1st Edition
Gerard de Lairesse and his Painted Heavens Iconography, Style and Technique in the Art of Ceiling Painting
By Margriet van Eikema Hommes
Copyright 2026
384 Pages
by
Amsterdam University Press
In 1672, when the Dutch Republic was under simultaneous attack by four foreign armies, Gerard de Lairesse created a magnificent three-part ceiling painting for one of the main protagonists of this Disaster Year—the powerful former burgomaster of Amsterdam, Andries de Graeff. Technical examination has revealed that Lairesse repeatedly altered his composition and in no fewer than four successive... Read more
Acknowledgements
Preface
Chapter 1: A matter of freedom. The changes and significance of De Graeff’s ceiling painting
Chapter 2: Dynamic skies. Pictorial aspects and original placing of Lairesses ceiling paintings
Chapter 3: Lairesse’s painting technique for ceiling paintings
Endnotes
Biography
(Appendix: Brief building history of Huis de Graeff)
Index
Biography
Margriet van Eikema Hommes is an art historian specializing in historical painting techniques and Dutch seventeenth- and eighteenth-century painting ensembles. She is a senior researcher at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.
