About the Artwork
Having spent a number of years in Rome, Michael Sweerts was familiar with Italian art. He, however, concentrated on smaller depictions of genre scenes and portraits. This painting represents the interior of an artist's studio in Rome—a subject he painted on several occasions. While the plaster casts, musical instruments, and books that appear in the painting are studio props, they can also be considered as symbols of all the arts to stress the importance of a well-rounded education for any aspiring artist.
In the Studio
1652
Michael Sweerts
1618-1664
Flemish
Unknown
Oil on canvas
Unframed: 28 15/16 × 23 1/8 inches (73.5 × 58.8 cm) Framed: 38 × 33 × 2 1/2 inches (96.5 × 83.8 × 6.4 cm)
Paintings
European Painting
City of Detroit Purchase
30.297
This work is in the public domain.
Markings
Signed and dated, on scroll on table: Michael Sweerts | fecit | Roma | A.D. 1652
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Provenance
Joseph Deutz (Amsterdam, Netherlands) [as "Een Schilders-academetje"]
by inheritance to Jeronimus Deutz (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
acquired by the brothers of Joseph Deutz's wife, Lucretia [1634-1694]: Joan [1642-1702] and Abraham Ortt [1650-1691] (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
by 1808, Antonio Widmann (Venice, Italy) [together with pendant, Old Man and Boy by a Brazier]
June 2, 1827, sold in (London, England) lot 9 [companion to lot 7]
April 27, 1833, sold by (Christie's, London, England) lot 119 [as View of a Sculptor's Studio, with figures examining a Torso
Lot was withdrawn]. May 25, 1833, sold by (Christie's, London, England) lot 50 [as View of a Sculptor's Studio, with figures examining a Torso
Lot was left unsold]. 1833, (George Yates, London, England). Sir Georges Donaldson (London, England)
1930, (Thomas Agnew and Sons, New York, New York, USA)
1930-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Martin, W. "The Life of a Dutch Artist in the Seventeenth Century/I- Instruction in Drawing." Burlington Magazine, no. 7 (May 1905): p. 127.
Martin, W. "Michiel Sweerts als Schilder." Oud Holland 25 (1907): p. 148, no. 9.
Exh. cat., Grafton Galleries. London, 1911, no. 94.
Exh. cat., Gallery Kleykamp. The Hague, 1928. no. 40.
Die Meister des holländischen Interieurs. Exh. cat., Dr. Schäffer Galerie. Berlin, 1929, no. 91, pl. 33.
Valentiner, W.R. "A Painter's Atelier, by Michael Sweerts." Bulletin of the DIA 12, no. 1 (1930): pp. 4-6 (fig. 4).
Heil, W. Catalogue of Paintings in the Permanent Collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1930, cat. 217 (ill.).
Washburn Freund, F.E. "Vom New Yorker Kunstmarkt." Weltkunst, Jan. 25, 1931, vol. I, p. 3.
Thieme-Becker, Lexikon. Leipzig, 1938, vol. 32, p. 349.
Musical Instruments and their Portrayal in Art. Exh. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art, 1946, no. 36a.
Richardson, E.P., ed. Detroit Institute of Arts Catalogue of Paintings. Detroit, 1944, p. 130, no. 759.
Life in 17th Century Holland. Exh. cat., Wadsworth Atheneum. Hartford, 1950, p. 23, cat. 61.
Kultzen, R. "Michael Sweerts (1624-64)." Diss., Hamburg, 1954, p. 12ff, cat. 6.
Michael Sweerts en Tijdgenoten. Exh. cat., Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen. Rotterdam, 1958, pp. 37-38, cat. 5.
Waddingham, M.R. "The Sweerts Exhibition in Rotterdam." Paragone 107 (1958): p. 68.
Michael Sweerts e i Bamboccianti. Exh. cat., Palazzo Venezia. Rome, 1958, pp. 33-34, cat. 5.
Schaar, E. "Michael Sweerts e i Bamboccianti: Austellung im Palazzetto Venezia in Rom." Kunstchronik 12, cat. 2 (1959): p. 43.
Wilenski, R.H. Flemish Painters. New York, 1960, vol. I, p. 665; vol. II, pl. 768.
Waddingham, M.R. "Michael Sweerts in Rome: an Inedited Masterpiece." Paragone 139 (1961): p. 50.
50th Anniversary Exhibition. Exh. cat., Art Gallery of Hamilton. Hamilton, Ontario, 1964, cat. 32.
Bloch, V. "Michael Sweerts und Italien." Jahrbuch der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen in Baden-Wurttemberg 2 (1965): pp. 158, 164-165.
