gelder (b. 1609)
and Maria Lotterich, who came from an affluent Dordrecht family.[2] Jan Aertsz started out as a cooper of winebarrels. In 1638 he succeeded his father as the caretaker of the West-Indisch Huis, located on the Wijnstraat
from where, as a merchant, he also conducted business with Brazil. The family lived there as well until 1686,
when they moved to another house on the same street. The De Gelders prospered, and Arent’s father
became a wealthy and well-respected citizen. In 1664 he held the highest position in a militia company, and in
1667 he was appointed dean of the Coopers’ Guild—a position usually reserved for regents—which he would
hold for six consecutive years.[3] From 1672 on he also sat on various municipal councils that were involved inappointing the city fathers.
De Gelder first trained under his fellow townsman Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627–78), who was in Dordrecht
between 1656, when he returned from Vienna, and 1662, when he left for England.[4] It is difficult to pinpoint
when exactly De Gelder first entered Van Hoogstraten’s workshop, where he was introduced to the “degronden van de schilderkonst” (the rudiments of painting).[5] This may have been around 1660, when he© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Arent de Gelder
Page 2 of 5turned fifteen, though it is possible that it was earlier, considering that his near contemporary fellow
pupil Godefridus Schalcken (1643–1706) was already working with Van Hoogstraten in 1656, the year of histhirteenth birthday.[6] Van Hoogstraten’s departure for England would explain why De Gelder and Schalcken
had to find a new teacher to complete their training. According to Houbraken, De Gelder headed toAmsterdam “to learn how to paint in Rembrandt’s manner,”[7] and spent two years with the master before
returning to Dordrecht for good. Assuming that De Gelder went to Amsterdam shortly after Van Hoogstraten’s
departure, his tutelage with Rembrandt would have taken place between the summer of 1662 and the summerof 1664. Although Rembrandt generally gave his pupils great freedom in assisting him in his paintings, De
Gelder’s hand cannot be discerned in any of the master’s works from the first half of the 1660s.[8] What De
Gelder did there during these years is still unclear. The first concrete sign of his independence is his earliest
dated painting of 1667, a depiction of Judah and Tamar, a subject he would later revisit a number of times(see Judah and Tamar in The Leiden Collection).[9] Like Rembrandt, De Gelder painted, in addition toportraits, almost exclusively history scenes.
Back in Dordrecht, De Gelder, who never married, moved in with his parents on the Wijnstraat, as his onlybrother, the lawyer Johan de Gelder (1650–1727), would also later do. From there he took part in the city’s
artistic and social life. Judging from extant portraits and documents, it would appear that he profited greatly
from his father’s social standing, and his own prestige rose as well. He received commissions from membersof the highest circles in Dordrecht and joined the civic guard, moving up through the ranks and serving as
captain between 1694 and 1711.
Arnold Houbraken (1660–1719) writes that De Gelder and the woodcarver Hendrik Noteman (1654–1737)
visited the Hague painter Augustin Terwesten (1649–1711) when he was painting “een kamer in het rond”(the walls of a room) in the house of burgomaster Barthoud van Slingelandt (1654–1711) in Dordrecht.
Terwesten, however, had little time for them.[10] De Gelder and Noteman were close friends, and De Gelder’spainted portrait of the woodcarver has been preserved.[11] Schalcken also portrayed the woodcarver (twice),but these likenesses have been lost. De Gelder, moreover, was well acquainted with the amateur painter andprintseller Jacob Moelaert (1649–1727), a pupil of Nicolaes Maes (1634–93). At his death in 1727, Moelaert
left De Gelder three albums of prints and drawings, including one with work by Rembrandt.
De Gelder died suddenly on 27 August of that same year, less than a month after Moelaert. According toWeyerman, he had planned to go for a ride (“te gaan speelenryden”) that morning with friends, but they foundhim, dead, at home.[12] His estate included close to 190 paintings, mostly history scenes.[13] Yet we only know
with certainty that “twenty-two pictures depicting the Passion of Christ” in the schildercamer (studio) werepainted by De Gelder.[14] Houbraken mentions them specifically and informs us that twenty of the works in thisseries had already been completed in 1715. On 30 September 1727, an auction was announced in theAmsterdamsche Courant of all the paintings left behind by “the late Arent de Gelder, the only pupil ofRembrandt who faithfully followed his famous master in painting.”[15]- Piet Bakker, 2017© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Arent de Gelder
Page 3 of 5Endnotes

