Hendrick ter Brugghen

by

Natasha Seaman

• LAST MODIFIED: 19 February 2025
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199920105-0189

Introduction

Hendrick ter Brugghen (b. 1588–d. 1629) is best known as one of the Dutch artists who, along with his younger contemporaries Gerrit van Honthorst (b. 1592–d. 1656) and Dirck van Baburen (b. c. 1595–d. 1624) transmitted the style of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (b. 1571–d. 1610) to Dutch artists, with significant impact on the art of Jan Lievens (b. 1607–d. 1674), Rembrandt van Rijn (b. 1606–d. 1669), and, more distantly, Johannes Vermeer (b. 1632–d. 1675). Although he was likely born in the Hague, where his father was a civil servant, he moved with his family to Utrecht in the early years of the seventeenth century. In Utrecht, Ter Brugghen probably studied with Mannerist painter Abraham Bloemaert (b. 1564–d. 1651), and then he spent several years in Italy, possibly starting as early as 1607. While Italianate habits and motifs are clear in his art, any paintings made in Italy are lost. Additionally, while Ter Brugghen joined the newly formed artist guild in Utrecht upon his return in 1614, little of his work before 1619 survives. In the ensuing ten years before his premature death at age 42 in 1629, however, he produced a significant oeuvre consisting of religious paintings and half-length genre works. Unfortunately, no first owner information is known for any of Ter Brugghen’s paintings, complicating the understanding of his most significant works, such as the early monumental Christ Crowned with Thorns (1620, Copenhagen), the Crucifixion (c. 1625, New York), St. Sebastian Tended by Irene (c. 1625, Oberlin OH), The Concert (c. 1626, London), and depictions of Jacob, Laban, and Leah (1627 and 1628, Cologne and London). Early scholarship assumed Ter Brugghen was Catholic because his grandfather was a Catholic priest, his depiction of religious subjects, and the continued predominance of Catholicism in Utrecht. However, archival research showed that he married a Protestant, and all his children were baptized Protestant, suggesting an affinity for that faith. Ter Brugghen was little remarked in art criticism of his time; the most prominent mention, by Joachim von Sandrart (b. 1606–d. 1688), faulted him for his intense naturalism. Although several of his paintings sold for respectable prices at auction later in the seventeenth century, until the twentieth century Ter Brugghen’s reputation was overshadowed by the more conventional and successful Gerrit van Honthorst, to whom his works were sometimes ascribed in auction catalogues and inventories.

General Overviews

Ter Brugghen is the subject of two important catalogues raisonnés, Nicolson 1958 and Slatkes and Franits 2007, both of which provide a thorough discussion of the artist. For a short overview, see Slatkes 2003. Significant contributions to Ter Brugghen scholarship are found in exhibition catalogues such as Ebert and Helmus 2018, van der Sman 2016, Spicer and Orr 1997, Blankert and Slatkes 1986, and Blankert 1980. Klessmann 1988 is a collection of essays from a symposium held in relation to the exhibition Holländische Malerei in Neuem Licht.

• Blankert, Albert, ed. Gods, Saints, and Heroes: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1980.

  Seeking to counteract the notion of Dutch art as comprised primarily of landscapes, still lifes, and genre scenes, this catalogue surveys artists, including Ter Brugghen, who depicted religious and history subjects.

• Blankert, Albert, and Leonard J. Slatkes, eds. Holländische Malerei in neuem Licht: Hendrick ter Brugghen und seine Zeitgenossen. Braunschweig, West Germany: Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, 1986.

  Published in German and in Dutch, this exhibition catalogue focuses primarily on Ter Brugghen, with entries on thirty-two paintings.

• Ebert, Bernd, and Liesbeth M. Helmus, eds. Utrecht, Caravaggio and Europe. Translated by Bram Opstelten and Michael Hoyle. Munich: Hirmer, 2018.

  The most recent of the exhibition catalogues that include works by Ter Brugghen, this book presents the artist alongside other Dutch, French, and Flemish artists who responded to Caravaggio. Essays are cited under Ter Brugghen in Italy and Ter Brugghen, Caravaggio, and the Utrecht Caravaggisti.

• Klessmann, Rüdiger, ed. Hendrick ter Brugghen und die Nachfolgers Caravaggios in Holland: Beiträge eines Symposions aus Anlass der Ausstellung “Holländische Malerei in neuem Licht: Hendrick ter Brugghen und seine Zeitgenossen” im Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig vom 23. bis 25. März 1987. Braunschweig, West Germany: Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, 1988.

  This imposingly titled book contains numerous articles on Ter Brugghen and his contemporaries in English, Dutch, and German.

• Nicolson, Benedict. Hendrick Terbrugghen. The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1958.

  While some of the information in this first monograph on Ter Brugghen has been since corrected and much has been added, it is worth reading for its perceptive and elegant writing.

• Slatkes, Leonard J. “Brugghen [Terbrugghen], Hendrick (Jansz.) ter.” Grove Art Online (2003).

  DOI: 10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T011726

  A concise overview of Ter Brugghen’s life and career, with bibliography ending in 1987. Available by purchase or subscription.

• Slatkes, Leonard J., and Wayne E. Franits. The Paintings of Hendrick Ter Brugghen, 1588–1629: Catalogue Raisonné. Oculi 10. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2007.

  DOI: 10.1075/oculi.10

  Slatkes had been preparing this book for several decades at the time of his sudden death; Franits, a former student, organized his notes and completed the book, contributing two introductory essays. The volume provides a wealth of bibliographical information as well as important observations, attributions, and interpretations offered by both authors.

• Spicer, Joaneath, and Lynn Federle Orr, eds. Masters of Light: Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997.

  Focusing broadly on the painters of Utrecht from the early through the late seventeenth century, this exhibition catalogue includes several useful essays on the political, religious, and economic context of Utrecht and twelve substantive catalogue entries on Ter Brugghen’s paintings.

• van der Sman, Gert Jan, ed. Caravaggio and the Painters of the North. Madrid: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, 2016.

  A recent exhibition catalogue on Ter Brugghen and his Northern European contemporaries who traveled to Rome. Essays are cited under Ter Brugghen in Italy.