Michael Sweerts. (1618-1664)

Known as an obscure stranger, Michael Sweerts was one of the most creative, mysterious and most recognisable artists from the 17th century. He was a painter, an art dealer, a teacher, a deeply religious man and almost always described as an outsider who neither associated with the Dutch and Flemish artists in Rome where he stayed nor became affiliated with the official institutes of his time. Due to his stays in Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy, the works of Sweerts combined artistic and cultural elements from Northern and Southern Europe. Sweerts painted people from the street with sympathy and respect but also painted portraits of wealthy gentlemen. He was also interested throughout his life in art education: many of his paintings have studios with students of painting as their subject. Inspiration often came from classical antiquity. Most of his paintings have secular themes, but he also created a number of historical pieces. Sweerts was also a talented printmaker who portrayed human figures for his own learning and pleasure. Michael Sweerts contains reproductions of almost 60 paintings and etchings, thus making this book an exceptional overview of his work. This is the first publication to reproduce certain paintings from private and public collections. Also published for the first time are recent research finding. In addition, the book goes into detail about the difference in techniques used by Northern and Southern European painters.