In Black and White
Honthorst joined fellow Utrecht painters Ter Brugghen and Dirck van Baburen in applying the Caravaggesque manner to genre subjects like merry companies and musicians. Honthorst’s paintings, however, tend to exhibit greater classicizing clarity that those of his fellow Utrecht Caravaggisti, and his works are often characterized by even lighting, smooth modeling, and slightly idealized figures.
About 1610 he moved to Italy, where he had leading nobles as patrons and assimilated Caravaggio’s realism and dramatic use of artificial light into a personal idiom. Notable works of his Italian sojourn include Christ Before the High Priest , and the Supper Party (1620), both nocturnal scenes. Honthorst’s smooth and elegant approach to allegorical and portrait painting helped him establish a very successful career as a court painter. He went to London between April and December 1628 to paint for the court of King Charles I. By 1630, Honthorst had moved to The Hague and working as a court painter for the exiled monarchs of Bohemia, King Frederick and Queen Elizabeth, as well as for the Stadholder Frederick Hendrick and his wife, Princess Amalia van Solms. He purchased a house in The Hague, where he joined the Guild of Saint Luke in 1637. His courtly commissions also extended to King Christian IV of Denmark, for whom he painted a suite of works between 1635 and 1639. In 1649, he contributed to the paintings in the Oranjezaal of the Huis ten Bosch. In 1652, Honthorst returned permanently to Utrecht, where he primarily painted portraits until his death on April 27, 1656.