Andries Both

Andries Both, Scene in a Brothel

Andries Both (1612/1613 - 23 March 1642), was a Dutch Golden Age genre painter, one of the bamboccianti, and brother of Jan Dirksz Both.

Both was born in Utrecht, the son of a glass painter. He studied under Abraham Bloemaert. According to Joachim von Sandrart Andries and his brother Jan cooperated on the paintings, with Jan painting the landscapes and Andries the figures. This view has been revised in the 20th century. Andries stayed in Rouen in 1633 and until he traveled on to Rome where his presence is documented from 1635 to 1641. He first shared a studio with a fellow painter from Utrecht, Jan van Causteren. In 1638 his brother joined him, living on the Via Vittoria in the parish of San Lorenzo in Lucina and both of them may have joined the Accademia di San Luca and the group of painters under the influence of Pieter van Laer called the Bentvueghels. In 1641 the brothers traveled intending to go back to Holland. However, Andries died in Venice on the way by drowning in a canal as he was returning from some festivities.

His work is noted for its humorous and outrageous quality, mixed with objectivity and harsh reality, depicting the seamier side of Italian life with broad strokes. The style, known as Bambocciata, after the nickname of its originator, Pieter van Laer, known as il bamboccio, "the toddler" because of his physical deformities, depicted scenes of the low life, often grotesque and shocking to the aristocracy, used to a more idealized style of art.

Sources

• Artcyclopedia entry with link to Groves bio

List of known paintings

• Scene in a brothel (Formerly also known as 'the return of the prodigal son'); Canvas, 44 x 51 cm
  • Bredius Museum; Inv.nr. 116-1946, Cat.nr.21 [1]

• Travellers by a Well (1635–1641); wood
  • NGV International, The Art Foundation of Victoria; accession no. E3-1980; [2]

• Boors Carousing (1634, Utrecht)

• Card Players (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

• Hunting by candlelight (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest)