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oa ‘Het oordeel van Cambyses’ van Vigor Boucquet
Een gerechtigheidstafereel uit het kunstpatrimonium van Nieuwpoort
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: Pro Memorie, Volume 22, Issue 1, Jan 2020, p. 3 - 20
Abstract
The city of Nieuport (Belgian coast) keeps a valuable painting of ‘The Judgement of Cambyses’, a justice scene made by the local painter Vigor Boucquet. It survived the destruction of the city in World War I and II. It’s the city magistrate who offers the artwork to the city in 1671, probably in replacement of an older copy of Gerard David’s famous Judgement of Cambyses. Due to its large dimensions it must have made an overwhelming impression in the magistrates’ court. As a painter Boucquet has recognized but limited talents. He is a true master of colorite in displaying clothing and fabrics. As regards the development of the story he is inspired by the well-known examples of Claes Jacobsz. van der Heck, Martin Faber and Joachim Uytewaal. Different from his predecessors he concentrates more on the story than on the moral lesson. In a certain sense this baroque master returns to the medieval cruelty of Gerard David, avoided by the Renaissance masters.