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Jacob
Willemsz de Wet I was a Dutch painter and draughtsman. It seems
unlikely that he is the same as the Jacobus de Wit who was a member of
the Alkmaar Guild of St Luke in 1637 or as the Jan de Wet (b Hamburg, c.
1617) who was a pupil of Rembrandt. Sumowski has disentangled his work
from that of Gerrit de Wet (d 1674), Daniel Thievaert (1613–57) and of
his own son, Jacob de Wet the younger (b Haarlem, c. 1640; d Amsterdam,
11 Nov 1697).
De Wet’s works are predominantly of biblical and
mythological subjects, and his early painting, the Raising of Lazarus
(1633; Darmstadt, Hessisches Landesmuseum), is close to the work of Jan
Pynas and Pieter Lastman. Another painting of the same subject,
executed in 1634, is much closer to Rembrandt’s work of the early 1630s,
and the pronounced emotional content and strong chiaroscuro in much of
his work may indicate that he was a pupil of Rembrandt.
His later work
places a greater emphasis on the landscape backgrounds, often relegating
the figures to an almost incidental role, with a use of colour closer
to Cuyp’s idyllic scenes (e.g. Landscape with a Ferry, London,
National Gallery). A number of drawings by de Wet exist, including his
sketchbook (c. 1636; Haarlem, Gemeentarchf, MS. Hs 230), which is
predominantly pre-Rembrandtesque in style. The sketchbook also notes his
pupils, who included Paulus Potter (1642) and his own son. Jacob de Wet
the younger worked in Edinburgh and copied a series of paintings
depicting the Kings of Scotland (Edinburgh, Holyroodhouse, Royal
Collection), as well as executing some of the decorative work in
Holyroodhouse.
Collections
De Wet is represented in the following collections: National
Gallery, London; Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford;
Rijksmuseum Research Database, Amsterdam; Musée des Beaux-Arts de
Rennes, France; Musées de Lorraine, France; Harvard University Art
Museums, Massachusetts; Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington;
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, amongst others.
Source:
Sphinx Fine Art
http://www.sphinxfineart.com/Wet-Jacob-Willemsz-DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=45&tabindex=44&artistid=38164
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