At the Blacksmith's

Egbert van der Poel

  • At the Blacksmith's 2
  • At the Blacksmith's 3
  • At the Blacksmith's 4
  • At the Blacksmith's 5
Basic information
ID
Ж-1962
Author
Egbert van der Poel
Name
At the Blacksmith's
Date of creation
17th c.
Technique
oil painting
Material
wood oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
36.3 x 49
Additionally
Information about author
Author
Egbert van der Poel
Artist's lifetime
1621–1664
Country
Holland
Biography
Egbert van der Poel (1621–1664) was a Dutch painter. Little information about the artist has been preserved: he was born into a jeweller's family and received training in painting from Esaias van de Velde and Aert van der Neer. In the Guild of Saint Luke records (1650), Poel is mentioned as a landscape painter. He was married, had three daughters and a son. Egbert van der Poel passed away at the age of 43. The artist depicted rural courtyards, landscapes, and genre scenes in his early works. The 1654 gunpowder explosion in Delft influenced all of Poel's later art. About twenty of his works depicting this event have been preserved. He was considered the best artist to portray fire.
Object description
The painting depicts three blacksmiths in a dark forge, illuminated by the hearth. On the right, two men observe their work. Egbert van der Poel belonged to artists of the Dutch Golden Age, whose artworks were characterised by intimate nature. His paintings are small in size, with an explicit precision of details and a harmony of light nuances. In his work, the author presents an idealised view of daily life rather than trying to capture the difficulties faced by the lives of regular people. His paintings were commissioned mainly by townspeople in the Netherlands.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery