Pieter Lisaert (1595 – Antwerp – circa 1629)

The Adoration of the Shepherds

oil on onyx
12 ¼ x 15 ½ inches (31 x 39 cm.)

Provenance:
Private collection, France, until 2009.

Pieter Lisaert was baptized in Antwerp on 1 October 1595 in the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk.¹  He was the son of the successful art dealer Philips Lisaert and Susanna Bernouilli.  Although Lisaert became a free master in 1615 in Antwerp, he is most often documented in sources as a merchant.  Furthermore, no pupils of his are known, suggesting that he was more active as an art dealer than as an artist.  Lisaert’s artistic production is too small to allow for a firm understanding of his stylistic development, despite the fact that he was employed as court painter to Philip III, King of Spain.

In the present work, the artist has depicted the Adoration scene on a sumptuous onyx support.  The stone slab serves not only as a surface for the paint, but also as a background, accentuating the composition and adding a vibrant radiance to the colors.  Lisaert used the natural striations of the stone to form the floor, the manger where the Christ Child lays, the architecture in the background, and the airy mass of clouds filled with cherubs in the upper right corner.  The artist also masterfully incorporated the veining of the stone into the figures’ elegant drapery.  Lisaert’s choice of an onyx support – relatively rare compared to other stone supports such as marble and slate – gives the scene a textured, ethereal appearance, further complemented by his delicately rendered brushstrokes and resplendent color palette.    

Pieter Lisaert was not the first artist to recognize the exquisite aesthetic qualities produced by a stone support.  The technique originated in ancient Greece when artists painted murals on the marble walls of tombs.  It is mentioned later in Rome by Pliny the Elder, who recorded painted stones displayed in interiors, deeming them a token of indulgence and dissipate taste.²  Painting on stone continued through the Middle Ages and flourished in the second half of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 

Artists must have regarded stone as particularly ideal for paint application because, unlike wood and canvas supports, it was not affected by variations in humidity.  As Vasari wrote, “provided they are worked with diligence and care, [works on stone] endure forever.”³  Unfortunately, however, artists’ belief in the immutable, eternal existence of paintings on stone proved unfounded.⁴  In many cases, the paint layer gradually detached from the stone support over time.  Thus, the inevitable ravage of time, coupled with the natural fragility of the stone slabs (many are now cracked), makes our painting all the more exceptional.