Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Alexander Hugo Bakker Korff

Alexander Hugo Bakker Korff (1824 – 1882), was a Dutch painter of genre scenes in the 19th century. 


Korff is best known for his scenes of women in domestic situations.  This one shows a woman rummaging around in a rag basket for making a patchwork quilt. This painting is quite small: 21 cm (8.2 in) by 16 cm (6.2 in). 


He lived in a house with his two posh, unmarried sisters. They would pose wearing items from his collection of 18th century costumes. 


This painting is called the Secondhand Dealer, and it's about 5 x 7 inches.


This one is called "Under the Palm." 


Two prosperous women listen in reverie as another woman plays a romantic tune.


Probably most of his inspiration came from Gerard Dou and Gabriël Metsu, who lived in his town of Leyden. His scenes are also reminiscent of Ernest Meissonier and Norman Rockwell, with frontal lighting, a stage-like space, fine detail, old fashioned setting, and a charming human situation. 


Two women say grace over a luncheon of soup on an October day, and one of them has her dog in a basket.

4 comments:

Robert Cosgrove said...

Another interesting painter I was completely unaware of. Thank you. I wonder if Norman Rockwell was at all familiar with his work. Interesting to compare Korff's painting of the two women saying grace with Norman Rockwell's "Saying Grace," certainly in contention for the best painting NR ever did.

DavidB said...

Amazing detail for such small work.

Timothy Bollenbaugh said...

Norman Rockwell indeed immediately came to mind on all of them. The two sisters saying grace was as evocative in its own right as was Rockwell's "Saying Grace". Charles Dickens' descriptions also came to mind, concerning The Second hand Dealer.

Susan Krzywicki said...

Women: domestic scenes and erotic scenes. I think we might have moved away from some of this over the years.

The virtue of domestic scenes is that they are usually very peaceful.