Willem Van Herp

WILLEM VAN HERP, (Antwerp, c. 1614 - 1677).
"St. Anne, the Virgin and Child".
Oil on panel.
With label of National Heritage on the back.
Unsigned.
Measurements: 49.50 x 64.50 cm; 65 x 80 cm (frame).

Painting of devotional theme, representing in a symmetrical and ordered composition to the Holy Family. The Child Jesus occupies the compositional center and is held in her arms by Mary, who wears red tunic and mantle, colors of the Passion and Purity respectively, and Saint Anne, who covers her hair with a handkerchief that enhances her oval face. In the upper part of the composition appears God prepresented as the dove, closing the composition of the work.

Willem van Herp was a Flemish Baroque painter who specialized in religious paintings and small cabinet paintings with "low quality" genre scenes. He ran a large workshop and, through his good connections with Antwerp, art dealers helped spread the Flemish Baroque style internationally. Willem van Herp was long believed to have been a pupil of Peter Paul Rubens because many of Rubens' stylistic motifs can be seen in his paintings, and he retouched copies of Rubens for the art dealer Matthijs Musson. It is said that he exhibited for the first time together with the minor artists Damiaan Wortelmans II and Hans Biermans. Van Herp may have spent some time abroad after his training and was listed as an independent master in the Guild of St. Luke from 1637. He spent his entire career in Antwerp. He was the teacher of Norbertus van Herp and Melchior Hamers. It is not possible to discern a development in his style as he only came out with a few of his images. His style is characterized by his somewhat mannered way of drawing and the expressiveness of the figures. His large output points to a large workshop with an almost industrial operation. Many of his paintings can be considered copies or pastiches of original compositions by Antwerp painters such as Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, Gerard Seghers, Jan Boeckhorst, Hendrick van Balen, Erasmus Quellinus the Younger, Gaspar de Crayer and Artus Wolffort as well as Italian masters such as Raffael and Guido Reni.
Although his painting only achieved success in Antwerp, as suggested by the infrequency of his paintings in local inventories, many of his small works were probably intended as export items destined for Spain. Most of these were on copper, a painting material that was prized for both its durability and its glossy finish in Spain. Van Herp's works also influenced the spread of copper painting in Mexico through the trade from Spain to Latin America, and reflect a taste for small paintings reminiscent of Rubens' style abroad. He also became famous in England through engravings made from his works, particularly his genre scenes.