by Sabine Jacob

For Rüdiger Kiessmann, on his retirement as Director of the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum.

The exhibition Holländische Malerei in neuem Licht, Hendrick ter Brugghen und seine Zeitgenossen (New Light on the Golden Age: Hendrick ter Brugghen and his Contemporaries), held in Utrecht and Braunschweig in 1986-1987, included The Judgment of Count William III (fig. 1), a painting from Naarden Town Hall which is dated 1619 on the old frame. A detailed elucidation by G. Jansen of its attribution to the previously unknown painter Simon Henrixz. can be found in the exhibition catalogue.[1] That attribution is based on stylistic affinities with The Death of Ananias, which is dated 1624 and bears the monogram I.S.H., a work now in St Pieters en Bloklandsgasthuis, Amersfoort. Marten Jan Bok had succeeded in identifying the monogram as that of the Amersfoort artist Simon Henrixz. Bok's archival investigations leading to that identification were also included in the exhibition catalogue.[2]

1. Simon Henrixz., The Judgment of Count William III, dated 1619. Canvas, 125 x 275 cm. Naarden, Town Hall


2. B. Dolendo, The Judgment of Count William III the Good. Engraving, signed "Bartholomeus Dolend invenit et fecit, G. Valck excudit"

His research revealed a number of details about the life of this painter, who married in Amersfoort in 1616, worked temporarily in Dordrecht, and rented the "Doelen" hostelry at Amersfoort in 1625, where he died in 1630. It is not known when he was born or where he trained as an artist.

In the discussion of these two paintings which, apart from some miniature-like copies of portraits, are the only ones that could so far be associated with Henrixz., particular reference has been made to stylistic affinities with the work of Ter Brugghen, to certain Haarlem elements and also - in the case of The Judgment of Count William III - to the influence of an engraving of the same theme by Bartholomeus Dolendo (fig. 2).[3]

Stylistically, however, there are even closer affinities with works from another artistic circle, namely a group of late sixteenth and early seventeenth-century Florentine painters who attempted to transcend Mannerism with a cool and sober approach of their own, characterized by simple and clear compositions and precise, realistic forms.

The artists in question were Santi di Tito (1536-1603) and Jacopo da Empoli (1554-1640) and his circle. The affinity between the abovementioned painting by Simon Henrixz. and the work of these Florentine artists is close enough to suggest that the Dutchman must have spent some time in Italy, and in Florence in particular, before settling in Amersfoort. Not only are the compositional method and types of figure similar, so are numerous details of style and motif.

Comparable works by Santi di Tito include such late paintings as the Raising of Lazarus of 1592 in the Cathedral at Volterra (fig. 3). One typical feature is the packing of a relatively narrow area with closely juxtaposed figures. In both paintings, the scene is closed off at the rear - in the case of Simon Henrixz. by a wall, in that of Santi di Tito by a rock to the right and a tree to the left. Both artists also leave an opening with a view into the distance.