KAREL DUJARDIN (1626-1678)

SHEPERDS IN THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA
Oil on canvas laid on panel
28.5 x 32.7 cm

PROVENANCE:
Private collection, Switzerland, since the 1960s
 
 
 
 
The present scene is a wonderful example of Dujardin's Roman-period paintings, characterised by their remarkable crispness, vibrant warmth of colour and subtle inclusion of Roman monuments to situate the landscape approximately. In this case, the edifice to the middle ground of the painting is likely derived from one of the many sepulchrii located outside Rome and around the Campagna. Such architectural focal points can be found in many of Dujardin's paintings of shepherds in Italianate landscapes, and are reminders of his prolific practise as a draughtsman and regular sketching trips around Rome and its environs. 
 
 
Contemporary biographies of Karel Dujardin provide conflicting details of his artistic training. Houbraken describes him as being Nicolaes Berchem's most accomplished pupil, based partly on similarities in subject matter. Dujardin's first works are dated around the mid-1640s, and we know that (after his initial training) the young Dujardin went to Italy, and joined the Bentvueghels group of painters in Rome, earning the 'Bent name' "Barba di Becco" ('goat-beard', or Bokkebaart). This journey had a lifelong influence, and he was evidently a keen student of both the Italianate vistas of the Roman campagna, and the hustle and bustle of everyday Roman life. His genre scenes depicting festivals in Roman settings are among thise most ambitious paintings, and their quality and eye for narrative detail mark him out as one of the best of the Northern artists active in Italy during this period. 
 
 
Dujardin probably traveled to Lyon around 1650; an idea which is supported by a sensitive drawing on vellum signed and inscribed Dujardin fecit Paris in Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett. His experience of art in France at the time was through works by Sébastien Bourdon, Simon Vouet, Laurent de la Hyre and Eustache le Suer. During this trip he met his wife, Suzanne von Royen, with whom he returned to Amsterdam in 1651. By 1656 Dujardin appears in the court capital, The Hague, as a founder of the artistic fraternity ‘Pictura’. He returned to Amsterdam around 1659 and his career flourished in the 1660s, a time when he produced portraits and spectacular history scenes, as well as his famous Italian landscapes. Dujardin left Amsterdam and sailed to Italy in 1675, due to political circumstances, and there he remained for the rest of his life.