Best known as a painter, draughtsman and etcher of Italianate landscapes during Holland’s Golden Age, Karel Dujardin was a versatile artist whose subject matter included portraits, history scenes, genre scenes, Dutch landscapes and pastoral scenes featuring cattle and other livestock. Baptized in 1626 in Amsterdam, his father was a tradesman. Little is known about his artistic training; his Italianate works have led some writers to speculate that Dujardin travelled to Italy in the 1640s, but no documentation of such a trip has been found.
He probably travelled to Paris in 1650, and apparently met his wife, of Flemish descent, in Lyon. By 1652 he and his wife were living in Amsterdam. Some of his pastoral scenes from the 1650s are set in the Dutch countryside, showing the influence of Paulus Potter (1625-1654). Other works from this period are set in Italianate landscapes, often with peasant genre scenes in the foreground, a motif popularised by Pieter van Laer (1599-ca.1642, known as Il Bamboccio while in Rome), who had returned to Haarlem from Rome by 1638. Dujardin began etching in the 1650s, primarily landscapes and animals; about fifty etchings have been attributed to him. By 1656 he had moved to The Hague, where he was a member of a group of artists known as De Pictura,
By 1659 Dujardin was living in Amsterdam, where he stayed for the next fifteen years. During this time he executed portraits, religions scenes, allegories and large history paintings in addition to Italianate landscapes. In 1672 he authenticated paintings in a legal proceeding for the father of his friend Joan Reynst, and in 1675 traveled south as far as Tangiers. Dujardin continued to Rome; one of his signed and dated paintings recites it was made in Rome in 1675. He painted in Rome for the three years; his last dated painting is from 1678. He may have been a member of Schildersbent (“band of painters,” also known as the “Bentvueghels” or “birds of a flock”), a society of Dutch and Flemish painters in Rome active from around 1620 until 1720. He was in Venice when he died in 1678. He had achieved prosperity during his life, living in a house on the upscale Herengracht in Amsterdam; the inventory of his goods after his death attested to his affluence.
This is part 5 of a 5-part series on the works of Karel Dujardin:
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| n.d. Ox and Donkey etching on paper 16.7 x 19.8 cm (sheet) Louvre, Paris © Louvre Museum, dist. RMN-Grand Palais |
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| n.d. Pack-horse, seated Man with Staff in right Hand, and Dog etching on paper 4.8 x 5.9 cm (plate) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| n.d. Peasant Woman in the Water etching 16.6 x 20.1 cm (plate) Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA |
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| n.d. Portrait of a Young Man Seated Smoking (attributed to Dujardin) oil on canvas 41.7 x 35.9 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA |
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| n.d. Portrait of an unknown Family (attributed to Dujardin) oil on canvas 136.5 x 108 cm Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium |
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| n.d. Rear View of a Donkey with Panniers black chalk on paper 10 x 13.4 cm National Galleries Scotland, UK |
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| n.d. Rest at an Italian Inn oil on canvas 80 x 88 cm Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, UK |
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| n.d. Roadside Shrine oil 64.7 x 59.1 cm Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia |
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| n.d. Saint John the Baptist (attributed to Dujardin) oil on canvas 43.2 x 32.4 cm |
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| n.d. Sheet of studies of goats and a woman milking a goat black chalk 17 x 15.3 cm © The British Museum, London |
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| n.d. Shepherd rolling up his shirt black chalk, brush and grey ink 22.2 x 12.1 cm Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium |
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| n.d. Studies of Sheep pen and black ink and black chalk with point of the brush and grey wash 13.4 x 22 cm |
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| n.d. Study of a cow's head in profile black chalk 5.2 x 4.6 cm © The British Museum, London |
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| n.d. Study of a dog lying down (attributed to Dujardin) red chalk on paper 9 x 14.3 cm © The British Museum, London |
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| n.d. Study of a goat and two kids black chalk on paper 8.5 x 12.7 cm © The British Museum, London |
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| n.d. Study of a group of sheep (unfinished) black chalk on paper 10.2 x 9.7 cm © The British Museum, London |
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| n.d. Study of a man putting on his spurs (attributed to Dujardin) charcoal? heightened with white, on grey paper 28.2 x 21.3 cm © The British Museum, London |
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| n.d. Study of Heads in profile View etching on paper 5.6 x 6.5 cm (sheet) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| n.d. The Annunciation to the Shepherds oil on canvas 68.8 x 52.1 cm |
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| n.d. The Cow and the Calf etching on paper 15.2 x 13.7 cm (plate) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| n.d. The Dog and the Cat etching on paper 7.8 x 8.5 cm Louvre, Paris © Louvre Museum, dist. RMN-Grand Palais |
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| n.d. The edge of the Downs (attributed to Dujardin) brush drawing in grey wash, touched with red, over black chalk, on two sheets 15 x 37.4 cm © The British Museum, London |
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| n.d. The edge of the Downs detail |
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| n.d. The edge of the Downs detail |
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| n.d. The Porta Flaminia, Rome black chalk and grey wash on paper 14.7 x 10.6 cm National Galleries Scotland, UK |
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| n.d. The Shepherd and his Dog etching on paper 5.3 x 6.4 cm (sheet) Louvre, Paris © Louvre Museum, dist. RMN-Grand Palais |
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| n.d. The Sick Goat oil on canvas 84.5 x 73 cm Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany |
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| n.d. The Two Horses etching on paper 15.1 x 13.8 cm (plate) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| n.d. Three Pigs etching on paper 11.7 x 14.7 cm Louvre, Paris © Louvre Museum, dist. RMN-Grand Palais |
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| n.d. Title Page etching on paper 15 x 13.6 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| n.d. Townscape with Wall etching on paper 4.6 x 5.7 cm (plate) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| n.d. Travelling Musicians oil on canvas 51 x 46.5 cm |
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| n.d. Two Dogs sleeping on the Ground etching on paper 15.3 x 13.6 cm (plate) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| n.d. Two Mules bearing Panniers etching on paper 15.3 x 13.9 cm (plate) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| n.d. Two Sheep etching on paper 8.1 x 10.4 cm (sheet) Louvre, Paris © Louvre Museum, dist. RMN-Grand Palais |
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| n.d. View from a hill over an extensive plain (attributed to Dujardin) brush drawing in grey wash, over graphite 13.5 x 22.2 cm © The British Museum, London |
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| n.d. Young Shepherd milking a Goat oil on wood panel 31 x 26 cm Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery, The Hague |
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