ABOUT THIS BOOK

Samuel van Hoogstraten was not only one of Rembrandt’s most successful pupils but also a versatile painter in his own right. His experiments in optical illusion also attracted the interest of the natural scientists of his time, and he wrote some of the first Dutch novels, plays, and a treatise on painting. This rich interdisciplinary study examines how van Hoogstraten understood the relationship between art, literature, and science and how these reflected the general views of his time. Bringing to the fore hitherto unknown works, the book is an important contribution to our understanding of van Hoogstraten’s life and art.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Thijs Weststeijn is associate professor in cultural heritage studies at the University of Amsterdam.

REVIEWS

“This volume on the artist, writer, and poet Samuel van Hoogstraten adds considerably to our understanding of Rembrandt’s most learned and cosmopolitan pupil. The rich contributions cover all aspects of his career, highlighting little known activities such as Van Hoogstraten’s poetry and novels. These inspiring and thought-provoking proceedings complement recent monographic publications on Samuel van Hoogstraten. Moreover, this book is an important contribution to the history of knowledge in the early-modern Netherlands.”

— C. Tico Seifert, Senior Curator of Northern European Art, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Approaches to a Multifaceted Master

Prolog

Samuel van Hoogstraten and the Golden Age of Dutch Art, Literature, and Science: The Present Book and Future Research

Van Hoogstraten’s Theory of Theory of Art

Jan Blanc

Paradoxical Passages: The Work of Framing in the Art of Samuel van Hoogstraten

Celeste Brusati

The Young Samuel van Hoogstraten, Corrected by Rembrandt

Ben Broos

“Zwierich van sprong”: Samuel van Hoogstraten’s Night Watch

Paul Taylor

Samuel van Hoogstraten’s Personal Letter-Rack Paintings: Tributes with a Message

Michiel Roscam Abbing

A Pledge of Marital Domestic Bliss: Samuel van Hoogstraten’s Perspective Box in the National Gallery, London

Kerman Colenbrander

Van Hoogstraten’s Success in Britain

Fatma Yalcin

Samuel van Hoogstraten, the First Dutch Novelist?

Thijs Weststeijn

Great Respect and Complete Bafflement: Arnold Houbraken’s Mixed Opinion of Samuel van Hoogstraten

Hendrik J. Horn

Appendix

Arnold Houbraken’s references to Samuel van Hoogstraten and his ‘Introduction to the Academy of Painting’

Edited and Translated by Hendrik J. Horn

Bibliography

List of Illustrations

About the authors

Index