Borea, E. Caravaggio e i Caravaggeschi. Milan, 1966, vol. 14, pl. 34.
Kindlers Malerei Lexikon. Zurich, 1968, v:464.
Bloch, V. Michael Sweerts. The Hague, 1968, p. 20 (fig. 11).
Gods and Heroes/Baroque Images of Antiquity. Exh. cat., Wildenstein and Co., Inc. New York, 1968, cat. 53, pl. 19.
Bodart, D. Les peintres des Pays-Bas méridionaux etc. 1970, vol I, p. 425, vol. II (fig. 233).
Haskell, F. and N. Penny. Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900. New Haven, 1982, p. 36 (fig. 19).
Held, J.S. Flemish and German Paintings of the 17th Century, The Collections of The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1982, pp. 113-115 (ill.).
Children of Mercury; The Education of Artists in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Exh. cat., Bell Gallery, List Art Center, Brown University. Providence, 1984, p. 105 (fig. 81) (ill.).
Levine, D. "The Art of the Bamboccianti." Diss., Princeton University, Princeton, 1984, p. 208.
Sutton, P.C. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Grand Rapids, 1986, p. 89.
Masterpieces from The Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., Bunkamura Museum of Art. Tokyo, 1989, pp. 62, 208, cat. 30 (ill.).
Howard, S. Antiquity Restored. Vienna, 1990, pp. 14-15 (fig. 4).
Bauman, G.C. and W.A. Liedtke. Flemish Paintings in America. Antwerp, 1992, pp. 289-291 (ill.).
Döring, T. "Belebte Skulpturen bei Michael Sweerts: zur Rezeptionsgeschichte eines vergessen pseudo-antiken Ausdruckskopfes." Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, vol. 55, 1994, pp. 53-83.
Rodolfo, A. "Michiel Sweerts: laicum devitissimum, natione Germanum picturae pertissimum." Fiaminghi che vanno e vengono non li si puol dar regola. Paesi Bassi e Italia fra Cinquecento e Seicento pittura, storia e cultura degli emblemi. Rome, 1995, pp. 100, 103.
Kultzen, R. Michael Sweerts Brussels 1618-Goa 1664. Aetas Aurea XII. Doornspijk, 1996, pp. 12-13, 89, cat. 7, pl. 7 and color pl. IV.
Capitelli, G. "Francois Duquesnoy, Michael Sweerts, Gerrit Dou. Note preliminari allo studio del rapporto tra pittura e scultura nei Paesi Bassi Settentrionali (1650-1675)." Tracce per lo studio della cultura figurativa fiamminga e olandese dal XV al XVII secolo. Rome, 1997, pp. 62-65, 223, note 4.
Rubens y su Siglo. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional de San Carlos. Mexico City, 1998/1999, p. 197, cat. 74 (ill.).
Bikker, J. "The Deutz brothers, Italian paintings and Michiel Sweerts: new information from Elizabeth Coymans's Journael." Simiolus 26, no. 4, 1998, pp. 277-311 (fig. 20).
Bikker, J. "Een miraculeus leven." Kunstschrift 45 (2001): pp. 16-26.
Blankert, A. "Michael Sweerts, schilder van stilte en geheim." Kunstschrift 45 (2001): pp. 6-15. Reprinted in
London & New York, Hall & Knight Ltd., "
Hall, N.H.J. A Taste for Italian Art in Holland." in MMI. Exh. cat. 2001, pp. 18-19 (fig. 13).
Jongh, E. de. "Verf & Gips." Kunstschrift 45 (2001): pp. 32-37, p. 34.
Michael Sweerts 1618-1664. Exh. cat., Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam, 2002, pp. 120-123, cat. xv (ill.).
Bandes, Susan J. Pursuits and Pleasures: Baroque Paintings from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., Dennos Museum Center, Kalamazoo Art Museum, Kresge Art Museum, Muskegon Museum of Art. Battle Creek, 2003, pp. 7 (ill.), 40, 41 (ill.).
Blankert, A. "Michael Sweerts: Painter of Silence and Secrecy." Selected Writings on Dutch Painting Rembrandt, Van Beke, Vermeer and Others. Zwolle, 2004, pp. 287-296, pp. 288-289 (fig. 279).
Yeager, L."'A Flemish Artist Amongst His Own? A Closer Look at Michael Sweerts' "Roman Street Scene with a Young Artist Drawing Bernini's 'Nepturne and Triton.'" Culture figurative a confronto tra Fiandre e Italia dal XV al XVII secolo, by De Floriani, A. and M.C. Galassi. Milan, 2008, pp. 167-175 & 306 (ill.).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Michael Sweerts, In the Studio, 1652, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, City of Detroit Purchase, 30.297.
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