circa 1580 -1657 · Haarlem, London and Dutch Golden Age

Sober portraits, elegant companies and a moral look at society place Hendrick Pot between Haarlem culture and the English court.

Hendrick Gerritsz Pot was probably born in Amsterdam around 1580, then spent most of his career in Haarlem. Tradition gives him as a student of Karel van Mander, a theorist and painter who transmitted models of international mannerism to northern artists. Pot appeared as a painter in 1606 and was strongly integrated into the civic life of Haarlem. A member of the bourgeois guard, he participated in the capture of Heusden in 1625 and worked for several years as a lieutenant. Frans Hals represented him in two large collective portraits of the officers of the guards of Saint-Adrien and Saint-Georges. Pot's work circulated between several genres. He painted portraits with a contained attitude and scenes history and especially merry companies, meetings of drinkers, musicians, couples and courtesans where pleasure and moral warning mingle. The gestures, looks and accessories invite the viewer to recognize both the codes of sociability and their dangers. In 1632, Pot stayed in England with his wife. He received commissions from the court and painted Charles I and Henriette-Marie in particular. The portrait of Charles I condenses this experience: armor, strawberry, ribbon and sovereign support compose a more intimate image of power than the large effigies of Antoine van Dyck. Back in Haarlem, Pot continued portraits and genre scenes before settling in Amsterdam, where he died in 1657. His art links Dutch social precision to international aristocratic representation. The "Hendrick Pot" selection notably compares Charles I, King of England. His reading favors details.

Pot observes rank through signs: armor, a collar, a look or a glass are enough to situate the model between power, elegance and moral fragility.