Poelemberg, Kornelius

Poelemberg, Kornelius a Dutch painter, was born at Utrecht in 1586. His master was Abraham Bloemaert. He then went to Rome, where he enjoyed the lessons of Adam Elzheimer (1600). A member of the academic rank, he was there called II Brusco and Il Satiro. He Italianized his manner. His paintings were esteemed, and brought a good price even in Italy. Pope Paul V and the grand duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand II, endeavored in vain to keep him. After a few months spent in Florence (1621), he went back to Holland, where his fame had preceded him. He was received with great honors; Rubens became his friend. Charles I called him to London, where Poelemberg painted a great deal; but lie finally abandoned the service of the English monarch and returned to Utrecht, where he died, in 1660. His chief sacred works are: The Birth of Jesus, at Dusseldorf; Lot and his Daughters; the Martyrdom of St. Stephen; a Flight to Egypt; a Holy Family; an Angel announcing to the Shepherds the Birth of the Savior, in the Louvre, and one of his best; etc. At the great exhibition at Manchester (1851) the portrait of Poelemberg and his wife, painted by himself, and several landscapes, were greatly admired. He left also some good eau- fortes, but his engravings are rare and out of the market. Poelemberg's manner is remarkable for suavity and lightness; it betokens great facility and an uncommon science of the chiaro-oscuro; his masses are large, his backgrounds and first plans full of harmony; the details, especially those related to architecture, are carefully worked out; his figures (generally naked females) are swell grouped, but the drawing is seldom correct. See Descamps, Vie des Peintres. 1, 214 sq.; Blanc, La Vie des Peintres (Ecole Hollandaise), liv. 94; Spooner, Biog. Hist. of the Fine Arts, s.v.; Mrs. Clement, Handbook of Painters, etc. p. 461.