around 1634/1636 -1686 · Hoorn, Amsterdam and Rome

Scholarly ceremonial, monumental portrait and emphatic classicism characterize Nicolaes Roosendael in Holland at the end of the 17th century.

Nicolaes Roosendael was born around 1634 or 1636 and died in 1686. Originally from Hoorn, he worked mainly in Amsterdam and belonged to a background of Dutch painters sensitive to international classicism. The Portrait of the young Hendrick Daemen presenting his theological thesis to Baron Ferdinand of Fürstenberg, painted and signed in 1669, is his best-known work and is today in the Louvre. The scene commemorates an academic presentation: the young Daemen, future city councilor of Amsterdam, gives a text in Latin to the bishop of Paderborn and coadjutor of Münster. Dressed in the antique style, he transforms the scholarly act into a solemn ceremony, in accordance with the post-classifying taste of the era. The large format, the armchair, the drapery, the gesture of transmission and the looks organize a precise hierarchy between candidate and protector. The period setting, bearing the arms and episcopal attributes of Fürstenberg, extends this representation of ecclesiastical power even in the object. Roosendael also practices religious painting and drawing; his time in Rome around 1670 probably reinforces the classical and monumental orientation of his art. The "Nicolaes Roosendael" selection probably reinforces the classical and monumental orientation of his art. The "Nicolaes Roosendael" selection probably reinforces the classical and monumental orientation of his art. The "Nicolaes Roosendael" selection notably compares Hendrick Daemen presenting his thesis to Ferdinand de Fürstenberg. His reading favors space.

Roosendael gives knowledge the solemnity of a public act: the transmitted paper becomes the center of a portrait where erudition, patronage and power respond to each other.