About this artwork
Bloemaert probably painted this work shortly after his 1591-93 stay in Amsterdam. There he would have met artists from Haarlem, the birthplace of Dutch Mannerism. Typical of Mannerist paintings, the main scene takes place in the middle distance. The story is related in all four Gospels. Christ miraculously fed five thousand of his followers with just five loaves and two fishes. The scene is framed and partly obscured by monumental twisted figures in the foreground, modelled in sharp contrasts of light and shadow and acid colours. The painting has an unusual structure as the original canvas has been glued onto wood which has numbered incisions all around (visible bottom left). They were probably intended for transferring the composition, possibly for a print.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Abraham Bloemaert (1564 - 1651) Netherlandish
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title:The Miracle of the loaves (Jesus feeds the five thousand)
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date created:1593
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materials:Oil on canvas laid down on panel
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measurements:Framed: 53.20 x 64.10 x 6.80 cm / 7.00 kg
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased with Art Fund support, 2007
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accession number:NG 2824
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gallery:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Abraham Bloemaert
Abraham Bloemaert
For more than fifty years, Bloemaert was the most eminent painter in the city of Utrecht. He was born in Gorinchem, a town some 25 miles east of Rotterdam. His father was a sculptor, increasingly working as an architect and engineer. By 1576, the family had settled in Utrecht, where Bloemaert spent...