Study of a Standing Donkey

Jacques de Gheyn III (? Haarlem/Leiden, ? 1596 - Utrecht, 1641)

He was the son of the artist Jacques de Gheyn II (1565-1629) and Eva Stalpaert van der Wiele (?-?). He grew up in The Hague, where his family maintained close ties with the House of Orange and Constantijn Huygens I (1596-1687), secretary to Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (1584-1647). Between 1618 and 1620, De Gheyn III was in London with Huygens, whom he accompanied two years later to Stockholm, where he brought eight of his father’s drawings and paintings.³ It is unclear why this expedition took place and what the outcome was.⁴ He returned to London in 1622 and stayed there until 1627. While travelling abroad, he visited prominent collections, primarily to study Classical sculpture and further his skills.⁵

From 1627 to 1634, De Gheyn III worked in The Hague, probably alongside his father until the latter’s death in 1629.⁶ They shared a house at the Lange Houtstraat, next door to Constantijn Huygens.⁷ In 1634 he moved to Utrecht, where he became canon of the St. Mariakerk.⁸

De Gheyn III probably took up drawing at an early age; in drawings by his father, he is represented sketching. His first dated work is from 1614, Father Time, now in the collection of the Koninklijk Fries Genootschap, Leeuwarden.⁹ His oeuvre consists primarily of drawings and etchings, the latter considered his most original contribution.¹⁰

As a draughtsman and etcher, De Gheyn III followed in the tradition of his father and Hendrik Goltzius (1558-1617), who made pen-and-ink drawings, so-called Federkunststücke, that imitated the appearance of prints. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate the drawings of the younger De Gheyn from those of his father, but they are generally coarser in execution and reveal more attention to light and dark contrasts, using heavy pen lines, alternated with finer lines, abundant stipples and short streaks. Over the years, a small oeuvre of drawings has been established.¹¹ He was also a collector and owned works by Rembrandt (1606-1669). The latter painted his portrait in 1632, now in the collection of the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London (inv. no DPG099).¹²

Constantijn Huygens II (1628-1697), in his autobiography, lamented the sudden breakdown of De Gheyn III’s work, because he had shown such promise as a young artist.¹³ Indeed, only a few works are known after 1629 when his father passed away. De Gheyn III died on 5 June 1641 in Utrecht.

Carolyn Mensing, 2020

References
U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler: Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 37 vols., Leipzig 1907-50, XIII (1920), p. 533 (as Gheyn, Jacob de (3)); F.G. Waller, Biographisch woordenboek van Noord Nederlandsche graveurs, The Hague 1938, p. 110; F.W.H. Hollstein et al., Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, c. 1450-1700, 72 vols., Amsterdam and elsewhere 1947-2010, VII (1952), pp. 193-200; H. Möhle, ‘Drawings by Jacques de Gheyn III’, Master Drawings 1 (1963), no. 2, pp. 3-12; I.Q. van Regteren Alterna, Jacques de Gheyn: Three Generations, The Hague 1983, pp. 109-31; E. Buijsen (ed.), Haagse schilders in de Gouden Eeuw. Het Hoogsteder Lexicon van alle schilders werkzaam in Den Haag, 1600-1700, Zwolle 1998, p. 307