1. Ernst van de Wetering, ‘‘Opmerkingen over de relatie tussen techniek, stijl en toeval bij
Arent de Gelder; een vergelijking met Rembrandt,” in Arent de Gelder (1645–1727),
Rembrandts laaste leerling, ed. Dirck Bijker et al. (Exh. cat. Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum;
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum) (Ghent, 1998), 19–35.
2. Unless otherwise noted, all biographical information on Arent the Gelder is taken from GabriëlPastoor, “The Life of Arent de Gelder,” in Arent de Gelder, Dordrecht 1645–1727,ed. Joachim Wolfgang von Moltke (Doornspijk, 1994).
3. Gabriël Pastoor, “The Life of Arent de Gelder,” in Arent de Gelder, Dordrecht 1645–1727, ed.
Joachim Wolfgang von Moltke (Doornspijk, 1994), 2n13.
4. See the biography of Samuel van Hoogstraten in this catalogue.
5. Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen(Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1980), 3: 206.
6. De Gelder is generally assumed to have studied under Van Hoogstraten for two years. Thismay have been based on Houbraken’s comment that De Gelder learned “de gronden van deschilderkunst” (rudiments of painting) from Van Hoogstraten, though nowhere does hemention that this took exactly two years; Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der
Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague,1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1980), 3: 206. Therefore, it is possible that De Gelder’s tutelage
under Van Hoogstraten was longer. The apprenticeship of a minor could sometimes last
seven years. Houbraken reports that De Gelder went to Amsterdam “om Rembrants wijze
vanschilderen

teleeren”(tolearnhowtopaintin

Rembrandt’smanner);

Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen(Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1980), 3: 206. Taking
Houbraken’s comment literally, one could posit that De Gelder had completed his actualtraining. In that case, it would certainly have lasted longer than two years. See Ronald deJager, “Meester, leerjongen, leertijd: Een analyse van zeventiende-eeuwse NoordNederlandse leerlingencontracten van kunstschilders, goud- en zilversmeden,” in Oud
Holland 104 (1990): 69–71. On the various stages of an apprenticeship, see also Marion
Goosens, “Schilders en de markt, Haarlem 1600–1635” (PhD diss., Leiden University,2001), 77–83.
7. “om Rembrants wijze van schilderen te leeren.” Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh derNederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21; revised edition
published in The Hague, 1753; reprinted in Amsterdam, 1980), 3:206. According toSchatborn, De Gelder was with Rembrandt already in 1661. As proof, he puts forth a drawing© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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Page 4 of 5

