Abraham Bloemaert Gorinchem 1566 - 1651 Utrecht

This painting was unknown to Prof. Marcel Roethlisberger, who kindly proposed an attribution to Hendrik Bloemaert (ca. 1601-1672) on the basis of photographs. He compares it with another work, in a private collection, also known only from a photograph, depicting St Jerome reading together with a Vanitas Still life, which he tentatively attributes to Hendrik, probably dateable before 1624. (see M.G. Roethlisberger, Abraham Bloemaert and his sons, Ghent 1993, vol I, p. 505, no. H158, reproduced vol II, plate H150). Roethlisberger connects that painting to a print invented by Abraham Bloemaert and engraved by Jan Saenredam of a Vanitas Still life with Skull and Bones (idem, vol. I, pp. 101/3, no. 55, reproduced vol. II, plate 101). Both paintings however seem to be much closer to Abraham Bloemaert’s style of painting, not only in the still life but also in the painterly and sketchy way in which St. Jerome is painted; see for comparison the Vanitas Still life, which was with Rafael Valls by 1990, and the background figures in Joseph and His Brothers, in the Centraal Museum, Utrecht (idem, vol. I, pp. 99-101, 105, no. 57, reproduced vol. II, plates 100, 105).

We are also grateful to Fred G. Meijer for confirming the present attribution to Abraham Bloemaert.