Gerrit van Honthorst in America: What Took So Long?

Gerrit van Honthorst was one of the outstanding artists from Utrecht, the Netherlands, who traveled to Rome in the early 17th century and was inspired by the revolutionary paintings of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. After Honthorst returned to Utrecht in 1620, his Caravaggist paintings were greatly admired and had an enormous impact on other Dutch masters, including Jan Lievens and Rembrandt van Rijn. Nevertheless, until recently, few of Honthorst’s masterpieces have entered American collections. Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., Curator of Northern Baroque Painting at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and Professor of Art History at the University of Maryland, in College Park, explores the reasons why so few Americans were drawn to the artist’s works until recently, and he examines a few of the masterpieces that have now come to the United States, including works in the collections of the National Gallery of Art and Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo. Generously sponsored by the Martin A. Ryerson Fund.