1627 -1678 · Dordrecht, Rembrandt and Dutch illusion

Silent interiors, misleading perspectives and sacred stories reveal in Samuel van Hoogstraten a painter-theoretician fascinated by the powers of illusion.

Samuel van Hoogstraten was born in Dordrecht in 1627 and died there in 1678. He received the first rudiments from his father, Dirk van Hoogstraten, then joined Rembrandt's studio in Amsterdam around 1642. Portrait, history scene, interior, trompe-l'oeil and perspective became for him so many means of exploring the capacity of painting to convince the eye. He traveled in the 1650s to Vienna, Rome and London, observing European courts and disseminating virtuoso art adapted to collectors. He traveled to the 1650s in Vienna, Rome and London, observing European courts and disseminating virtuoso art adapted to collectors. He traveled to the 1650s in Vienna, Rome and London, observing European courts and disseminating virtuoso art adapted to collectors. The Slippers opened a series of pieces without a main character: door, broom, painting, tiles and abandoned shoes tell of a human presence through absence. The depth is there constructed with theatrical precision, while ordinary objects become moral and narrative clues. The Annunciation of the Death of the Virgin shows another side of his practice: a sacred scene regulated by light, interior space and gesture. Hoogstraten also creates perspectivist boxes and trompe l'oeil where letters, scissors or objects seem to come out of the medium. Writer, poet and theorist, in 1678 he published his Inleyding tot by Hooge Schoole der Schilderkonst, a major treatise which preserves precious memories of Rembrandt and defines the intellectual ambitions of painting. His work therefore unites optical experimentation, story and reflection on the profession. The "Samuel van Hoogstraten" selection notably compares The Slippers and The Annunciation of the Death of the Virgin. His reading favors drawing.

Hoogstraten transforms perspective into a story: an open door, a slipper or a ray of light is enough to make space act.