by De Gelder of 1661 that is strongly influenced by dated work by Rembrandt from 1661–63.
Peter Schatborn, “Tekeningen van Arent de Gelder,” in Arent de Gelder (1645–1727),
Rembrandts laaste leerling, ed. Dirck Bijcker et al. (Exh. cat. Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum;Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum) (Ghent, 1998), 111.
8. Peter Schoon, “Arent de Gelder (1645–1727), ‘de beste Leerling die Rembrandt teelde by deadelijke Schilderkonst,’’’ in Arent de Gelder (1645–1727), Rembrandts laatste leerling, ed.
Dirck Bijcker et al. (Exh. cat. Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum; Cologne, Wallraf-RichartzMuseum) (Ghent, 1998), 14.
9. Judah and Tamar, signed and dated 1667 (Private Collection); Werner Sumowski, Gemälde
der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 2, G. van den Eeckhout – I. de Joudreville (Landau, 1983),1161, no. 728; Joachim Wolfgang von Moltke, ed., Arent de Gelder, Dordrecht
1645–1727 (Doornspijk, 1994), 65, no. 11, pl. V (color), pl. 11; Dirck Bijker, et al., Arent deGelder (1645–1727), Rembrandts laatste leerling (Exh. cat. Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum;
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum) (Ghent, 1998), 126–27, no. 2.
10. Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen(Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam 1980), 3: 268.
11. ortrait of Hendrik Noteman (1656–1734), signed and dated 1698 (Dordrechts Museum).
Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 2, G. van den Eeckhout – I. de
Joudreville (Landau, 1983), 1178, no. 806, 1266; Joachim Wolfgang von Moltke, ed., Arent deGelder, Dordrecht 1645–1727 (Doornspijk, 1994), 101, no. 101; Peter Marijnissen et al., De
Zichtbaere Werelt, schilderkunst uit de Gouden Eeuw in Hollands oudste stad (Exh. cat.
Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum) (Zwolle, 1992), 170–72, no. 37; Dirck Bijker et al.,eds., Arent de Gelder (1645–1727), Rembrandts laatste leerling (Exh. cat. Dordrecht,Dordrechts Museum; Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum) (Ghent, 1998), 190–91, no. 30.
12. Jacob Campo Weyerman, De levensbeschryvingen der Nederlandsche konstschilders en
konstschilderessen (The Hague, 1729), 3: 44.
13. See Regionaal Archief Dordrecht, Notarial Archives, Notary A. Cant, inv. 84, fol. 269–91v, 29
August 1727. For a transcription of this extremely extensive inventory with all of the paintings,
see Joachim Wolfgang von Moltke, ed., Arent de Gelder, Dordrecht 1645–1727 (Doornspijk,1994), 200–4.
14. “22 stukken schilderijen, verbeeldende de passie Christi.” See Regionaal Archief Dordrecht,
Notarial Archives, Notary A. Cant, inv. 84, fol. 280, fol. 269–91v, 29 August 1727.
15. “Arent de Gelder, zalr., d’eenigste Discipel die zynen beroemden Meester Rembrantstiptelyk in de Schilderkonst naer gevolgt heeft.”

Literature© 2020 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Arent de Gelder
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Houbraken,Arnold.

DegrooteschouburghderNederlantsche

konstschilders

enschilderessen. Amsterdam, 1718–21; revised edition published in The Hague, 1753; reprinted
in Amsterdam, 1980, 3: 206–10.
Weyerman Campo, Jacob. De levensbeschryvingen der Nederlandsche konstschilders en
konstschilderessen. The Hague, 1729, 3: 41–44.
Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 2, G. van den Eeckhout – I. de
Joudreville. Landau, 1983, 1154–277.
Von Moltke, Joachim Wolfgang, ed. Arent de Gelder, Dordrecht 1645–1727. Doornspijk,1994.
Marijnissen, Peter et al., eds. De Zichtbaere Werelt: Schilderkunst uit de Gouden Eeuw inHollands oudste stad. Exh. cat. Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum. Zwolle, 1992, 162–87.
Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 5, Nachträge, Ortsregister,
Ikonographisches Register, Bibliographie. Landau, 1994, 3101–2.
Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 6, Nachträge 2, Ortsregister,
Ikonographisches Register, Bibliographie, Künstlerverzeichnis. Landau, 3712–13.
Bijker, Dirck et al., eds. Arent de Gelder (1645–1727), Rembrandts laatste leerling. Exh. cat.
Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum; Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. Ghent, 1998.
Liedtke, Walter. “Rembrandt’s ‘Workshop’ Revisited.” Oud Holland 117, nos. 1–2 (2004):
48–73.

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