Gerard de Lairesse

Gerard de Lairesse (Liège, 1640 or 1641 – Amsterdam, 1711), also Gérard de Lairesse, was a Dutch Golden Age painter and art theorist. His treatises on painting and drawing, "Grondlegginge der teekenkonst" (1701) and "Het groot schilderboeck" (1707), were highly influential on 18th Century painters like Jacob de Wit. Students of de Lairesse included the painter Jan van Mieris.

Born in Liège in present-day Belgium, Gerard de Lairesse studied art under Bertholet Flemnale and his father Renier Lairesse. In 1664 he was forced to flee Liège after a love affair gone wrong. He moved north to Utrecht in the Dutch Republic. When his talent was discovered by art dealer Gerrit van Uylenburgh, he relocated to Amsterdam in 1667.

At first, he was highly influenced by Rembrandt, but later he focused on a more classical, allegorically-themed, French-oriented style similar to Nicolas Poussin. The French even nicknamed him the "Dutch Poussin".

In the second half of the 17th Century, the pious austerity and embarrassment of riches of the Dutch in Rembrandt's age had given way to unbridled opulence, even decadence, and de Lairesse's classical French style fitted this age perfectly. It made him one of, if not "the" most popular painter in Amsterdam. He was frequently hired to adorn the interiors of government buildings and homes of wealthy Amsterdam businessmen with lavish trompe l'oeil ceiling and wall paintings.

De Lairesse was a versatile artist who also:
* made a set of illustrations for Govert Bidloo's anatomical atlas "Anatomia Humani Corporis" (1685) .
* painted doors for the organ of the Westerkerk church in Amsterdam.
* painted sets for the Amsterdam theatre.
* painted a portrait of the Dutch stadholder and king of England, William III.

Well-known paintings by de Lairesse include his "Allegory of the Five Senses" (1668), "Diana and Endymion" (ca. 1680) and "Cleopatra Landing at Tarsus".

De Lairesse suffered from congenital syphilis, which caused him to go blind in 1690. The misformed nose which the disease gave him is clearly visible on the portrait which Rembrandt painted of him around 1665. After losing his sight, de Lairesse was forced to give up painting and focused instead on lecturing and writing on art. His books "Grondlegginge der teekenkonst" ("Foundations of Drawing"), published in 1701, and "Het groot schilderboeck" ("Great Book of Painting"), published in 1710, were to have a great influence on 18th Century painters like Jacob de Wit.

In "Het groot schilderboeck", de Lairesse was scathing of Dutch Golden Age painters like Rembrandt and Frans Hals because they often portrayed everyday scenes and ordinary people such as soldiers, farmers, maids, and even beggars. In de Lairesse's view, painting ought to show lofty biblical, mythological and historical scenes.

Works by de Lairesse are on display at many museums around the world, including the Rijksmuseum and Amsterdam Historical Museum in Amsterdam, the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the National Portrait Gallery and Tate Gallery in London.

In the Binnenhof (now the seat of the Dutch parliament) in The Hague, a hall which he decorated in 1688 is named after him. A street in Amsterdam is also named after him.