On view
Duane Wilder Gallery
Artemisia,
ca. 1635
Artemisia II, a fourth-century BCE queen of Caria, in present-day Turkey, holds out a goblet into which an elderly man pours ashes. Artemisia was said to have built the famed Mausoleum at Halicarnassus to commemorate her deceased husband, Mausolus. She then drank wine mixed with his ashes to become his living tomb and an exemplar of virtue. Honthorst depicted Artemisia in a luxurious silvery dress lined with pearls—a sign of her purity—as her retainers marvel at her extraordinary act of loyalty and devotion.
Honthorst likely painted this scene for Elizabeth Stuart (1596–1662), the widow of Frederick V, elector palatine of the Rhine and short-lived king of Bohemia, who spent many years in exile in the Netherlands. The painting later hung above the fireplace in the home of Amalia van Solms (1602–1675), widow of Prince Frederik Hendrik of Orange-Nassau.
More Context
Handbook Entry
Queen Artemisia (4th century B.C.) of Halicarnassus in Asia Minor was said by ancient authors to have mourned her husband, Mausolus, by building the Mausoleum, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. She then drank his ashes mixed with wine in order to become his living tomb and an example of virtue (<em>exemplum virtutis</em>). Here, the queen’s retainers of different ages and status marvel at her prodigious act, in accordance with the rules set forth for humanist history painting by theorist Leon Battista Alberti in his treatise <em>De pictura</em> (1435), where this noble genre was defined. The Utrecht painter Gerrit van Honthorst spent from 1610/15 to 1620 in Italy, where he became a follower of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, and was known for his night scenes as "Gherardo delle Notti." Upon his return to the Catholic stronghold of Utrecht, he moved from tenebrous to courtly scenes and worked for patrons such as Charles I of England, Christian IV of Denmark, and the House of Orange-Nassau. <em>Artemisia</em> hung over the fireplace in the house of Amalia van Solms, widow of Prince Frederik Hendrik of Orange-Nassau, who died in 1647. It was probably painted earlier, however, for Elizabeth of Bohemia, the widow of the Elector Palatine Frederick V (king of Bohemia 1619–20; died 1632). Known as "The Winter Queen," she spent many years in exile in the Netherlands before returning to her native England shortly before her death, in 1662.
Information
ca. 1635
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