BIJLERT, Jan van The Concert in Painting ID:: 5187 BIJLERT, Jan van1.jpg
The Concert in 1635-40
Oil on canvas
Private collection
BIJLERT, Jan van Venus and Amor and an old Woman Painting ID:: 51982 new19/BIJLERT, Jan van-739643.jpg
Venus and Amor and an old Woman 1630s
Oil on canvas
BIJLERT, Jan van Ulysses and Circe - Oil on panel Painting ID:: 62371 new21/BIJLERT, Jan van-743882.jpg
Ulysses and Circe - Oil on panel 51 x 81 cm Private collection The present painting depicts an episode from the Odyssey (Bk 10). On their journey home after the Trojan War, Ulysses and his companions came upon the island of the sorceress, Circe. With a magic potion, she transformed the men into swine; however Ulysses, having been forewarned by Mercury and having taken an antidote, was able to resist her magic. The present painting depicts the moment when Circe lifts her wand to touch Ulysses and activate the spell
Dutch painter, Utrecht school (b. 1597/98, Utrecht, d. 1671, Utrecht)
Dutch painter. He was the son of the Utrecht glass painter Herman Beerntsz. van Bijlert (c. 1566-before 1615). Jan must have trained first with his father but was later apprenticed to the painter Abraham Bloemaert. After his initial training, he visited France and travelled to Italy, as did other artists from Utrecht. Jan stayed mainly in Rome, where he became a member of the Schildersbent; he returned to Utrecht in 1624. In Rome he and the other Utrecht artists had come under the influence of the work of Caravaggio; after their return home, this group of painters, who became known as the UTRECHT CARAVAGGISTI, adapted the style of Caravaggio to their own local idiom. The Caravaggesque style, evident in van Bijlert's early paintings.