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Johannes Lingelbach (Frankfurt 1622 –1674 Amsterdam) Travelers at Rest Oil on panel Johannes Lingelbach was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1622, but his family moved to Amsterdam by the time he was twelve years old. He probably received his artistic training in Amsterdam, but the identity of his teacher is unknown. Houbraken says he left Amsterdam in 1642 to travel to France then he continued to Italy. He worked in Rome until 1650 under the tutelage of Pieter van Laer. Lingelbach’s style is so close to that of van Laer’s that there has been confusion about the attribution of individual paintings. According to Houbraken, Lingelbach left Rome in 1650 and returned to Amsterdam where he remained until his death. In Amsterdam, he became increasingly influenced by the work of Philips Wouwerman (d. 1668), especially his landscapes that show figures at work or riding. Johannes Lingelbach was best know as the Bamboccianti who produced large scenes of crowded piazzas and Italianate ports, populated by Turks, merchants, gamblers, and peddlers. In common seventeenth-century Flemish and Dutch practice, he was called on to enliven other artist’s landscapes by painting in the figures and animals that animate the scenes. Meidert Hobbema regularly hired Lingelbach to place staffage in his landscapes. The present painting is an excellent example of the artist’s later work in the manner of Philips Wouwerman. A young female dwarf lifts her glass elegantly, somewhat humorously, offering wine to a solider sitting and smoking a pie. The solider is dressed handsomely in a yellow vest with a white cravat and blue sash tied around his waist. The bright costumes of the central figures contrast starkly with the muted tones surrounding them. The two stand among resting soldiers who have stopped to set up camp, pitching their tents in the Dutch countryside. Most of the soldiers are huddled under the tent eating and talking. In the distance, other tents are visible. In the foreground lies the armor, removed by the soldier for the night. Lingelbach here demonstrates his skill at painting different materials, paying close attention to the light reflecting off the metal, and the wrinkles in the leather boots. The jagged edges of a broken tree trunk rises above the dark expanse of the black cloth that will (hopefully) protect the campers from inclement weather, yet the dark ominous clouds in the distance threaten to break up the merry campers as they rest, weary from their journey. General Literature: |